
lass 
ook 









THE 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN 



BY THE SAME AUTHORS. 



NOTES ON PHYSIOLOGY FOR THE USE 

OF STUDENTS. By Henry Ashby, M.D., F.R.C.P. 
Fifth Edition. With 134 Illustrations. Fcp. 8vo. price $s. 

HIP DISEASE IN CHILDHOOD. By G. A. 

Wright, B.A., M.B. Oxon., F.R.C.S. Eng. With 48 
Original Woodcuts. 8vo. price \os. 6d. 



London: LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. 



THE 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN 



MEDICAL and SURGICAL 



BY 

HENRY ASHBY, M.D.Lond., F.R.C.P. 

PHYSICIAN TO THE GENERAL HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN, MANCHESTER 

LECTURER AND EXAMINER IN DISEASES OF CHILDREN IN THE VICTORIA UNIVERSITY 

FORMERLY LECTURER ON PHYSIOLOGY IN THE OWENS COLLEGE 

AND IN THE LIVERPOOL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 

AND 

G. A.WRIGHT, B.A., M.BOxon., F.R.C.S.Eng. 

ASSISTANT SURGEON TO THE MANCHESTER ROYAL INFIRMARY 

AND SURGEON TO THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL 

CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ORTHOPEDIC ASSOCIATION 



second edition 
Edited for American Students 

BY 

WILLIAM PERRY XORTHRUP. A.M., M.D. 

ATTENDING PHYSICIAN TO THE PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL ; PATHOLOGIST TO THE 

N. Y. FOUNDLING HOSPITAL ; PRESIDENT OF P.EDIATRIC SECTION N. Y. ACADEMY OF MEDICINE 

EX-PRESIDENT N. Y. PATHOLOGICAL SOCIETY ; MEMBER OF 

THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN PHYSICIANS 



NEW YORK AND LONDON 
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 

1893 

All rights reserved 



Copyright, 1893, by 
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 



TROW DIRECTORY 

ORINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY 
NEW YORK 



THE SURGICAL PART OF THIS BOOK I DEDICATE TO 



MY FATHER 



G. A. W RIG HI 



NOTE TO THE 

AMERICAN EDITION 



In preparing this edition for the American reader it has been 
thought best to leave the body of the book intact. The same disease 
differs but little in its course in America and in England ; it is neces- 
sary, therefore, to note only such differences in theory and in treatment 
as shall seem to bring the book into accord with present American 
practice. This has been done by means of the Appendix, care being 
taken to refer supplementary matter to its proper connection in the 
main work by page references, and by additions to the Index. 

The Formulae (page 753) have been entirely rewritten to conform 
to the United States Pharmacopoeia. 

The supplementary additions to the Surgical portion of the book 
have been made by Dr. T. Halsted Myers, Attending Orthopaedic 
Surgeon to St. Luke's Hospital, New York, whose contributions are 
also embodied in the Appendix. 

The Editor trusts that these additions may still further increase the 
usefulness among American readers of this complete and condensed 
treatise, which has so quickly passed to its second edition. 

W. P. N. 
New York, December, 1892. 



PREFACE 



TO 



THE SECOND EDITION 



In the preparation of the Second Edition the whole of the work 
has been thoroughly revised, and several of the sections have been 
entirely rewritten. Many clinical reports of interesting cases, and 
forty new woodcuts — most of them original — have been added. 

It has been our aim to keep the work abreast of the most recent 
knowledge, and to make it present as far as possible a complete ac- 
count of the Diseases of Childhood. In doing so we have freely 
utilised the writings and work of writers not only in this country, 
but also on the Continent and in America. 

We must again express our thanks to our colleagues for their kindly 
help and criticisms, and especially to Dr. H. R. Hutton for generously 
allowing us to utilise his cases, and for the trouble he has taken in 
reading many of the proof-sheets ; and also to Mr. A. Wilson for re- 
vising the chapter he has written on the Administration of Anaesthetics. 

To Dr. W. P. Northrup, of New York, who has undertaken to edit the 
American edition of this work, we must also express our indebtedness. 

To the Board of Governors of the Children's Hospitalwe owe a 
debt of gratitude for their recognition of the fact that the Hospital 
was founded for the study of the Diseases of Children as well as for 
the treatment of Disease. 

HENRY ASHBY, 

G. A. WRIGHT. 

Manchester : September 1892. 



PREFACE 



The present work is intended to give to senior students and junior 
medical practitioners a fairly complete, though necessarily condensed, 
account of the various morbid conditions peculiar to, or chiefly found 
during, infancy and childhood. Those diseases which are neither spe- 
cial to children nor modified by their occurrence in early life, are 
either omitted altogether or only briefly considered. 

The book is written from a practical point of view, and but little 
pathological detail will be found in it. 

The basis of our work is our experience at the General Hospital 
for Sick Children, Manchester, an institution at which some 1,200 
in-patients and some 10.000 out-patients are annually treated. Our 
observations have extended over nearly ten years, and during the whole 
of that time we have been collecting material, both at the Children's 
Hospital and at the Royal Infirmary, for this purpose. 

The original feature of this book is that it is written conjointly by a 
physician and a surgeon : it is hoped that it presents, therefore, a fairly 
complete account of disease in children. Though we are well aware 
that the book is not an exhaustive treatise, we think it will be found 
practical, and it is at least based on experience, and is not a mere 
compilation. 

The illustrations are almost entirely taken from photographs of 
cases that have been under our own care ; where this is not so, their 
source is acknowledged. 

We have to tender our cordial thanks to our friends and colleagues. 



x Preface 

both at the Children's Hospital and at the Royal Infirmary, for their 
help. Our thanks are also due to successive generations of house 
surgeons who have kept the records of our cases. 

To our colleague, Dr. Hutton, for allowing us without stint the use 
of his cases, as well as for much help and advice in correcting our 
proofs, our especial thanks are due : also to Messrs. Southam and 
Collier, our colleagues at the Royal Infirmary and the Children's 
Hospital, for their care and kindness in proof-reading. To Mr. Wilson 
we owe our chapter on Anaesthetics, which is made especially valuable 
by his large experience in the administration of these agents both at 
the Children's Hospital and the Royal Infirmary. To Drs. Humphreys 
and Massiah, our former colleagues, we are also indebted for the use 
of their notes of cases. 

We must also acknowledge the help rendered to us by Messrs. Paine 
and Benger in connection with the formulae for medicines and external 
applications given in this work. 

We cannot take leave of our work without further acknowledging 
our indebtedness to the Board of Governors of the Children's Hospital 
for their generous treatment of us, and especially for enabling us to 
publish our annual abstracts of cases treated at the Hospital. We also 
desire to express out appreciation of the value of the work of our sisters 
and nurses in making observations of cases, and in the preparation of 
temperature charts. 

To Messrs. Longman, our publishers, we are much indebted for 
their liberality in allowing us to borrow woodcuts from their published 
works, and for their help in many ways ; we desire also to acknowledge 
the great pains and skill shown by Mr. Pearson in engraving our photo- 
graphs. 

HENRY ASHBY, 
G. A. WRIGHT. 
Manchester : May, 1889. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD. 

The periods of life, I ; intra-uterine life, I ; infancy, I ; childhood, 2 ; youth, 2 ; 
respiration, 3 ; changes in the circulation after birch, 4 ; amount of blood in 
body, 4 ; pulse, 4 ; alimentary canal, 5 ; urine, 6 ; temperature, 6 ; nervous 
system, 7 ; sight, 8 ; hearing, 8 ; taste, 8 ; psychical phenomena, 8 ; sleep, 8 ; 
body weight, 8 ; length, 9 ; dentition, 10 ; mortality, 12. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE DISEASES INCIDENT TO BIRTH. 

Asphyxia neonatorum, 15; apoplexia neonatorum, 18; cephalhematoma, 20; hema- 
toma of the sterno-mastoid, 22 ; obstetrical paralysis, 23 ; icterus neonatorum, 
25 ; hemorrhagic diathesis, 26 ; acute fatty degeneration of the newly born, 27 ; 
Winckel's disease, 28 ; gastro-intestinal hemorrhage, 28 ; hemorrhage from the 
genital organs, 28 ; diseases of the navel, 29 ; umbilical polypus. 29 ; ompha- 
litis, 30; gangrene of the navel, 31 ; umbilical arteritis, 31 ; umbilical phlebitis, 
32 ; umbilical hemorrhage, 32 ; tetanus nascentium, 34 ; sclerema neonatorum, 
34 ; oedema neonatorum, 35. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE HYGIENE AND DIET OF INFANTS AND CHILDREN. 

New-born infants, 36 ; clothing, 37 ; infant feeding, 37 ; wet nurses, 39 ; weaning, 
40 ; artificial feeding, 41 ; Meigs's mixture, 42 ; diluted milk, 43 ; barley water, 
&C, 43 ; whey, 44 ; amount of food, 44 ; feeding-bottles, 44 ; sterilisation, 45 ; 
peptonised milk, 45 ; condensed milk, 46 ; diet from 6 to 12 months, 47 ; diet 
from 12 months to 18 months of age, 48. 



xii Diseases of CJiildren 

CHAPTER IV. 

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. 

Examination of the mouth, 50 ; dentition, 50 ; catarrhal stomatitis, 53 ; stomatitis 
erythematosa, 53 ; aphthae, 53 ; parasitic stomatitis, 54 ; ulcerative stomatitis, 
56 ; cancrum oris, 57 ; acute tonsillitis, 58 ; chronic tonsillitis, 61 ; tonsillar 
calculus, 64 ; nasal adenoids, 64 ; post-pharyngeal abscess, 65 ; stricture of 
oesophagus, 65 ; swallowing foreign bodies, 67 ; oesophagitis, 67. 

CHAPTER V. 

•DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM {continued). 

Examination of the abdomen, 69 ; dyspeptic diseases, 70 ; flatulence and colic, 71 ; 
vomiting, 71 ; diarrhoea, JT, ; constipation, 75 ; acute gastric catarrh, 77 ; 
acute gastro-intestinal catarrh — zymotic diarrhoea, yj ; acute ileo-colitis, 86. 

CHAPTER VI. 

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM {continued). 

Chronic gastro-intestinal catarrh— gastro-intestinal atrophy, 89 ; chronic diarrhoea, 
91 ; chronic vomiting, 91 ; treatment, 95 ; diet for indigestion, 96 ; dila- 
tation of stomach, 97 ; malformations of stomach, 99 ; carcinoma of stomach, 
99 ; thread worms, 99 ; round worms, 100 ; tape worms, 101 ; ascites, 101. 

CHAPTER VII. 

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM {continued). 

Acute peritonitis, 103 ; perityphlitis, 107 ; peritoneal abscesses — intestinal fistula, 
108; chronic peritonitis, III; iliac abscess, 114; intussusception, 115; chronic 
obstruction of the bowels, 123. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM {continued). 

Tubercular ulceration of the bowels— mesenteric disease, 125 ; congenital obstruction 
of the bowels, 128 ; imperforate anus, 130 ; deformities of the umbilicus, 134; 
umbilical hernia, 135; inguinal hernia, 136; prolapsus recti, 139; fistula in 
ano, 142 ; piles, 142 ; polypus of the rectum, 143. 

CHAPTER IX. 

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM {continued). 

Hare-lip, 145; cleft palate, 151 ; macrostoma, 154; macrocheilia, 155 ; microstoma, 
155; tongue-tie, 155; macroglossia, 155; ranula, 156; papilloma and condylo- 
mata of the tongue, 156 ; hypertrophy and atrophy of the face, 157 ; branchial 
fistula, 157. 



Co mt en ts xiii 



CHAPTER X. 

DISEASES OF THE LIVER. 

Congenital stricture of the bile-ducts, 161 ; catarrhal jaundice, 162 ; acute yellow- 
atrophy of the liver, 162 ; cirrhosis of the liver, 165 ; syphilitic cirrhosis, 165 ; 
fatty liver, 166; tuberculosis of the liver, 166 ; hepatic abscess, 167 ; hydatids, 
168 : tumour of the liver, 168. 



CHAPTER XL 

DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY APPARATUS. 

The thorax in infancy and childhood, 169 ; laryngismus stridulus — child-crowing - 
spasm of the glottis, 170 ; spasmodic laryngitis, 174; catarrhal laryngitis, 175 
membranous laryngitis, 178 ; tracheotomy, 181 ; intubation of the larynx, 191 
chronic laryngitis, 193 ; papilloma of the larynx, 193. 



CHAPTER XII. 

DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY APPARATUS {continued). 

Bronchitis and catarrh, 194 ; collapse of the lung, 195 ; bronchiectasis and emphysema, 
196 ; chronic bronchitis and bronchiectasis, 197 ; broncho -pneumonia, 198 ; 
secondary pneumonias, 200 ; chronic broncho-pneumonia, 200 ; different types 
of pneumonias, 202. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY APPARATUS (continued). 

Croupous pneumonia, 208 ; gangrene of lung, 216 ; abscess of the lung, 216 ; 
pleurisy and empyema, 217 ; asthma, 228 ; diseases of the bronchial glands, 228 ; 
mediastinal abscess, 230 ; lymph-adenoma, 230 ; chronic tuberculosis of the 
lungs, 231 ; fibroid phthisis, 234. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE SPECIFIC FEVERS. 

Feverishness, 237 ; gland fever, 238 ; scarlet fever, 239 ; surgical scarlet fever, 240 ; 
mild scarlet fever, 243 ; malignant scarlet fever, 243 ; complications, 245 ; 
nephritis, 246 ; measles, 254 ; mild form, 257 ; severe form, 257 ; Rotheln or 
Rubella, 260 ; diphtheria, 264 ; pharyngeal form, 267 ; malignant form, 268 ; 
nasal diphtheria, 269 ; laryngeal form, 269 ; wound diphtheria, 269 ; complica- 
tions, 270 ; pseudo-diphtheria, 274 ; epidemic influenza, 275 ; enteric fever, 278 ; 
complications, 282 ; typhus, 287 ; varicella, 289 ; varicella gangrenosa, 292 ; 
vaccinia, 293 ; complications, 294 ; varioloid, 295 ; whooping cough, 296 ; com- 
plications, 298 ; mumps — parotitis, 302 ; malarial fever, 303. 



xiv Diseases of CJiildren 



CHAPTER XV. 

DISEASES OF THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM. 

Diseases of the heart, 305 ; pericarditis, 305 ; chronic pericarditis, 307 ; mediastino- 
pericarditis, 310; congenital heart disease, 311 ; patent foramen ovale, 312; 
patent septum ventriculorum, 313 ; stenosis of the pulmonary and tricuspid 
orifices, 314; stenosis of the aorta or mitral valves, 316 ; transposition of the 
aorta and pulmonary artery, 316 ; endocarditis, 316 ; chronic heart disease, 319 ; 
acute myocarditis, 321. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

DISEASES OF THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM {continued). 

Naevus, 324 ; stellate naevus, 324 ; port-wine mark, 324 ; cutaneous nrevus, 325 ; 
subcutaneous naevus, 325 ; mixed naevus, 325 ; simple naevi, 325 ; cavernous 
naevi, 325 ; lymphatic naevi, 332 ; aneurism, 333. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

DISEASES OF THE BLOOD AND BLOOD-MAKING ORGANS. 

Anaemia, 334 ; simple anaemia, 335 ; anaemia splenica, 335 ; idiopathic anaemia, 337 ; 
scurvy, 338 ; purpura, 338 ; haemophilia, 339 ; Hodgkin's disease, 339 ; leucocy- 
thaemia, 340; enlarged spleen, 340; diseases of the retroperitoneal glands, 341. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

GENERAL DISEASES. 

General tuberculosis, 343 ; acute miliary tuberculosis, 343 ; typhoid form, 343 ; 
broncho- pneumonic form, 345 ; subacute general tuberculosis, 345 ; scrofula and 
tuberculosis, 347 ; tubercular adenitis, 349 ; chronic abscess, 355 ; deep cervical 
cellulitis —angina Ludovici, 356; general surgical tuberculosis, 356; diabetes 
mellitus, 357 ; polyuria — diabetes insipidus, 358 ; rheumatism, 359, 



CHAPTER XIX. 

general diseases {continued). 

Rickets, 362 ; rickety deformities, 374 ; late rickets, 382 ; lateral curvature of the 
spine, 388. 

CHAPTER XX. 

general diseases {continued). 
Syphilis, 393 ; acquired syphilis, 393 ; hereditary syphilis, 394. 



Contents xv 



CHAPTER XXI. 

DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

Introduction, 404 ; clinical examination, 405 ; cerebral congestion, 405 ; tubercular 
meningitis, 405 ; simple meningitis, 410 ; acute form, 410 ; subacute form, 412 ; 
cerebro-spinal meningitis, 413 ; latent form, 413 ; chronic meningitis, 418 ; 
acute hydrocephalus, 419; chronic hydrocephalus, 420 ; hypertrophy of the 
brain, 422 ; atrophy of the brain — sclerosis of the brain, 423 ; tumours of the 
brain, 424 ; tumours of the cerebellum, 426 ; of the pons, 427 ; basal ganglia 
and internal capsule, 428 ; of the cortex, 428 ; of the frontal lobe, 428 ; cerebral 
abscess, 430 ; cerebral haemorrhage, 433 ; post partum haemorrhage — birth palsy, 
433 ; cerebral haemorrhage occurring after birth — acute cerebral palsy, 436 ; 
embolism, 442 ; thrombosis of the cerebral sinuses and veins, 444 ; arteritis — 
softening, 445. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM (continued). 

Chorea, 446 ; hemichorea, 454 ; epilepsy, 458 ; hysteroid fits, 460 ; post-hemiplegic 
epilepsy, 460 ; infantile convulsions — eclampsia, 463 ; hysteria, 468 ; head- 
aches, 470. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM {continued). 

Speech anomalies, 473; deaf-mutism, 474; acquired deaf-mutism, 474; physical 
defects in the mouth, 475 ; mental defect, 475 ; aphasia, 476 ; stammering, 
476 ; mental affections in childhood, 477 ; congenital group, 477 ; develop- 
mental idiocy, 478; accidental or acquired, 479; cretinoid idiocy, 479; back- 
ward children, 480 ; idiocy due to syphilis, 481. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

diseases of the nervous system {continued). 

Spina bifida, 484; meningocele, 488; spinal meningitis, 490; myelitis, 493; 
Landry's paralysis, 494 ; hereditary ataxic paraplegia — Friedrich's disease, 495 ; 
anterior polio-myelitis — acute atrophic paralysis — infantile paralysis, 495 ; 
tetany, 502 ; nystagmus, 504 ; head-nodding and head-shaking, 504 ; head- 
banging, 504 ; pseudo-hypertrophic paralysis, 504. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

DISEASES OF THE GENITO-URINARY SYSTEM. 

-Congenital anomalies of the kidneys, 508 ; Addison's disease — tuberculosis of the 
adrenals, 508; haematuria, 508; intermittent hsemoglobinuria, 510; pyuria, 
510: lithaemia, 510; tumours of the kidneys, 510; tuberculous kidney, 512; 
hydronephrosis, 514; renal calculus, 514; acute nephritis, 515; septic 
nephritis, 516 ; acute parenchymatous nephritis, 516 ; chronic nephritis, 516. 

a 



xvi Diseases of Children 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

DISEASES OF THE GENITOURINARY SYSTEM {continued). 

Stone in the bladder, 518; cystitis, 522; incontinence of urine, 523 ; retention, 525 ; 
malformations of the genito-urinary organs — extroversion of the bladder, 526 ; 
epispadias, 528 ; hypospadias, 529 ; phimosis, 531 ; balanitis, 532 ; congenital 
paraphimosis, 533 ; masturbation, 533 ; oedema of the scrotum, 534 ; diseases 
of the external genitals in females, 534 ; aphthous vulvitis, 535 ; noma pudendi, 
535 ; irritable mamma, 536 ; abnormalities in the descent of the testicles, 536 ; 
supernumerary testicles, 539 ; congenital displacement or hernia of the ovary, 
540 ; acute orchitis, 540 ; syphilitic testitis, 540 ; tubercular disease, 540 ; 
tumours of the testis, 541 ; hydrocele, 542 ; hydrocele in girls, 543 ; varicocele, 
544 ; ovarian tumours, 544. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

DISEASES OF THE BONES. 

Diseases of the bones, 545; acute periostitis, 546; chronic periostitis, 553 ; syphilitic 
periostitis, 555 ; acute osteomyelitis, 557 ; acute epiphysitis, 558 ; chronic 
circumscribed osteomyelitis, 560 ; chronic diffuse osteomyelitis, 562 ; strumous 
dactylitis, 565 ; syphilitic dactylitis, 567 ; leontiasis ossea, 567. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

DISEASES OF THE JOINTS. 

Tubercular disease of the shoulder, 572 ; disease of the elbow joint, 572 ; of the 
wrist, 573 ; of the ankle, 574 ; acute synovitis, 575; pyaemic joint disease, 576 ; 
exanthematous synovitis, 576 ; chronic rheumatic arthritis, 576 ; syphilitic 
synovitis, 577 ; acute suppurative arthritis of infants, 578 ; acute tubercular 
synovitis, 580 ; sacro-iliac disease, 592 ; disease of the temporo-maxillary 
joint, 593. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

HIP DISEASE. 
Hip disease, 595. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

SPINAL DISEASE. 
Caries of the spine, 620 ; costo-vertebral disease, 632. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

CLUB-FOOT, DEFORMITIES OF LIMBS, ETC. 

Talipes equino-varus, 634 ; T. valgus, 636 ; T. equinus, 636 ; flat-foot, 645 ; wry-neck 
or torticollis, 647 ; diseases of muscles, 649 ; various congenital malformations, 
650 ; supernumerary digits, 652 ; club-hand, 653 ; web fingers, 654 ; congenital 
rigidity of joints and contractions, 655 ; congenital dislocations, 656. 



Contents xvii 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

DISEASES OF THE NOSE. 

Acute catarrh, 659 ; chronic catarrh, 659 ; nasal polypi, 661 ; malformations, 661 ; 
epistaxis, 662 ; nasal deformity, 662. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

DISEASES OF THE EAR. 

Diseases of the external ear, 663 ; affections of the external meatus, 663 ; inflam- 
mation of the middle ear, 664 ; of the labyrinth, 667 ; intracranial abscess, 667. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

TUMOUR GROWTH IN CHILDHOOD. 

Sarcomata, 669; neuroma, 670; enchondroma, 671; exostosis, 672; cystic tu- 
mours, 672 ; fatty growths, 675 ; giant foot, 676 ; congenital sacral tumour, 
677 ; lymphoma, 680 ; cystic growths of the jaws, 681. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

DISEASES OF THYROID AND THYMUS. 
Goitre, 682 ; thymus, 683. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 

Eczema, 684 ; impetigo, 690 ; seborrhcea, 691 ; erythematous eruptions, 691 ; ro- 
seola, 691 ; erythema scarlatiniforme, 692 ; chilblains, 692 ; erythema multi- 
forme, 693 ; erythema nodosum, 693 ; urticaria, 693 ;. urticaria papulosa, 693 ; 
lichen scrofulosus, 694 ; psoriasis, 694 ; miliaria — sudamina, 694 ; miliaria 
rubra, 694 ; pemphigus, 694 ; dermatitis, 695 ; tinea tonsurans, 695 ; tinea 
circinata, 696 ; alopecia areata, 698 ; favus, 698 ; scabies, 698 ; simple onychia, 
699; onychia maligna, 699; lupus, 699; papilloma, 700; haiiy and pigmented 
moles, 700. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

INJURIES, SHOCK, HEMORRHAGE, ETC. 

Injuries to the head, 701 ; traumatic cephalhydrocele, 701 ; fracture of the base of 
the skull, 702 ; injuries to the chest, 702 ; injuries to the abdomen, 702 ; in- 
juries of the limb, 702 ; greenstick fractures, 703 ; ununited fractures, 703 ; 
separation of' the epiphyses, 704; primary amputations, 710; primary resec- 
tions, 710; dislocations, 710; burns and scalds, 712; shock, 712; loss of 
blood, 712; pain, 712; septic diseases, 713. 



xviii Diseases of Children 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

ANAESTHETICS FOR CHILDREN. 

Local anaesthesia, 715 ; cocaine, 715 ; nitrous oxide, 715; chloroform, 715 ; ether, 
716 ; A. C. E. mixture, 716 ; the choice of an anaesthetic, 716 ; preparation, 
716 ; method of administration of anaesthetics, 717 ; vomiting, 718 ; anaesthetics 
in special operations, 719 ; accidents, 721. 

APPENDIX 723 

FORMULAE 753 

INDEX 759 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



FIG. 
I. 



5- 

4- 
5« 
6. 

7- 
8. 

9- 

10. 
11. 
12. 

13- 

14. 

15. 
16. 

17. 

18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 
22. 

23. 
24. 

25- 

26. 

27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 
3i. 
32. 
33- 
34- 
35- 
36. 
37- 



Stomach of a newly born infant (natural size) 

Lower jaw of a child at birth, showing dental sacs 
,, ,, ,, three years of age 

Meningeal haemorrhage in an infant 

Double cephalhematoma 

Section of a cephalhematoma 

Section of ileo-umbilical diverticulum 

Fungus of thrush . . . . • 

Deformity due to cancrum oris 

Temperature chart of epidemic tonsillitis 

Hour-glass constriction of stomach 

Thread worm ..... 

Eggs of thread worm .... 

Ileo-caecal intusussception 

Scheme of lines of union of face . 

Double incomplete hare-lip 

Severe double hare-lip 

Diagrams of hare-lip operation 

Macrostoma ..... 

Supernumerary auricle in neck 

Anatomy of child's trachea . 

Parker's tracheotomy tube 

O'Dwyer's intubation apparatus . 

O'Dwyers extractor .... 

Temperature chart of broncho-pneumonia 

Temperature chart of acute broncho-pneumonia 

Temperature chart of acute lobar pneumonia 
,, ,, croupous pneumonia 

,, ,, croupous pneumonia treated 

,, ,, pleuro-pneumonia with empy 

Deformity of chest due to empyema 

Section of cheesy glands at the bifurcation of the trachea 

Temperature chart of acute otitis in an infant 

Temperature chart of scarlet fever . 
,, ,, mild scarlet fever 

,, ,, malignant scarlet fever 

,, ,, post-scarlatinal nephritis 



with cold bath 
ema 



5 
10 
11 
18 
20 
21 
30 
55 
58 
60 
98 

99 
100 
116 

145 
146 

147 
150 
155 
158 

183 
187 
191 
192 
197 
198 
199 
211 
212 
220 
227 
229 
23S 
242 

243 
244 
247 



XX 

FIG. 
38. 

39- 
40. 
41. 

42. 

43- 
44. 

45- 
46. 

47- 
48. 
49. 
50- 
51. 
52. 
53- 
54- 
55- 
56. 

57- 
58. 
59- 
60. 
61. 
62. 

63. 
64. 
65. 
66. 
67. 
68. 
69. 
70. 

71. 

72. 

73- 
74- 
7> 
76. 

77- 
78. 

79- 
80. 
81. 
82. 

83- 
84. 
85. 
86. 
87. 



Diseases of CJiildren 



Temperature chart of measles . . . 

,, ,, broncho-pneumonia with measles 

, , , , mild enteric fever . . . 

,, ,, enteric fever 

,, ,, ,, with peritonitis 

,, ,, typhus fever 

,, ,, chicken-pox 



Varicella gangrsenosa .... 
Temperature chart of modified small-pox 
Plan of foetal circulation 
Congenital heart disease 



Acute endocarditis ..... 

Temperature chart of a case of endocarditis . 

Mixed nsevus of face . , 

Nsevus of face ....... 

Orbital nsevus ...... 

Arterio-venous varix ...... 

Nsevus lipomatodes ..... 

Degenerated nsevus of scalp ..... 

Lymphatic nsevus of foot .... 

Miliary tubercles of the choroid .... 

Tubercular ulceration of the skin of foot . 
Tracing of chest-wall of a rickety boy 
Enlargement of epiphyses of lower end of radius and 
Section through enlarged epiphysis in rickets 
Section through the junction of rib and cartilage in r 
Transverse section through the shaft of the ulna in r: 
Rickety deformity of femora .... 

Attitude causing deformity in rickets . 

Figure showing results of osteotomy 

A rickety dwarf ...... 

Rickety curvature of the spine 
Knock -knee .... 

Attitude producing curvature of tibia 
Bow-leg ....... 

General rickety deformities .... 

Thomas's splint for genu valgum 
Lateral curvature of the spine 
Reclining board for lateral curvature . 
Congenital syphilis ..... 



Destruction of nose, &c, in congenital syphilis 
Disease of bones in congenital syphilis 
Syphilitic epiphysitis . . . . . 

Tracing of ' Cheyne-Stokes ' respiration 
Outline of head in chronic hydrocephalus 
Chronic hydrocephalus .... 

Sclerosis of brain ...... 

Spastic paralysis ....... 

Results of division of tendo Achillis in spastic paralysis 



ulna 



cets 
cets 



List of Illustrations xxi 

FIG. • PAGE 

89. Section of brain showing old blood cysts ...... 437 

9°- ,, ,, ,, 43 8 

91. Brain, showing effects of old meningeal haemorrhage .... 441 

92. Section of brain, showing patch of softening, the result of embolism . 442 

93. Cyst formed by softening of brain ....... 443 

94. Cretin ............. 480 

95- * 48i 

96. Case of cured spina bifida with talipes ....... 487 

97. Section of cured spina bifida ........ 487 

98. Spina bifida which has undergone spontaneous cure . . . . 488 

99. Occipital meningocele ......... 489 

100. Frontal meningocele .......... 489 

101. Tetany 503 

102. Pseudo-hyper trophic paralysis ........ 505 

103. ,, ,, „ ........ 506 

104. New growth in kidney . . . . . . . . ..511 

105. Plastic operation for extroversion of bladder ..... 528 

106. Undescended testis .......... 537 

107. Diagram of hydrocele ......... 542 

108. Acute periostitis .......... 548 

109. Overgrowth of leg after necrosis . . . . .. . -553 

no. Congenital syphilitic disease of both tibia . . ... . 555 

in. Epiphysitis of humerus . . . . . . . . .561 

112. ' Strumous dactylitis' . . . . . . . ... 565 

113. Overgrowth of thumb from tubercular disease ..... 565 

114. Effects of tubercular dactylitis ........ 566 

115. Disease of wrist ........... 573 

116. ,, ankle 574 

117. Syphilitic synovitis of both wrists . . . . . . -577 

118. Erasion of knee ........... 585 

"9- » » 585 

120. Malposition after excision of knee ........ 587 

121. Splint for disease of ankle .... ..... 588 

122. Foot after tarsectomy .......... 590 

123. ,, excision of os calcis ........ 591 

124. Diagram to illustrate hip disease ........ 595 

125. Specimen of femoral hip disease ........ 595 

126. ,. ,, ,, 596 

127. ,, acetabular disease ........ 597 

128. Lordosis in hip disease .......... 602 

129. Position of limb in second stage of hip disease ..... 604 

130. Side view of same ........... 604 

131. Bryant's splint ........... 610 

132. Method of applying extension ........ 611 

133. Thomas's splint applied ......... 612 

134. Thomas's hip splint .......... 612 

135. Result of excision of hip ......... 616 

136. Caries of spine . . . . . . . . . . . 621 

137. Attitude in spinal caries ......... 624 



xxii Diseases of Children 

FIG. PAGE 

138. Jurymast . . . 628 

139. Patterns of Thomas's splints for spinal disease, &c 629 

140. Thomas's splint applied for caries of spine with abscess . . . 630 

141. Talipes equino-varus .......... 635 

142. Very severe equino-varus . . . . . . . . . 635 

143. Little's tin splint .......... 640 

144. Artificial muscle . . . . . . . . . . 640 

145. Little's tin talipes shoe 640 

146. Acquired talipes . . . . . . . . . . 644 

147. Artificial muscle for flat-foot . . . . . . . . 646 

148. Congenital wry-neck .......... 648 

149. Artificial muscle for congenital wry-neck ...... 648 

150. Double thumb ........... 652 

151. Intrauterine amputation . . . . . . . . .652 

152. Arrest of development of limb ........ 653 

153. Club-hand ............ 654 

154. Double club-hand ........... 654 

155. Genu recurvatum and talipes calcaneus .... . 655 

156. Abnormal position in utero, causing genu recurvatum, &c. . . . 656 

157. Congenital dislocation of both hips . . . . . . -657 

158. Sarcoma of lower jaw and eyeball ........ 669 

159. Enchondroma of spine and fingers ....... 670 

160. Multiple enchondromata of finger . . . . . . . . 671 

161. Hygroma of neck with macroglossia ....... 672 

162. Congenital serous cyst of back . . . . . . . . 672 

163. Dermoid cyst of orbit . . ■ . . . . . 673 

164. ,, ,, forehead ......... 674 

165. ,, ,, in lachrymal fissure 675 

166. Myxo-lipoma of breast . . . . . . . . . . 676 

167. Giant foot ............ 676 

168. Congenital cystic tumour of groin ........ 677 

169. ,, sacral tumour ......... 678 

170. Section of congenital sacral tumour ....... 679 

171. Lymphoma of neck .......... 681 

172. Cystic bronchocele . .......... 682 

173. Hairy mole of the face and scalp ....... 700 

174. Separation of the upper epiphysis of the right humerus . . . . 705 

175. Plan of the development of the humerus ...... 706 

176. Dislocation of patella . . . . . . . . ..711 

177. New York Orthopedic Hospital brace for knock-knee and bow-legs . 727 

178. Knight's bow-leg brace . . . . . . . . . . 727 

179. Boston Children's Hospital's brace for bow -legs ..... 727 

180. The Davis-Taylor long-traction hip-splint ...... 732 

181. Taylor's spinal brace with chin-cup ....... 734 

182. Arnold's steam milk steriliser . ,. 738 

183. Seibert's milk steriliser ......... 739 



DISEASES OF CHILDREN. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD. 

The Periods of Early Xiife. — The life of man is naturally divided into 
three great epochs — viz. a period of Growth and Developme?it, of Maturity, 
and of Decline. 

The first division includes the periods of early life, Avhen those series of 
operations are in progress by which the ovum or primitive germ is trans- 
formed into the complete organism ; it maybe subdivided into Intra-iiterine 
Life, Irifancy, Childhood, Youth, and Adolescence. 

Intra-uterine life. — During this epoch the embryo depends entirely 
upon its parent for all its wants. The maternal blood supplies it with 
material for constructive purposes, carries away its waste products, and 
renders unnecessary the maintenance of an independent temperature. It is 
clearly a time of great importance to the future being, and it is necessary 
that this development should take place under healthy conditions, inasmuch 
as it is physiologically impossible for an unhealthy or weakly mother to supply 
the wants of the embryo, and any failure in the nutritive powers of the mater- 
nal blood is certain to leave its stamp on the future development of the child. 
An infant may come into the world fairly well developed and plump, from 
the presence of more or less stored-up fat, in spite of the weakly state of the 
mother's health, but it is almost certain sooner or later to exhibit tendencies 
to disease in the direction of the stock from whence it springs. Not only 
may the embryo owe a weakly building-up of its tissues to its mother, but it 
may actually share maternal disease. The foetus may suffer from endo- 
carditis originating in a rheumatic state of its parent, and this lesion, affecting 
as it usually does the right side of the heart, may lead to malformations, 
which are only too likely to cut short its career. From its parents also the 
foetus may receive the virus of syphilis, from which it may suffer during its 
embryonic life or after birth. It may receive an inheritance of tuberculosis 
or epilepsy, or a tendency to gout or rheumatism. During foetal life many 
anomalies may arise from arrested development or an overgrowth in certain 
directions : cleft palate and hare-lip are instances of the former, and super- 
numerary fingers and naevoid growths of the latter. 

Infancy. — The Romans used the word infa?is in its widest sense, and 
though, as its derivation implies, it was originally applied to those who could 

B 



2 The Physiology of Infancy and Childhood 

not speak, it came to be employed by them for children of much older years. 
The terms infancy, premiere enfance, and Sauglingsperiode, are most usually 
applied to the first seven or eight months of life, the time during which the 
infant is nursed at the breast and before the eruption of the milk-teeth. It 
is, however, used by some writers to include the whole of the first year. 
Within the first week or two of life the infant has often to contend with con- 
ditions which are peculiar to this period, inasmuch as they depend in one 
way or another on the act of birth. It may be born asphyxiated in conse- 
quence of strangulation by the cord or pressure on the head, or various 
injuries producing hematomas may take place ; or there may be septic in- 
fection in connection with the umbilical cord. The change from placental 
alimentation to the digestion of food in the infant's stomach is a time of 
peculiar danger, especially if artificial food is given, and the mortality 
of infants is much greater during the first week of life than at any other 
period. 

During the first few months of infancy, life is not so purely vegetative as 
it is during the intra-uterine period, yet the mental faculties are in abeyance 
and the movements mostly involuntary or reflex. 

One consequence of the undeveloped condition of the higher or inhibitory 
centres is that the reflex centres are less under control than in later years, so 
that disorderly reflex movements in the form of convulsions are liable to take 
place on the slightest provocation. Growth at this period is extremely rapid, 
the weight more than doubling itself during the first six months of life, and a 
great strain is thus thrown on the alimentary system ; the lymphatic and 
blood-forming organs are also exceedingly active. It is not surprising, there- 
fore, that the diseases which are most common and fatal at this period are 
those connected with digestion and absorption. The infant requires much 
rest, and, indeed, divides its time for the most part between feeding and 
sleeping. It is during this period that ' wasting,' ' marasmus,' or ' atrophy ' is 
so common, a result of chronic catarrh of the intestinal tract and a consequent 
impairment of the digestive organs. 

Childhood. — The eruption of the milk-teeth marks an epoch in early 
life, the term childhood being applied to the period commencing with the 
first dentition and ending with the commencement of the second, at the 
sixth or seventh year. The terms seconde enfa?ice and Kindersalter are used 
in a similar sense. Growth at this period continues to be active, though not 
proceeding at the same rate as during infancy, but disturbances cf the ali- 
mentary system are common, and the children quickly waste if digestion and 
absorption are interfered wjth. 

The osseous and muscular systems are developing so that by the end of 
the first year the child can crawl or even walk with help. It is at the com- 
mencement of this period that rickets, a disease so intimately associated 
with malnutrition, often makes its appearance. The mental faculties are 
opening out as the brain develops, and the infant begins to recognise its 
friends and call them by name. During the period of dentition nervous dis- 
turbances are common, and the lesions giving rise to infantile paralysis are 
apt to take place. 

Youth, — The termsyouthjeunesse, and Knabensalter, are generally applied 
to the period commencing at the second dentition and ending at puberty or 



Youth — Respiration 3 

about the fourteenth year. During this time the milk-teeth are replaced by 
the permanent set, the bones become more solid and the muscles better 
developed, while the mental faculties are exceedingly acute and the mind 
readily acquires knowledge. As puberty approaches the voice becomes 
deeper and the sexual organs undergo a marked increase of development. 
During this period, in which scholastic education is carried on, the memory 
is exceedingly retentive, perhaps more so than at any other time. Children 
at this period easily ' outgrow their strength,' the nervous system is readily 
upset, as is evidenced by the frequency of chorea, and the alimentary canal 
is apt to suffer from chronic catarrh. 

Respiration. — During intra-uterine life the respiration of the foetus is 
carried on by means of the placenta. The needs of the foetus as far as 
oxygen is concerned are supplied in a far more imperfect manner through 
the maternal blood than when, after birth, the oxygen is taken direct from 
the air into the vesicles of the lungs. The oxidation processes of the foetus, 
with its life of continual sleep and without the necessity of maintaining an 
independent temperature, are feeble, and its wants are easily supplied. This 
condition of things induces a tolerance of oxygen-starvation, much greater 
than in adults, that frequently stands it in good stead during the act of birth, 
when the placental circulation is perhaps cut off, or the nervous centres in 
the medulla are subjected to great pressure. Newly born infants are often 
in a condition of asphyxia, especially after severe labours, and have been 
known to survive without either placental or pulmonary respiration for 10 
to 15 minutes, and infants may live for many hours, or even days, with the 
greater part of their lungs in an unexpanded state. The same tolerance of 
a venous condition of blood occurs in other newly born animals ; thus Brown- 
Sequard has shown that a newly born mouse will recover after 10 minutes', 
and a newly-born guinea-pig after 12 minutes' immersion in water, while 
an immersion of 3 to 3} minutes is fatal to the adult animals. 

In the newly born the respirations amount to about 44 per minute ; 
during the early months of life they vary from 35 to 40 per minute ; at the 
end of the first year and commencement of the second they have fallen to 
about 28 ; during the third and fourth years they are about 25 ; by the 
fifteenth year they have fallen to 20 ; in the adult they vary from 16 to 2c. 
Infants and children, as might be expected, give off absolutely less carbonic 
acid than do adults, but relatively more. 

The absorption of oxygen is also relatively greater in childhood than in 
adult life ; the oxygen in the exhaled carbonic acid does not represent all 
the inhaled oxygen, the proportion retained being greater in childhood than 
in adult life. 

In the infant and during the first three years of life the type of respira- 
tion is the abdominal, the diaphragm being the chief muscle used in tranquil 
respiration, the abdomen rising and falling, and the ribs moving but little. 
Later the costo-inferior type is present, respiration takes place both by the 
raising of the upper seven ribs by the intercostals, and also by means of the 
diaphragm, the chest expanding and the abdomen moving slightly. 

In girls towards puberty the costo-superior type is present, the upper 
part of the chest moves freely, the lower part and the abdomen hardly at all. 

The vital cubic capacity of the lungs is smaller in proportion to their 



4 The Physiology of Infancy and Childhood 

height in children than in adults. This is due in part to the relative small- 
ness of their lungs and to the greater elasticity and flexibility of their chest- 
walls. 

According to Schnepf and Wintrich the vital cubic capacity at different 
ages is shown by the following table : — 

ii to 12 years . . about 1800 c.c. 



to 4 years . . about 450 c.c. 
„ 7 „ . . „ 900 c.c. 
„ 10 „ . . „ 1300 c.c. 



13 „ 14 „ . „ 2200 c.c. 

In adults (average) „ 3300 c.c. 



Changes in the Circulation after Birth. — The cessation of the placental 
circulation, the inflation of the lungs with air, and consequently the increased 
amount of blood passing through the pulmonary artery, lead to a gradual 
shrinking and obliteration of the various fcetal passages, viz. the vessels of 
the cord, the ductus venosus, ductus arteriosus, and foramen ovale. These 
changes commence after the first few respirations have been taken, and 
within a week or ten days these passages are closed. Not infrequently, 
however, one or other of them remains open for a much longer period, this 
being especially true of the foramen ovale. In 62 cases under 2 years of 
age noted by Parrot, it was only completely obliterated in 4 ; and of 52 
cases between 2 and 9 years, in 26 only was it completely closed. 

With regard to the ductus arteriosus, Parrot found that of 187 cases of 
1 month to 3 years, in 46 it was open, in 18 it was partially closed, and in 
119 it was obliterated. The ductus venosus is mostly obliterated within 
three days ; according to Quincke its remaining partially open gives rise to 
icterus. 

Amount of Blood in Body. — In the newly born infant the amount of 
blood in the body is relatively less than in the adult, viz. T ^ of the body- 
weight, while in the adult it is T ^. 

The blood of the infant contains a greater proportion of white to red 
corpuscles, viz. 1 to 130 (Demme), than does that of the adult. According 
to Hayem, the blood of the foetus contains more red corpuscles per cubic 
millimetre than does adult blood. This observation has also been confirmed 
by spectrum analysis, Leichtenstern showing that fcetal blood contains more 
haemoglobin than in adults. The fibrin is less, and coagulation occurs less 
completely. According to the same authority, during the first fourteen days 
of life remarkable changes take place in the size of the red corpuscles, and 
also in the number of granules present, apparently from the destruction of 
the corpuscles. 

Pulse. — At the end of fcetal life the number of cardiac contractions per 
minute is about 132 in boys and 140 in girls ; in the newly born infant it has 
fallen to 130 to 133. According to some observations, the pulse-rate falls 
notably immediately after the ligature of the cord, to regain its normal 
number an hour or two later. During the week succeeding birth it varies 
from 120 to 140, crying immediately increasing the number some 10 to 30 
beats. By the second year it has fallen to 110, by the fifth to 100, by the 
eighth year to 90, and by the twelfth to 80. 

During sleep the pulse-rate is diminished, especially in infants, some- 
times by as much as 10 or 20 beats. The pulse is more often irregular in 
infants and children than in adults, and this apart from the influence of 
disease. 



Pulse — Alimentary Canal 5 

According to Soltmann the inhibitory action of the vagus is less marked 
in newly born animals than in adults. The circulation of the blood in in- 
fants and children is carried on more rapidly than in adults, and conse- 
quently the tissues are supplied with a superabundance of arterial blood. 
The tension in the arteries is comparatively low, on account of the relatively 
large size of the aorta and arterial system generally. 

According to Vierordt a complete circulation takes 

In newly born infants 12 seconds (134 pulse rate) 
At two years . .15 „ (107 „ ) 

At fourteen years 18 *6 „ (87 „ ) 

In adults ... 22 „( 72 „ ) 

On account of the proneness of the pulse to be influenced by excitement 
during infancy, it is of less value in diagnosis at this period than in later 
years. 

Alimentary Canal. — For the first six to eight weeks of life there is very 
slight secretion of saliva, only sufficient being formed to render the mouth 
moist. In the third and fourth months the secretion is much more free, so 
that infants about this period begin to dribble ; the amount of secretion be- 
comes still larger as the period of dentition approaches. By the third or 
fourth month the saliva contains pytalin and readily converts cooked starch 
into maltose. The stomach of the newly born infant is small, its capacity 
being one to two fluid ounces, by the end of the fourth week from three to 
four ounces, at three months about five ounces, and at the end of the first 




Fig. 1. — Stomach of a Newly Born Infant (natural size). 

year ten ounces. The gastric juice has at first but imperfect digestive 
powers, and the stomach is in consequence quickly exhausted ; the peristaltic 
action of the walls of the stomach is often very vigorous, and may give rise 
to the regurgitation of the food swallowed, especially as the cardiac sphincter 
is weaker and more easily gives way in infants than in adults. For the first 
few months the digestive powers of the pancreatic and intestinal juices are 
exceedingly feeble, so that starches and portions of curd of cow's milk will 
pass through the whole of the intestines unchanged. The secretion of bile 
begins at an early period of fcetal life, probably about the third month ; the 



6 The Physiology of Infancy and Childhood 

bile accumulates in the small intestines and is passed as the meconium during 
the first few days after birth. It forms dark brown or greenish masses, 
viscous and tenacious, and of a feeble acid reaction, and consists of mucus 
holding in suspension fatty matters, epithelial cells, biliary pigments and 
cholesterine, but no bile-acids. Three or four days after birth the meconium 
is succeeded by the golden yellow semi-liquid stools characteristic of the 
healthy infant. This yellow colour is due to the bili-rubin of the bile ; the 
green colour sometimes seen in intestinal catarrh depends upon the oxidation 
of the bili-rubin and formation of bili-verdin. Under normal circumstances 
newly born infants have two or three stools daily. Their character gradually 
changes as the infants get older, becoming more and more like the stools of 
adults. 

Urine. — The newly born infant generally passes water within 24 hours 
of its birth and continues to do so some 10 or 12 times daily, passing about 
1 oz. at a time, or about 10 ozs. in 24 hours. The first urine passed is cloudy 
from the presence of uric acid and epithelial cells, and is of specific gravity 
1 003- 1 006 ; later it becomes clear and of a light straw colour. It contains 
more uric acid and less urea (about '5 per cent.) than does that of adults. 

During the whole of childhood the urine is of a paler colour and lower 
specific gravity than during adult life ; smaller quantities are also passed, but 
on account of the difficulty of collecting the total quantity the amounts have 
not been accurately determined. The following figures may be taken as 
approximative : — 

Between 2-5 yrs. about 15-25 ozs., containing 5-14 grammes of 'urea (in 24 hrs.) 
5-9 „ „ 25-35 ,, ,, 14-19 

„ 9-14 » „ 35-40 ,, ,, 19-22 

Adults ,, 50 ,, ,, 30 

Temperature. — The temperature of an infant at birth taken in the 
rectum is about ioo° F. (3775 C, Roger, Sommer), A few minutes after 
birth it sinks to 97°, or in weakly infants still lower ; in the course of a few 
hours it again rises and remains at about 98*8° F. This temperature or a 
fraction of a degree higher — 98-8-99° F. — may be taken as the normal rectal 
temperature during childhood and youth. For young children, if exact ob- 
servations are required, the rectum is the best place to insert the thermo- 
meter, as it is difficult to keep the infant quiet with a thermometer in its 
axilla. It is important to remember that the rectal temperature exceeds 
that of the axilla by about 7 F. For most clinical observations the fold of 
the groin or the axilla may be taken. What is also of importance is the time 
at which it is taken. According to the careful researches of Finlayson, the 
diurnal range of temperature amounts to about 2° F., the maximum being 
at 5 to 6 P.M. and the minimum in the small hours of the morning; the range 
of temperature in adults being somewhat less. 

According to Reitz, the lowest temperature is between 4 and 5 A.M., in- 
creasing to 11 A.M., falling to 2 P.M., then rising to its diurnal maximum 
at 6 P.M. 

The most recent observations upon the temperature of children in health 
have been made by Dr. O. Sturges. The most interesting of these were 
made upon two sturdy children living in the country, aged respectively 1 year 



Temperature — Nervous System j 

and 2 years. The temperatures were taken at various hours from 10 a.m. to 
midnight, the usual range being 97-4 to 98*6. The highest temperature was 
after breakfast, when the children were most lively and eager for play. 

The heat of the body is maintained with greater difficulty during infancy 
than in later life, a result due not only to the relatively larger surface, but 
also to the much greater vascularity of an infant's skin. Infants and children 
are much more liable to suffer from cold extremities than are adults. 

Nervous System. — The closure of the anterior fontanelle takes place 
towards the end of the second year in strong and vigorous children ; in im- 
mature and rickety children it may be delayed till the third year, or it may 
be later. 

The cubic capacity of the skull in newly born infants is about one-third 
that of adults, viz. 500 c.c. ; by the second year it is about 1000 c.c, while 
in the adult it is about 1500 c.c. The brain of a newly-born infant forms 
about 14 per cent, of its body-weight, while in the adult it is only 2-37 per 
cent. The brain doubles its weight during the first year of life (14 oz. to 
28 oz.) ; by the seventh year it has reached 38 oz. ; by the fourteenth or 
fifteenth year 42 oz. to 45 oz. ; the average brain weight of an adult (male) 
being about 50 oz. 

The cerebellum after birth develops more quickly than other parts of the 
brain, the frontal lobes more slowly till six years of age, when they develop 
more rapidly. If the brain of a newly born infant be examined, it will be 
noted that its consistence is much less firm than is that of an adult's. If 
placed on a plate it spreads itself out or moulds itself into any shape more 
readily than an adult's. The pia mater is exceedingly delicate and very 
easily dissected off with a pair of forceps. In colour the brain is light grey, 
often yellowish from the presence of bile pigments ; there is no well-marked 
difference between the ' grey' and ' white ' substance as in adult brain, and 
the convolutions are less distinctly marked. The multipolar cells in the 
grey matter on the surface are ill developed, as also is the pyramidal bundle 
of nerves which connect them with the basal ganglia and internal capsule ; 
on the contrary, the nerve elements of the cord and spinal nerves are well 
developed. 

From the above researches it is clear that while the excito-motor centres 
in the spinal cord and medulla are well developed at birth, the higher centres 
on the surface of the brain are imperfect, and so also are the strands or nerve- 
paths which connect the higher and lower centres. This agrees also with 
the experiments of Soltmann, who has shown experimentally that the appli- 
cation of some form of irritation, as the induced current, to the surface of the 
brains of newly born animals does not evoke movements in the face and 
limbs as it does in adults. The actions of infants — sucking — crying — swal- 
lowing — breathing — are reflex, and inasmuch as they are uncontrolled by the 
inhibitory influence of the higher centres, are apt to be disorderly and ex- 
cessive ; as, for instance, in convulsions. The reflex actions displayed by a 
brainless frog are more violent and vigorous than those displayed when the 
brain is intact. As the higher centres develop, changes come over the mental 
character of the infant, and the reflex actions become more and more under 
control and dominated by the psychical centres. The movements of newly 
born infants are almost entirely reflex, though certain 'spontaneous' or 
'impulsive' movements, such as stretching the limbs, are present. 



8 The Physiology of Infancy and Childhood 

Sight. — In the first week after birth the infant apparently cannot distin- 
guish objects, but can light from darkness. According to Preyer's examina- 
tions, the movements of the eyes are not co-ordinated at first. Konigstein, 
from an examination of 300 newly born infants, states that they were all 
hypermetropic. The colour of the iris is bluish -grey or green, but one finds 
also shades of light grey and brown. The same investigator has also 
noted blood-extravasations in the retina, which disappear in a few days. 
The pupils are very large in the newly born, and sensitive to light ; in later 
childhood they can endure strong light better than can adults. Of the colours, 
children learn first to distinguish white from black ; in the second year they 
learn to distinguish other colours, first red and yellow, later green and blue. 

Heaiing-. — In the newly born the mucous membrane of the tympanum is 
swollen so that no cavity is present, consequently they are not very sensitive 
to sounds, but shrill and strong sounds make impression, the infants waking 
with cries. In the first months children hear high and sharp sounds better 
than deep. Older children can hear very weak and high sounds which 
make no impression on adults. 

Taste. — Newly born infants can distinguish sweet, bitter, sour, and salt 
tastes. 

Psychical Phenomena. — In the second month an infant learns to hold 
up its head and make voluntary movements and to distinguish the voices of 
its friends. At the 3rd or 4th week it can laugh and smiles when caressed. 
In the 3rd to 4th month the infant notices its toys or anything it can hold in 
its hands, mostly putting them to its mouth. At 7 to 9 months the child can 
sit up, and 3 or 4 months later tries to walk ; when a year old well-developed 
children can walk. From this time the child begins to talk first syllables, 
such as td-ld, dd-dd, be-be ; then words are learnt, and by the end of the 
second year most children can string a few words together. 

Sleep. — The newly born infant sleeps all day except when it wakes up 
for food. At a year old the infant sleeps fifteen to sixteen hours ; from 2 to 3 
years, twelve to thirteen hours ; from 4 to 5 years, no sleep in the day, 
from ten to eleven hours at night ; from 12 to 13 years, eight to nine hours. 
Infants sleep lightly and are easily awakened ; at 4 to 5 years of age they 
are generally heavy sleepers. 

Body weight. — An infant born at full term weighs from 6^ to "]\ lb., 
7 lb. being an average weight. For the first two or three days of life there 
is a loss of 4 oz. to 7 oz., then a regular gain, so that by the 8th or 9th day 
the initial loss has been made good. According to Gregory, the following 
figures express the average daily loss and gain during the first six days of 
life :— 

1st day . . loss of 139 grammes or nearly 5 oz. 



2nd 
3rd 
4th 
5 th 
6th 



33 ^4 5) 33 2 4 33 

gain of 33 „ about 1 „ 

» 5° 33 » 1 4 » 

33 5° 33 33 *4 3) 

33 3^ 3) 33 I4" 33 



That these figures are by no means universally correct is clear from the 
difference in weight noted by different observers ; thus, according to Lewis 



Body Weight — Length 9 

Smith, in 170 infants born in the New York infant asylum (89 male and 81 
female), the average weight of the boys was 7 lb. 11 oz. and the girls 7 lb. 
4 oz. Fifty of these were wet-nursed, and weighed when one week old, with 
the following result : — 

Increase of weight in 
Loss . 



32 


cases 


13 


33 


4*8 


oz. 


3' 3 


33 


12 


33 


6 





Average gain " . 

„ loss 
Greatest gain 

„ loss 

Growth during the first year, more especially during the first six months, 
is extremely rapid, the infant doubling its weight in the first six months and 
trebling it during the first year. Many observations have been made on the 
weights of children during the first year ; the following table exhibits the 
monthly gains, being the average of nine infants observed by E. Pfeiffer, who 
were nursed at the breast at first, and later this was supplemented with cow's 
milk : — 

Age. Monthly gam. Weight at end of the months. 





oz. 


lb. oz. 


1 st month . 


. .13*. • 


■ 3 5^ 


2nd „ 


. . 30k . . 


. 10 4 


3rd „ 


. 26.V . 


11 15 


4th „ 


. 26 . 


13 9i 


5* „ 


. 21 


14 14I 


6th „ 


. 21 


. 16 3^ 


7th „ 


. 17 • 


17 5 


8th „ 


. 21 


18 10 


9th „ 


• 23 . 


20 1 


10th „ 


. 20^ . 


21 si 


nth „ 


. II 


22 


1 2th „ 


. 7 . 


22 7 



Growth after the end of the first year is slower, so that the weight is not 
again doubled till the end of the sixth year, and doubled again by the end of 
the fourteenth. 

Length. — The average length of a newly born infant is 19 inches ; it has 
doubled its length by the end of the fourth year. 

Much interest and importance is attached to the increase of weight and 
height during infancy and childhood : weekly weighings, especially during 
the early months of life, give very valuable information with regard to diet. 
It must, however, always be borne in mind that increase in weight, especially 
if it be due to an accumulation of fat, does not always indicate strength, or 
that the food being taken is a suitable one. During childhood, undergrowth 
or loss of weight must be looked upon as an indication of danger and as evi- 
dence of malnutrition. On the other hand, overgrowth without a proportionate 
increase in weight should always be taken as indicative of weakness. 

For further information on this subject, the reader is referred to the ' Life 
History Album ' by Francis Galton. 



o The Physiology of Infancy and Childhood 

The following is a proportionate table of height and weight :- 



Height 


Weight 


Height 


Weight 


Height 


Weight 


in. 


lb. 


in. 


lb. 


in. 


lb. 


24 


18 


37 


38 


49 


62^ 


25 


19* 


38 


40 


5o 


65" 


26 


21 


39 


42 


5i 


67^ 


27 


22^ 


40 


44 


52 


70 


28 


24" 


41 


46 


53 


72^ 


29 


25j 


42 


48 


54 


75 


30 


27 


43 


5o 


55 


11\ 


31 


28^ 


44 


52 


56 


80 


32 


30 


45 


54 


57 


82^ 


33 


317 


46 


5^ 


58 


85" 


34 


33 


47 


58 


59 


87^ 


35 


34 


48 


60 


60 


90 


36 


36 











It is not only of interest, but it is important, to both weigh and measure 
children at frequent intervals. Periods of under or over growth are periods 
of danger, as indicating either malnutrition or an overtaxing of the strength. 
There should also be maintained a close relation of height to weight. 

Dentition. — At birth the jaw contains the dental sacs with the already- 
calcified crowns of the temporary teeth. Besides the temporary teeth, there 





Fig. 2.— Jaw of a Child at Birth, showing the Dental Sacs (Quain's ' Anatomy ')■ «, the left 
half seen from the inner side, b, the right half seen from the outer side ; the bone has in 
part been removed to expose the dental sacs, b shows the sacs of the temporary set and 
the sac of the first permanent molar behind the posterior molar of the milk set. a shows 
the same, and also the sacs of the permanent incisors and canine. 

is the calcified crown of one of the permanent set, the first molar, which is 
situated immediately behind the last temporary molar. (See fig. 2.) 

During the interval which elapses between birth and their eruption, the 
teeth are undergoing further development ; the sacs become enlarged, so that 



Dentition 



II 



they are readily felt through the gum as rounded swellings, the edges of the 
teeth become sharper, and the fangs are developed. As the fangs elongate, 
the edge of the tooth comes nearer to the surface of the gum, the latter swells, 
and becomes more vascular, the edge of the tooth appears as a line or point 
beneath the membrane, which finally becomes perforated, and the tooth is cut. 

The temporary set appear for the most part in groups in the following 
order. First group— The lower two central incisors appear from the 6th-8th 
month, followed by a pause of from three to six weeks. Second group — The 
four upper incisors are cut at intervals of a week or two, from the 8th-ioth 
month, followed by an interval of one to three months. Third group — The 
lower lateral incisors, the upper and lower front molars appear at intervals 
from the 12th- 14th months, followed by a pause of two to three months. 
Fourth group — The canines appear, the upper ones usually being first, from 
the i8th-2oth month. Filth group — The posterior molars mostly appear at 
the age of 2-2^- years. 

The milk set, when complete, remain unchanged for several years, though 
the permanent set are gradually becoming developed in their sacs, ready to 
replace the earlier set. 

The following formula exhibits the relation between the temporary and 
permanent set : — 

mo. ca. in. in. ca. mo. 
2 1 2 I 2 1 2 



Temporary set 



Permanent set 



Upper 
i Lower 

Upper 
Lower 





2 


1 


2 


^ 


1 


2 




no. 


bi. 


ca. 


in. 


in. 


ca. 


bi. 


mo. 


3 


2 


1 


2 


2 


1 


2 


3 



2 1 



10 
10, 

16 
16. 



32 




Fig. 3. — Lower Jaw of Child of about three years, showing the relation of the temporary and 
"permanent teeth. The. milk-teeth of the right side and incisors ofthe left are shown and 
also the sacs of the permanent set, except the wisdom-tooth, which is not yet formed. The 
large sac near the ramus of the jaw is that of the first permanent molar, and above and 
behind it is the rudiment of the second molar. (Quain's 'Anatomy.') 



At six years of age there are a greater number of teeth in the jaws than 
at any age, there being the milk set and all the permanent set except the 
wisdom-teeth. 



12 The Physiology of Infancy and Childhood 

The permanent teeth are cut in the following order : — ■ 

6 years of age 



Molar, first 


6 


Incisors, central 


7 


„ lateral 


8 


Bicuspid, anterior . 


9 


„ posterior . 


IO 


Canines .... 


. 11-12 


Molars, second. 


. 12-13 


„ third . 


. 17-25 



It is to be particularly noted that during this period a marked increase 
takes place in the length of the jaw to provide room for the three molars of 
the permanent set, which make their appearance posteriorly to the milk set ; 
the bicuspids replace the temporary molars (see fig. 3). 

While the above account represents the state of things which obtains 
under normal conditions, yet important deviations both as to the time of the 
appearance of the teeth through the gum and the condition of the teeth 
themselves frequently take place as the result of disease or enfeebled nutri- 
tion. It is well known that rickets is the most common cause of delayed 
dentition, and not only are the teeth cut later than usual, but the defective 
nutrition which exists in this state frequently interferes with the develop- 
ment of the teeth ; they are in consequence dwarfed or provided with a thin 
or partially deficient layer of enamel, so that they quickly become carious 
after being cut. Mr. Hutchinson has pointed out the effect of hereditary 
syphilis upon certain of the permanent set, the most characteristic effect 
being a dwarfing and notching of the upper central incisors, the result of 
malnutrition during the manifestations of syphilis in the first few months of 
life, just at the time when the 'cap of dentine' of the permanent set of 
incisors is in process of formation. He has also suggested that just as a 
local eczema or a prolonged illness affects the nutrition of the finger-nails, 
leaving behind furrows or other marks, so infantile stomatitis or some 
general condition of malnutrition will, through interference with the forma- 
tion of dentine or enamel, leave its mark on the temporary or permanent set. 

There is reason to believe the first permanent molars are especially 
affected by stomatitis, mercurial or otherwise, the enamel being deficient at 
their crowns, producing rugosities on their upper surface (Erosion en mamelori). 
The incisors may be also affected, having either a transverse furrow or a pit- 
ting, or presenting a honeycomb appearance or notch in the centre of their 
cutting edge. It is easy to understand that if a condition of malnutrition 
occurs just when the cap of dentine is first formed, the future tooth will show 
the effects at its tip or edge. If, however, this occurs later, when the germ 
is of some size, the future tooth will show a groove or mark at some distance 
from the tip. 

Blortality in Infancy and Childhood* — In this country out of every 
1,000 children born, on an average 149 die before the end of their first year 
of life and 263 before the age of 5 years. During the next five years, from 
5 to 10 years of age, 35 die, and 18 more between the ages of 10 and 15 
years. So that out of the original 1,000, 684 will be alive on their fifteenth 
birthday and 316 will be dead. From these figures it is clear that the 



Mortality in Infancy and Childhood 13 

mortality is the greatest during the first year, and that it rapidly declines as 
childhood advances. Indeed the mortality is the greatest during the first 
day and succeeding days after birth ; thus Korosi, in analysing the ages of 
infants at death, found, out of 26,623 infants born in Pesth during the 
years 1874 and 1875, that out of every 1,000 born, 13 died within 24 hours ; 
57 on the second day ; 34 - 2 during the first week ; 26*3 during the second 
week ; and 92 during the first month. 

The mortality of infants differs enormously, and is dependent upon the 
amount of care which is taken in their feeding, and the way in which they 
are looked after, as well as upon their parentage. Roughly speaking, it may 
be said that among the rural population of Great Britain, and among the well- 
to-do dwellers of suburban districts, the annual infant mortality amounts to 
100 per 1,000, 900 out of every 1,000 children born being alive at the end of 
the first year. This is the average infantile death-rate of Norway, which is 
the lowest of any European country, and, indeed, probably in the world. 

In the more crowded districts of a large city, such as Manchester or 
Liverpool, the annual death-rate among infants under a year is 200 per 
1,000 births, or, in other words, one-fifth of those born never reach the end of 
their first year. In the worst and most crowded districts there is little doubt 
that the mortality is at least 300 per 1,000, one-third of those born never 
living to become a year old. A still higher death-rate prevails among the 
unfortunate class of illegitimate children ; the mortality among these amounts 
at times in some districts of our large cities to 500 per 1,000, not more than 
half living to be a year old. Indeed, the mortality has in some districts risen, 
as in Salford, to 710 per ijOoo. 1 

In London the rate of infant mortality is about the same as that of the 
country generally, namely 150 per 1,000. The mortality is the same in Paris 
as in London, while in most Continental cities it is higher. In Munich (1884- 
1889) it averaged 324 per 1,000 ; in Berlin, 268 per 1,000; in Russia, 266; 
and in Austria, 255 (Rahts). 

As one would naturally expect, child mortality also differs greatly under 
different circumstances ; thus we find in the healthy parts of England the 
annual mortality of children under five years of age is not more than 50 per 
1,000 (living at that age), that is, out of every 20 children (under five years 
of age) only one will die during the year ; whilst in the worst districts 100 or 
even no per 1,000 perish annually. 

Of the causes of death in these cases, it may be taken for granted that 
diseases of the digestive system play a most important rdle ; but statistics 
are more or less untrustworthy, as the causes of death which appear on death 
certificates are often not to be relied upon for purposes of classification. 
Analysing the causes of death from 2,000 cases of infants under two years of 
age, who died while under the care of the medical officers of our own 
Children's Dispensary, we found that of the fatal cases those connected with 
the digestive system head the list, forming 35 per cent, of the total number. 
Bronchitis and its allies caused death in 21 per cent, of the cases; whooping 
cough in 12 per cent. ; congenital syphilis in 10 per cent. ; and measles in 
9 per cent. 

Among the less frequent causes of death we find tuberculosis, meningitis, 
1 See Dr. John Tatham's Health Reports for Salford. 



14 The Physiology of Infancy and Childhood 

diphtheria, and various malformations. We must not forget to mention that 
premature birth accounts for some deaths that do not figure in our list, and 
those unfortunately too common cases which are returned as ' found dead 
in bed.' 

Infant mortality should not be calculated, as is sometimes done, by com- 
paring infant deaths with deaths at all ages, or with the number of persons 
living, inasmuch as in a given population there maybe many or few children 
or few old people, but it should be calculated on the infant population, or 
the number of children living at that age. Thus the number of deaths in 
infants under a year old should be compared with the number of infants 
living at the time, which is usually calculated as the mean of the births 
in that and the preceding year. In the same way the mortality of children 
under five years is calculated by comparing the deaths in the year with the 
number of children living under five years of age. 



15 



CHAPTER II. 

THE DISEASES INCIDENT TO BIRTH. 

THERE are certain lesions which are apt to take place only once in a 
lifetime, inasmuch as they owe their origin to the act of birth, or to those 
important changes which occur in the life conditions of the infant, when it 
exchanges the quiet dependence of intra- uterine life for the greater activity 
of an independent existence. Though many of these morbid conditions 
differ from one another in various ways, yet they are so intimately associated 
in their pathology and etiology that it is most convenient to discuss them 
together, rather than to relegate them, as is often done, to their respective 
places in the ordinary classification of disease. The act of birth brings its 
own special dangers to the infant as well as to the mother, and it is hardly 
surprising to find that many perish on the threshold of life, and that the 
mortality during the first few days after birth is greater than that of any 
other period. It must also be borne in mind that parturition is not only 
responsible for many infant deaths, but for damage done to the nervous 
centres by pressure or haemorrhage, which may be irreparable, and if the 
infant lives it is paralysed for life or a hopeless imbecile. These diseases 
which are connected with parturition are also of much interest and import- 
ance, in that many of them are eminently preventible, and are often the 
result of the ignorance of the friends or neighbours, who, in the absence 
of a medical practitioner or trained midwife, preside in the lying-in room. 
However this may be, many a life is lost and various morbid conditions 
arise for want of assistance during the later stages of labour, or for the want 
of care and cleanliness, or from exposure to contagion during the first few 
days which succeed birth. We will first consider the effects of asphyxia, so 
common in newly born infants. 

Asphyxia neonatorum. — {a) The infant may die from this cause before 
birth, or it may be born asphyxiated ; (b) asphyxia may supervene after 
birth through failure of the pulmonary respiration. It is hardly to be ex- 
pected that the transition from placental to pulmonary respiration should be 
accomplished without some risk of the cessation of the one before the com- 
mencement of the other. Fortunately for the infant, its nervous centres and 
tissues generally are far more tolerant of a venous condition of blood than 
they are in after life, for during intra-uterine life the aeration of the blood 
is far less perfectly performed by the placenta than it is afterwards by the 
lungs ; and, moreover, there is a mixture of the placental blood with the 
venous blood of the inferior vena cava before it is distributed to the body. 
Brown-Sequard has shown by direct experiment that newly born guinea- 



1 6 The Diseases incident to Birth 

pigs will survive ten to twelve minutes' immersion in water, provided no 
water enters their air passages, whilst less than three minutes is fatal to an 
adult animal under similar circumstances ; and, in the same way, we are fre- 
quently astonished to find the large amount of unexpanded lung present in 
infants who have survived their births some hours, or even days. This 
tolerance of venous blood stands the infant in good stead during the last 
stages of labour, when long delayed and the placental respiration interfered 
with or the funis compressed, or when after birth only an imperfect expan- 
sion of lung takes place. 

(a) Asphyxia before birth may be caused by the death or faintness of the 
mother, detachment of or interference with the placental circulation, com- 
pression of the cord, or possibly pressure on the brain. Asphyxia of the 
foetus may be suspected if the foetal heart becomes faint, the pulsation of 
the cord ceases or is weak, or if meconium is passed. In infants born 
asphyxiated the symptoms vary according to the degree of asphyxia pre- 
sent ; when slight, the lips are of a bluish tint, the skin dusky, the con- 
junctivae injected, the limbs are motionless, but the muscular tonus is present, 
the heart's action is slow and mostly visible, the movements of respiration 
are separated by long intervals, or no attempts are made unless some strong 
reflex irritation is applied. In the deeper stages of asphyxia the face and 
lips are pallid, the extremities blue, the muscles of the limbs and neck have 
lost their tonus, no attempts are made at respiratory movements, or only a 
few inspiratory efforts accompanied by indrawing of the ribs and epigastrium, 
but without any effect in expanding the lungs. Infants in this condition 
quickly die unless relieved. The post-mortein examination in such cases 
shows some foreign body in the air-passages, such as mucus, liquor amnii 
or meconium, or, if respiration has taken place, the lungs may be partially 
expanded with air ; the blood is dark and fluid, no clotting having taken place. 
Minute haemorrhages may have taken place on the surfaces of the lungs or 
brain ; the right side of the heart is distended with blood ; the stomach may 
contain meconium or air ; the large intestines may be partially empty, the 
meconium having been expelled. 

(b) Asphyxia may be due to causes which operate after birth. In some 
of these cases long-continued pressure on the brain may have damaged the 
nervous centres ; or asphyxia before birth may have given rise to haemor- 
rhage, which has paralysed the respiratory centres. The commonest cause, 
however, is weakness or immaturity on the part of the infant, its ribs 
being wanting in rigidity and its inspiratory forces feeble, so that it fails to 
draw in air with sufficient power to inflate the lungs, and the latter remain 
to the greater part of their extent in the foetal or unexpanded state, a 
condition to which the term of ' atelectasis ' is applied. Among the rare 
causes, asphyxia may be due to an imperfect development of the diaphragm, 
double pleuritic effusion, syphilitic infiltration of the lungs, and pressure on 
the trachea from enlarged glands. Those infants who have some complete 
physical obstruction to the entrance of air into the lungs necessarily only 
survive their birth a few minutes ; either no attempt at respiration is made or 
inspiratory efforts are accompanied by recession of the chest-walls, without 
any air entering the chest. Premature or weakly infants may survive for 
many hours or even days with a large portion of their lungs in an unexpanded 



Asphyxia Xeoriatorum 17 

state. They are extremely feeble, their cry is weak and whimpering, their 
lips and limbs are dusky blue, and their temperature below normal. Their 
respiratory movements are confined to slight movements of the diaphragm, 
sometimes accompanied by indrawing of the walls of the chest ; they 
have hardly strength to suck ; they are drowsy, or in a semi-comatose 
condition. They frequently suffer from local twitchings, less often general 
convulsions. If they live over forty-eight hours they become jaundiced 
and the limbs cedematous. An examination of the bodies of such infants 
reveals the usual signs of death from asphyxia : the blood is dark and fluid ; 
the right heart and veins distended ; the sinuses and membranes of the brain 
congested, and very often meningeal haemorrhage is present. The lungs 
will be found in a condition of atelectasis. Thus in a case which we recently 
examined in which the infant died six hours after birth, both lungs sank in 
water, were solid everywhere except at the anterior edges, where there were 
clusters of air-containing lobules and also similar expanded vesicles of a 
light red colour, scattered over the surfaces of the upper lobe. The cut sec- 
tions displayed purple solid lung without a trace of expanded lobules. In 
another case, where the infant lived three days, the lungs and heart together 
just floated in water, but the lungs even-where had a solid feel, crepitating 
very slightly ; the surfaces of both lungs were covered with distended 
lobules, while the central parts were solid. As a rule, the upper lobes are 
more often expanded than the bases, and the anterior and inferior edges and 
surfaces more than the central parts. Care must be taken not to confound 
atelectasis of the lung with pneumonic consolidation ; the latter condition is 
rare in the newly born. 

Treatment. — 1. Remove any mucus or fluid from the fauces and air- 
passages by means of the finger or by suction with a soft indiarubber catheter. 

2. Attempt tc excite respiration by some form of irritation applied to the 
skin. This perhaps is most effectually done by placing the infant in warm 
water (ioo° F.), and then dashing cold water over it by means of a sponge 
or the hand, or by slapping it with the wetted corner of a towel, or if the 
Faradic current is at hand, a feeble current maybe applied to the diaphragm 
and other inspiratory muscles. 

3. If these methods fail, no time should be lost in practising artificial 
respiration by Sylvester's or Schultz's method, which is to be continued as 
long as the cardiac sounds can be heard. 

Active treatment will less often be required in those cases of asphyxia 
supervening after birth from non-expansion of the lungs. Gentle measures 
may be undertaken to excite more active respiratory effects, and to combat 
the somnolence by means of hot and cold water, or by the application from 
time to time of stimulating liniments to the chest. Such infants, however, 
but feebly respond to our efforts, and over-treatment in this direction may 
easily do more harm than good ; our efforts will mainly have to be directed 
to placing the infant under the most favourable conditions for gaining strength 
and gradually bringing about expansion of the lungs. One of the most im- 
portant indications is to maintain its heat. As soon as possible it should be 
surrounded by cotton-wool and placed before the fire ; if too feeble to take 
the breast, milk should be drawn from the breast and given the infant by a 
spoon or small feeding-bottle. It may even be necessary to feed it by pass- 

C 



i8 



The Diseases incident to Birth 



ing a No. 12 or No. 14 soft indiarubber catheter (Jacques's patent) into the 
stomach, and thus introducing, by means of a syringe or funnel, half an ounce 
of milk ; the cathether must be quickly withdrawn to prevent reflux of the 
fluid. In the care and nurture of these weakly infants various means have 
been adopted ; for instance, placing them in cradles or cots in small cham- 
bers where the temperature is maintained by artificial means. The best 
known of these is the ' Couveuse ' of Auvard, which consists of a box, in which 
the basket containing the infant is placed, and maintained at a temperature 
of ioo° Fahr. by means of a reservoir of warm water heated by a special 
arrangement ; a glass lid covers in the box, and ventilation is secured by a 
current of air which has passed over the warm-water reservoir. 

Apoplexia neonatorum. — Cerebral haemorrhage, occurring in early life, 
is hardly ever the result of a ruptured artery, but is almost invariably caused 




Jf 



Fig. 4.— Meningeal Haemorrhage in an Infant ; death on the twenty second day {after McNutt). 



by a venous congestion, and takes place from the capillary vessels of the pia 
mater or choroid plexuses. The arteries of the young are not liable to suffer 
from atheroma, but retain their elasticity, and, more.over, are not likely to have 
to submit to any unusual strain from an hypertrophied heart. On the other 
hand, the pia mater in early infancy is exceedingly delicate, and its capillaries 
fragile, as can be readily demonstrated by noticing how easily it is stripped 
from the brain by means of forceps, and how loose is its connection with the 
soft brain substance beneath it. Further, we have already alluded to the fact 
that the cerebral sinuses and veins become distended with blood in asphyxia 
from various causes — a rupture of the capillary vessels of the pia mater takes 
place, and blood is effused into the sub-arachnoid space. This effusion, in con- 
sequence of the loose connections of the pia with the brain, may extend over 



Apoplexia Neonatorum 19 

a large surface, or burst into the sub-dural space. The blood clot may 
compress or lacerate the brain substance, and if the infant lives for a few 
days it may be followed by softening. The hsemorrhage may take place 
during birth, from compression of the umbilical cord, producing asphyxia, 
and is consequently especially common in breech presentations ; or a haemor- 
rhage may occur in an infant born weakly or premature, it suffers from atelec- 
tasis, lives a few clays, its small stock of expanded lung becomes choked, 
and it dies asphyxiated, and a meningeal haemorrhage of greater or less extent 
is found, which probably took place shortly before death. Or the infant may 
live some days after the haemorrhage has taken place, as in a case recorded 
by McNutt ; the labour, which was a breech presentation, was easy ; the 
breathing became irregular on the day of birth : later it suffered from convul- 
sions, difficulty of swallowing, left hemiplegia, and emaciation. It died on 
the twenty-second day. At the post-mortem the right hemisphere was covered 
by a clot (see fig. 4), which was firm and gelatinous, and of a dark colour, 
the convolutions beneath it were in part destroyed, especially so in the ascend- 
ing frontal and parietal regions. The clot also invaded the brain substance, 
actually forming part of the roof of the ventricle, whilst the site of the corpus 
striatum and optic thalamus was occupied by a reddish-brown clot mixed with 
softened brain tissue. 

This case is remarkable as showing how long an infant may survive an 
extensive cerebral haemorrhage and the further damage by the secondary 
inflammatory softening which evidently took place. These are instances of 
fatal cases, but there is good reason to believe that such cases frequently sur- 
vive, and bear for the rest of their lives traces of the damage done to their 
brains at birth. It is not difficult to imagine the damage which a surface 
hsemorrhage may do. It may lead to compression of the convolutions, or 
meningitis, or softening, or it may more likely lead to atrophy, or interfere 
with the development of the convolutions. Such a case, verified by post- 
mortem, has been recorded by McNutt. The infant was born with the feet 
presenting, the labour was tedious, and there was delay in disengagement of 
the head. Convulsions supervened, lasting for some days ; the child never 
walked or spoke ; there was spastic paralysis of both sides, except the 
face ; it died at two and a half years. Atrophy of the convolutions about the 
fissure of Rolando was found at the post-mortem. Similar cases are tolerably 
common ; there is a history of a difficult labour ; the infant is blue, and per- 
haps is thought by the midwife to be dead ; it may be convulsed, but recovers. 
There is probably no marked paralysis at first, but after a few months it is 
noticed that an arm or a leg, or both legs, are weak ; then contractions take 
place, the legs becoming adducted, with the toes pointing, the forearms supin- 
ated and the elbows more or less fixed. The intelligence is often affected, 
and the child is late in talking. Such cases are common in asylums, as re- 
corded by Shuttleworth, 1 Schultze, 2 Langdon Down, 3 and others. That no 
definite symptoms of meningeal haemorrhage should be present at first agrees 
with what has already been remarked concerning the development of the 
cortical substance, and its connection with the ganglia at the base of the 
brain. Not only is the grey matter on the surface in an immature state, but 

1 British Medical Journal, vol. i. 86, p. 185. - Gerhardt's Handbook, vol. ii. 
3 British Medical [onrnal, vol. i. 77, Feb. 24. 

C 2 



20 



The Diseases incident to Birth 



so also is its connection with the lower parts. It is only a few months later, 
when the voluntary power is being put forth, that it is noticed that there is a 
difference between one limb and another. Convulsions may be present, and 
if there is any marked paralysis, it is probably peripheral, being caused by 
effusion of blood at the base of the brain on the pons or cervical cord. Is 
cerebral haemorrhage caused by direct pressure on the brain during labour ? 
We confess to doubting it ; at any rate, there can be hardly a doubt that the 
common cause is asphyxia, due to interference with the placental circulation, 
or compression of the funis. 

Cephalhematoma. — During birth a haemorrhage may take place from 
the vessels of the periosteum of the skull, and a collection of blood form 
between that membrane and the bone ; more rarely a haemorrhage occurs 
between the occipito-frontalis aponeurosis and the periosteum, or between 
the skull and the dura mater. The name ' cephalhaematoma externum ' is 
applied to the first two, thus : — 



Cephalhaematoma externum 

„ internum 

Meningeal haemorrhage . . 



i. Sub-aponeurotic. 

2. Sub-periosteal. 

3. Sub-cranial. 

4. Sub-arachnoid. 



In the common form the tumour is sub-periosteal. 
occupying a position immediately over a parietal bone, generally the right, 
is usually discovered for the first time a day or two after birth, when the 




Fig. 5. — Double Cephalhematoma in an Infant twenty days old (from a photograph). 
Labour difficult, forceps applied, right facial paralysis. 



swollen and distorted head of the infant should begin to assume a more 
natural shape. According to the statistics of Hennig and Hofmokl, a cephal- 
haematoma occurs about once in every two hundred births ; in one hundred 
and twenty-seven cases noted by Hennig, it was situated fifty-seven times over 
the right parietal bone, thirty-seven times over the left, twenty-one times 
over both, seven times over the occipital, three times over the frontal, and 
twice over the temporal bone. It forms a more or less tense elastic tumour, 
neither hot nor tender, and it does not extend beyond the limits of the bone 
over which it is situated, inasmuch as the periosteum is firmly attached 



CepJialJuzmatoma 



21 



to the sutures. The scalp is not discoloured. The tumour varies in size from 
a walnut to a small orange, increases in size for a few days after birth, and 
then commences slowly to diminish. After it has existed for a week or two, 
a ridge of bone may generally be felt at its circumference, where new bone 
has been thrown out by the periosteum (see fig. 6 c'). When the tumour is 
examined for the first time in this stage, it is apt to give the impression 
that there is a circular defect in the parietal bone, through which a fluid 
tumour is protruding. At times, especially in chronic cases, thin plates 
of bone form here and there in the periosteum forming the roof of the 
tumour and give rise to a feeling of crepitation when it is handled. In 
the course of a few weeks or a month the tumour shrinks and disappears, 
leaving for perhaps many months a more or less complete bony ridge, which 
marked the circumference of the tumour. The etiology of these blood-swellings 
is not very clear, but, like other haemorrhages which take place during birth, 
they owe their production in part to asphyxia, in which there is increased 
tension in the cranial veins, and a condition of blood which readily allows 
of extravasation. From the fact that the tumour mostly occurs at the site of 
the presenting part, being over the right parietal bone in nearly three-fourths 




Fig. 6.— Section of a Cephalhematoma (semi-diagrammatic). Hcnnig. a, Dura mater ; 
o, parietal bone ; c, periosteum ; c, ossification of ditto ; d, scalp ; c, blood clot. 



of the cases, it would appear that pressure played an important part in its 
causation. But, on the other hand, cases are reported in which a blood- 
swelling appeared over a parietal bone in a case of breech presentation 
(Runge, McNutt). Small extravasations, the size of a pea or a shilling, may 
frequently be seen beneath the periosteum in making post-mortems on newly- 
born infants. If the caput succedaneum be incised, the tissues immediately 
beneath the scalp will be found infiltrated with a jelly-like effusion with 
numerous minute haemorrhages scattered through it, and on examining the 
parietal bone numerous small haemorrhages may be seen beneath the peri- 
osteum, some linear in shape, corresponding with the lines or foramina in 
the bone situated near the inter-parietal suture or posterior fontanelle. 
According to Fere the edges of the foramina play an important part in 
wounding the vessels during labour, and producing a haemorrhage, as they 
are the means of transmitting small veins from the scalp to the cerebral 
sinuses. It is important to bear in mind that not infrequently an effusion 
of blood external to the skull communicates with an effusion of blood 
between the bone and dura mater through one of these openings, and further, 
a meningeal haemorrhage may also take place. 



22 The Diseases incident to Birth 

Three ftost-mortem examinations made by Runge are worth recording, as 
illustrating some of these points : (i) breech presentation ; delay in deliver- 
ing head ; infant born in condition of asphyxia ; died on the eighth day in 
convulsions. The post-mortem showed a cephalhematoma over the left 
parietal bone surrounded by a bony ridge ; a large haemorrhage over the 
convexity of the brain beneath the dura mater, reaching to the base and 
upper part of the cervical cord. (2) A premature infant delivered by forceps 
in consequence of maternal eclampsia ; born asphyxiated, died on the first 
day ; there was a cephalhematoma over the right parietal bone, communi- 
cating through a fissure in the bone with a second effusion of blood beneath 
the bone between it and the dura mater. There was also meningeal haemor- 
rhage. (3) Infant born asphyxiated, reanimation, death on the sixteenth day 
from arteritis umbilicalis. There was a cephalhematoma, covering the whole 
of the right parietal bone ; a hard bony wall roofed in the circumference of 
the swelling. A surface hemorrhage had taken place at the base of the brain. 

The diagnosis is not generally a matter of difficulty. A blood tumour 
beneath the periosteum is distinguished from a caput succedaneum, inasmuch 
as the latter does not fluctuate, disappears in a day or two, and extends 
beyond the limits of a parietal bone. It is distinguished from a meningocele in 
that the latter corresponds to a suture or fontanelle, pulsates, and increases in 
size when the infant cries. Very rarely a blood swelling takes place beneath 
the scalp, between the latter and the periosteum. In such cases the scalp is 
discoloured, no bony ring would be formed, and the swelling might extend 
beyond the sutures. The prognosis as far as a cephalhematoma is con- 
cerned is favourable, but inasmuch as it is possible that it is complicated by 
meningeal or extra-dural hemorrhage the prognosis must be guarded, and 
any brain symptoms are necessarily of evil omen. 

Treatment. — The treatment of these blood swellings has been much 
discussed. On the one hand it has been urged that if the cephalhematoma 
is subperiosteal, it should be aspirated without delay while the blood is 
fluid and before coagulation has taken place, as in this way the long delay 
during which absorption and deposition of bone are taking place is avoided. 
On the other hand, it has been pointed out that it is never possible to tell if 
the blood swelling does not communicate with a blood extravasation within 
the skull, thus rendering surgical interference risky, and moreover that, 
although absorption of the effused material may be tardy, it is both safe and 
sure, and a good result may be confidently looked forward to. The latter 
course is certainly to be recommended ; surgical interference in a newly born 
infant always has its risk, there is always the possibility of introducing 
septic organisms into the blood-swelling by aspiration, and at the most all 
that is to be gained by such a proceeding is the saving of a few weeks of time. 
We believe that all cephalhematomata are most safely let alone, care being 
taken to protect them from injury ; small ones may be shaved and painted 
with collodion, or during sleep some spirit lotion may be kept applied. 
In the rare event of their suppurating the treatment would be that of an 
ordinary abscess — viz. evacuation of the pus and drainage. 

Haematoma of the Sterno-mastoid. — If an attempt be made by an un- 
skilful midwife to disengage the after-coming head by pulling on the legs or 
body of the infant, there is a strong probability that injury will be done to 



Hematoma of the Sterno-mastoid — Obstetrical Paralyses 23 

the neck or other part, especially as the muscles of the semi-asphyxiated 
infant are flabby and toneless, and the blood readily oozes out of the vessels. 
Such an injury does at times take place, giving rise to a blood tumour within 
the sheath of one of the sterno-mastoids in consequence of the tearing through 
of some of the fibres of the muscle or injury to some of its vessels. It is not 
often that an opportunity occurs of verifying this condition post mortem, 
inasmuch as no serious consequences arise from the accident, and the 
pathology of these so-called ' sterno-mastoid tumours ' has been disputed ; ' 
but three cases recently published by M. Tordeus have made it clear that 
these swellings are due to local haemorrhage resulting from injuries at birth. 
In one of our own cases, in which the infant died of diarrhoea when six 
months old, a cicatrisation of the muscle at the spot where the injury had 
taken place was found. At least three-fourths of these cases are breech 
presentations ; in the remaining fourth, which occur in head presentations, 
the injury is no doubt caused by dragging on the head in order to disengage 
the shoulders and body. The swelling in the neck may be noticed by the 
mother a few days after birth, or it may escape observation for some weeks, 
or even more. On examination a tumour about the size of a pigeon's egg 
may be felt in the upper part of the right sterno-mastoid ; it is generally 
irregular, or perhaps elongated, in shape, and if not seen for some time after 
birth, when cicatrisation has taken place, it is hard and cartilaginous to the 
touch. The left muscle is less often injured than the right ; sometimes the 
whole length of the muscle is affected, though the lesion is generally in the 
upper part. The tumour disappears in the course of a few months, but for 
a long time a cicatrix may be felt. There is no treatment required. These 
cases mostly occur among the poorer classes, who are attended in their con- 
finements by neighbours or unskilled midwives. Injury to the sterno-mastoid 
during birth derives its importance from the fact that such injury is likely to 
be the cause of wry neck in after life (see TORTICOLLIS). 

Obstetrical Paralyses. — In cases of delayed labour, where the forceps 
has to be applied, or where force is used to disengage an arm, or traction 
is applied to it, some nerves or strands of nerves are apt to be injured either by 
stretching, direct pressure, or compression by extravasated blood. The most 
common and best known is an injury to one of the facial nerves through pres- 
sure exerted by one of the blades of the forceps during extraction. A facial 
paralysis is thus produced, which as a rule is temporary, and disappears in a 
few days or weeks. The other and less common form, which has been de- 
scribed by Duchenne as 'obstetrical paralysis,' is due to an injury to one or 
other of the cords of the brachial plexus, produced by the pressure of the finger 
hooked in the axilla in order to extract the arm and shoulders, or the arm has 
been forcibly wrenched when it has been used to lay hold of to drag the infant 
through the pelvis. Occasionally an injury may be done to the brachial plexus 
as well as to the facial by the grip of the forceps blades, as in a case recorded 
by Roger, where the face and arm were paralysed. After death an effusion 
of blood was found at the stylo-mastoid foramen, and also round the cords of 
the brachial plexus. The cord most often injured is apparently the fifth cer- 
vical nerve, which, as Ross has shown, is readily injured, at the point where 
it descends over the transverse processes of the fifth and sixth cervical ver- 
1 They have been described by some authors as gummata. 



24 The Diseases incident to Birth 

tebrae on its way to join the brachial plexus, by force applied to the arm or 
clavicle. The prognosis in paralysis of the arm from a lesion of the brachial 
plexus is more serious than it is in paralysis of the facial, but it will neces- 
sarily vary according to the amount of injury done and the degree of para- 
lysis present. The symptoms presented by this form of paralysis may be 
illustrated by the following cases which came under our notice : — 

In the first case, the head, according to the mother, was born first ; there 
was then a delay ; finally the left arm was disengaged by the finger hooked in 
the axilla, and the child born after some delay and difficulty. The infant was first 
seen when seven weeks old. At this time its arm hung uselessly by its side, 
the elbow extended, the humerus rotated inwards and adducted, the forearm 
pronated, the hand closed, the paralysed muscles being the biceps and brachi- 
alis anticus, the infra-spinatus and teres minor, the deltoid and supinators. 
The muscles affected were soft and flabby. The arm was regularly galvanised, 
the Faradic current beingused. Three years afterwards great improvement had 
taken place ; the elbow could be flexed and the hand could be used, but a paresis 
remained of the deltoid and supinators. In another case, seen first at ten weeks 
of age, the same muscles were paralysed, much improvement took place, but 
the infant died at six months old of bronchitis. In a third case, which was a 
footling, the left arm engaged the pelvis with the head, and had to be brought 
down by the accoucheur. The arm was noticed to be bruised and useless after 
birth. Unfortunately this case was lost sight of. In two cases reported — 
one by Seeligmiiller, the other by Thorburn — the paralysis was more exten- 
sive than in the above cases ; there was also retraction of the eyeball and 
contraction of the pupil of the same side. Probably there was here a more 
severe injury, involving the whole brachial plexus and also the sympathetic. 
In some cases a temporary anaesthesia has been noticed. In the treatment of 
these cases it must be borne in mind that one or more of the cords of the bra- 
chial plexus has been injured, accompanied by a local haemorrhage ; and, there- 
fore, the more at rest the arm can be kept for the first few weeks the better. 
It seems doubtful if any shampooing or galvanising of the muscles can at first 
do much good. The treatment must be rather that of a fractured bone — 
rest at first, and afterwards more or less active movement to exercise the 
muscles and prevent stiffness. The arm should be carefully wrapped up in 
cotton-wool, flexed and supported by being fixed to the side, care being taken 
to prevent undue disturbance during the daily bath, or allowing it to hang 
down and drag on its connections with the trunk. It must be borne in mind 
that the circulation of blood will be sluggish, and easily obstructed by tight 
bandaging. At the end of three weeks, when there is reason to believe that 
absorption of the effused blood has taken place, movements of the arm may 
be begun, in order to give the muscles some exercise and to call forth the 
voluntary efforts of the child. Electrical treatment may now be commenced, 
that form of current being used (mostly the Faradic) which most readily 
produces a contraction of the paralytic muscles. The weakest current which 
will cause a contraction will be the best to use. Galvanism in some form or 
other, shampooing the muscles, applying stimulant applications to the skin, 
must be persevered with as long as any improvement takes place. The 
prognosis in the severe cases is gloomy as far as the paralysed muscles are 
concerned, the arm remains in a condition of extension and pronation, and is 



Obstetrical Paralyses — Icterus Neonatorum 25 

unable to be raised to the mouth. In other cases, as in the one mentioned, 
recovery takes place sufficiently to allow of flexion of the elbow, though a 
certain amount of weakness may be left about the shoulder and in the supin- 
ators of the wrist. In the majority of cases considerable improvement may 
be expected in the course of months or years. 

Icterus neonatorum. — Infants often suffer from a more or less pro- 
nounced jaundice which comes on a day or two after birth. It has been 
estimated by Continental writers that this occurs in from 60 to 80 per 
cent, of the total births ; but these observations have been mostly made in 
lying-in hospitals, where it appears to occur much oftener than in private 
practice, though there is little doubt that on account of the slightness of the 
yellow coloration of the skin, and the frequent absence of discoloration of 
the sclerotic, it may easily be overlooked. Jaundice may arise from or be 
symptomatic of various pathological conditions, the principal during the first 
week of life being the following: — 1. The common form in which no disease 
is apparent. Icterus neonatorum. 2. Jaundice accompanying a condition 
of septicaemia or pyaemia ; in acute fatty degeneration of the newly born ; 
in Winckel's disease. 3. Jaundice due to congenital stricture, or oblitera- 
tion of the common or hepatic duct, or to syphilitic perihepatitis. The 
common form to which the name of ' icterus neonatorum ' is generally 
applied differs from the other forms in not being accompanied by any serious 
symptoms, and in passing off in a few days or a week. In these cases the 
yellow coloration of the skin makes its appearance on the second day, less 
often the third, rarely either before the second or after the third, and lasts, 
according to its intensity, from two or three days to a week. The yellowness 
is first noted on the face, around the mouth and chest, then on the abdomen, 
later on the limbs ; it may be easily overlooked, unless pressure is made by 
the finger on the skin. In mild cases the sclerotics remain unaffected, and 
the urine does not stain the linen ; this is the more noteworthy, as in the 
jaundice of adults the sclerotics are affected before the skin is tinged, and 
pigment is very early present in the urine ; probably the vascularity and 
transparency of the infant's skin account for ' the difference. When the 
jaundice in the infant is more intense, the sclerotics become tinged ; the 
urine stains the diapers, and bile pigment may be detected. The stools are 
unchanged and contain the usual quantity of bile. In cases which die when 
suffering from this form of jaundice, the internal organs are found stained 
yellow, especially the cartilages, the brain, and in a lesser degree the abdo- 
minal viscera. The majority of infants who are jaundiced appear in perfect 
health ; it has, however, been asserted by Hofmeier that infants with icterus 
do not flourish as well as other infants, that their loss of weight during the 
first week is greater than that of healthy infants, and that a higher per- 
centage of urea and uric acid appears in the urine. The cause of this form 
of jaundice is uncertain ; it is much more frequent in lying-in hospitals 
than in private practice, and in premature weakly infants with partially ex- 
panded lungs than in full-time and healthy infants. There have been 
many hypotheses concerning its cause, but none of them are entirely satis- 
factory. One of the most recent and most plausible explanations has been 
suggested by Quincke ; he attributes the jaundice to the ductus venosus re- 
maining patent, thus allowing some of the portal blood (which contains bile- 



26 The Diseases incident to Birth 

pigments) to pass into the general circulation, instead of all of it being 
submitted to the action of the liver. Virchow and others believe it to be a 
hematogenous jaundice, the bile-pigment originating in a destruction of 
blood corpuscles which it is supposed takes place shortly after birth. 

While this form of jaundice is per se a symptom of little importance, and 
in the vast majority of cases the infants do well, it is well to remember that 
occasionally cases occur which are jaundiced shortly after birth, and which 
die about the ninth or tenth day without any definite disease being discover- 
able. These cases sometimes occur in the same family, as in the following 
remarkable instances : the father and mother were both healthy and in com- 
fortable circumstances, there was no history of syphilis, the first and second 
children were never jaundiced, and are at present alive and well ; the third, 
fourth, fifth, and sixth children became jaundiced on the second or third day, 
and died on the ninth or eleventh day. In all the skin and conjunctiva? 
were jaundiced, the urine contained bile-pigment, the stools were normal. The 
fifth child was seen with Mr. G. H. Pinder, their medical attendant, when five 
days old ; it seemed a perfectly healthy infant, except that it was jaundiced. 
The infant became weaker and drowsy, and died comatose on the ninth day. 
A partial post-mortem only was obtained.; the abdominal viscera were bile- 
stained ; the ductus venosus was only partially closed ; there was nothing 
abnormal about the bile-ducts. What is the nature of these and similar 
cases it is at present impossible to say. The diagnosis between icterus 
neonatorum and the jaundice which accompanies septicaemia does not 
present much difficulty, for in the latter case there would be some suppura- 
tion or phlebitis of the umbilical cord or ecchymosis and various haemor- 
rhages. In acute fatty degeneration and Winckel's disease there are usually 
cyanosis, purpuric spots, and haemorrhages. In jaundice from obstruction of 
the ducts, the jaundice is intense and bile is absent from the stools. Nothing 
much can be said about the treatment of infantile jaundice, which consists 
rather in attending carefully to the general health of the infant than in the 
administration of any special drug. Small doses of hyd. c. cret. may be 
given for its laxative effect, and to relieve any tendency to mechanical con- 
gestion of the liver. 

Hemorrhagic Diathesis. Haemophilia Neonatorum, — It not infre- 
quently happens that within a few days of birth, the infant exhibits a tendency 
to bleed. There may be haemorrhages from the nose, stomach, bowels, 
or kidneys, and petechiae and ecchymoses may make their appearance on the 
skin. Oozing of blood, which is perhaps difficult to arrest, may take place 
from the navel on the separation of the cord. This tendency to bleed is no 
doubt to be looked upon as rather a symptom than a disease or the result of 
disease. It cannot be said that our knowledge is very exact regarding the 
conditions which give rise to the haemorrhagic diathesis in infants, but in a 
large majority of cases at least the infant is either syphilitic or suffers from 
septicaemia or from both conditions. The poisons generated by the syphilitic 
or septic infection appear to cause such changes in the blood as give rise 
to bleeding on the slightest injury. In some of the cases in which there was 
no evidence of syphilis during life, the evidence has been forthcoming at the 
post-mortem, and, moreover, syphilis is not disproved by no lesions being 
discovered in an infant a few days old. 



Hemorrhagic Diathesis — Acute Fatty Degeneration 27 

In seven cases recorded by Fischl ' in which haemorrhages took place 
shortly after birth from the mucous membranes or into the skin, there was 
evidence of syphilis ; there being characteristic rashes on the skin, enlarge- 
ment of the spleen, and interstitial hepatitis. In one of the author's 
cases, however, the only evidence of syphilis was the enlargement of the 
spleen and an interstitial hepatitis. A careful microscopical examination of 
the minute blood-vessels was made in these cases, with the result that they 
were found normal, so that the bleeding could not be attributed to arteritis. 

In three cases of haemophilia in infants recently investigated by H. 
Neumann,'- pyogenic organisms were found, and the author inclines to the 
belief that the entrance of the septic organisms into the system either before 
or during the act of birth had much to do with the haemorrhagic state. In 
the first case the infant, which was illegitimate, suffered from jaundice, petechias 
on the skin, melaena, and haematemesis ; it died on the fifteenth day. The 
autopsy showed there had been capillary bleeding from the mucous membrane 
of the alimentary canal, enlargement of the spleen, and interstitial hepatitis. 
(syphilitic). A bacteriological examination of the blood showed the presence 
of the Bacillus pyocyaneus ,3- In a second case, undoubtedly syphilitic 
(snuffles and rash), which suffered from bleeding from the nose and mouth 
and which died when seven weeks old, a bacteriological examination showed 
the presence of pus cocci, namely, Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus and albics 
and also Streptococcus pyogenes. In a third case, in which the mother 
suffered from syphilitic ulceration of the labia, the infant suffered from jaun- 
dice and various haemorrhages, and died on the ninth day. Both bacilli and 
cocci {Bacillus pyocyan. /3 and Staphyloc. pyog. aureus) were found in the 
blood. It is not easy to say in the present state of our knowledge whether 
the bacilli and cocci found were accidentally present, or whether they were 
directly or indirectly the cause of the blood change which gave rise to the 
blood extravasations. The bacilli may enter the fcetal tissues before birth 
through the placental circulation or be inoculated at the time of birth or 
afterwards through the navel. 

Acute Patty Degeneration of tlie newly born. — Buhl, in 1861, de- 
scribed the symptoms and morbid anatomy of a rare disease, occurring in 
newly born infants, to which he gave the name of acute fatty degeneration. 
His observations have since been confirmed by Hecker, Furstenburg, RolofT, 
and Runge, though it cannot be said that this condition is sufficiently well 
known for it to take its place as a well-defined and definite disease. The 
infants suffering from it are generally born in a condition of asphyxia with- 
out obvious cause, and some die asphyxiated. If they survive, they usually 
suffer from more or less cyanosis, with haemorrhage from the bowels, 
stomach, or from the navel on the separation of the cord. There is often 
jaundice, and blood extravasations take place beneath the skin, conjunctiva, 
or mucous membrane of the mouth ; there may be general oedema ; death 
usually takes place within two weeks. At the post-mortem minute haemorrhages 
are found in the various internal organs, which are sometimes infiltrated with 
blood ; the tissues are bile-stained. On microscopical examination of the 

1 Arckiv fiir Kinderheilk. , Band viii. 

2 Archiv fiir Kinderheilk. > Bande xii. xiii. 



28 The Diseases incident to Birth 

tissues of the heart, liver, kidneys, &c, they are found to be in a condition of 
fatty degeneration. The nature of the disease is quite unknown. It is in- 
teresting to note that a similar condition has been observed in newly born 
pigs and other domesticated animals. 

Winckel's Disease. — A disease somewhat similar to the last has been 
described as occurring in an epidemic form by Winckel, and is characterised 
by cyanosis, jaundice, and hemoglobinuria. This epidemic occurred in the 
Foundling Hospital at Dresden in 1879, where twenty-three infants were 
affected in the course of a month. The symptoms noted were first of all a 
bluish tinge on the skin of the face, body, and limbs, with a more or less 
icteric tint ; in some cases there were vomiting and diarrhoea. The urine 
was of a light brown colour, with a sediment consisting of epithelium and 
casts ; the blood contained an excess of white corpuscles and many granular 
bodies. The symptoms usually began on the fourth day after birth, death 
occurring in one case in nine hours, though the average duration of the 
disease was about two days. The sections showed a yellow staining of the 
skin and internal organs. The spleen was large and hard and dark red ; 
the kidneys were usually dark brown in colour, the microscopic examination 
showing their tubules to be filled with granular pigment. There were puncti- 
form haemorrhages on the surface of the various internal organs, and fatty 
degeneration of the liver and heart. 

G-astro -intestinal Haemorrhage. — The vomiting of blood, or its passage 
per anum, is not an uncommon occurrence in the newly born. The most 
common cause, especially of haematemesis, is the swallowing of blood oozing 
from a cracked nipple, which the infant sucks, or from some wound in the 
infant's mouth or nose. Large quantities of blood may be swallowed in this 
way and vomited in a more or less altered condition, or passed as blackish 
masses with the faeces. A much more serious condition exists when the 
source of the bleeding is a small ulcer or ulcers in the stomach or duodenum 
which may open a large vessel and cause fatal haemorrhage, as in a case 
recorded by Goodhart and another by Sawtell. Neumann has recorded a 
somewhat similar case in an infant born of healthy parents, which died on 
the third day after birth after vomiting blood. At the post-mortem an ulcer 
was found in the duodenum. In the majority of cases the bleeding appears 
to be capillary, due to a tendency to haemophilia, which has been described 
(p. 26). The haemorrhage in most instances comes on within the first 
twenty-four hours ; if the amount of blood lost is large, the infant quickly 
becomes pallid, the skin cold, the fontanelles depressed, and convulsions 
probably follow. Death usually takes place within twenty-four hours of the 
commencement of the symptoms ; if the infant survives this period and no 
fresh attack comes on, there is reason to believe there is no ' lesion of the 
stomach or duodenum, and there is good hope that the infant may survive. 
The treatment would naturally depend upon the diagnosis as to the cause. 
Small doses of ergotine (quarter grain to half grain) in syrup, by the mouth 
or subcutaneously, would be the most likely to be of service. In any case 
of passage of blood per rectum in an infant, the possibility of an invagination 
of the intestine must be borne in mind. 

Haemorrhage from the Genital Organs. — It sometimes happens that 
there is a small oozing of blood from the vagina during the first few days 



G astro-intestinal HcemorrJiage — Umbilical Polypus 29 

succeeding birth, sufficient to stain the napkins. The blood may often be 
seen oozing from the vagina, while no lesion of any kind can be detected. 
The discharge lasts for a few days only, generally from two to five, the health 
of the infant does not suffer, and recovery seems always to take place. 
Cullingworth has collected thirty-two such cases, two of which came under 
his own observation. He agrees with Cameron in believing that the bleed- 
ing is due to a congestion of the pelvic veins, the result of the cessation of the 
circulation in the umbilical arteries when the cord is tied. As already stated, 
there is sometimes a coincident discharge of blood from the rectum, due 
apparently to the same cause. It must not be forgotten that cases of pre- 
cocious menstruation may occur, commencing shortly after birth, and con- 
tinuing monthly afterwards. 

Diseases of tlie Navel. Separation of tbe Cord. — Under ordinary 
circumstances the umbilical cord shrivels up and drops off at a period after 
birth varying from the first to the fifth day, thin small cords drying up and 
separating earlier than large soft ones (Bouchut) ; the cicatrix is not usually 
dry and firm until the tenth or twelfth day. 

Umbilical Polypus. — Occasionally, after the cord has separated, a small 
red prominent projection is left with a moist surface, and sometimes (Holmes) 
a fine central canal ; this 'polypus' is the result in most cases of incomplete 
withering of the cord, at other times the outgrowth is rather of the nature of 
a simple granulation polypus from irritation, the so-called ' fungus of the 
navel.' The projection, when small, is often hidden by the overhanging 
skin of the part, and may remain for weeks or months, giving rise to slight 
discharge from the scar and perhaps excoriation of the skin around. We 
have met with a case, sent to us by Dr. Serra, of Eccles, in which the proximal 
part of the cord instead of shrivelling up remained as a red vascular projec- 
tion some three inches long. On examining this child some five or six weeks 
after birth, there was a red fleshy prominence then about 1^ inches long 
projecting from the navel ; it was about as thick as a cedar pencil, and its 
surface appeared to be a mucous membrane except at one spot where a patch 
of delicate cuticle was found. The apex of the protrusion was perforated by 
an orifice which readily admitted an ordinary probe, and the instrument 
could be passed downwards in the middle line and swept round on each 
side for some three inches ; it could only be passed upwards for about half an 
inch. A thin watery mucus in small quantities was discharged, but no faeces 
or urine. Subsequently faecal matter escaped from the orifice. The pro- 
truded mass was ligatured and removed with a good result. The condition 
is due no doubt to persistence of the vitelline duct in the proximal part of the 
cord and its conversion into intestine. After the distal part of the cord has 
become detached the end cicatrises, and a prolapse takes place of the whole 
thickness of the tube ; hence in the section in fig. 7 two layers of mucous 
membrane with an intervening muscular and fibro- cellular layer are seen. 
Such cases, though rare, have been occasionally met with. Huttenbrenner 
describes another variety as a remnant of the allantois. In these cases urine 
may escape externally in consequence of the urachus remaining patent. 
Virchow described a case where an outgrowth four inches in length existed' ; 
it was red upon the surface and made up of spindle-celled tissue. 

The treatment of these affections is very simple : for the larger ones a 



3o 



The Diseases incident to BirtJi 




Fig. 7.- Section of Ileo umbilical diverticulum. 
a, central canal continuous with Meckel's 
diverticulum linea with villi ; b, remains of villi 
of the everted portion of mucous membrane ; 
c, tubular glands ; d, remains of muscular 
coats ; e, section of blood-vessels ( x 4). The 
muscularis mucosae layers are also seen. 



ligature should be applied tightly round the base, and the mass allowed to fall 
off ; the smaller ones may be snipped off with scissors or rubbed down with 

nitrate of silver, or dusted over for a 
few days with powdered nitrate of 
lead, which we have found an effec- 
tual remedy. It must be remembered 
that there is considerable variation 
physiologically in the process of sepa- 
ration of the cord ; in weakly children 
it falls off later and the raw surface 
is slower in healing. Where the cord 
stump is projecting it is liable to be 
irritated by friction and its healing is 
slow : this is the condition described 
as excoriation. When a sort of 
' mucous surface ' remains and goes 
on discharging, the so-called Blen- 
norrhag-ia exists, while the presence 
of a thick consistent film on the sur- 
face of the sore has been described as croupous or diphtheritic exudation ; 
in some instances it is probable that a true diphtheritic membrane is 
formed. 

Where there is any spreading ulceration after separation of the cord, in- 
fective influences should be looked for ; the mischief may spread superficially 
or it may tend inwards and involve the peritoneum. 

Simple ulceration is never fatal unless it extends deeply ; it should be 
treated, according to Runge, by the application of salicylic acid and starch 
— 1 in 5 for the milder cases, or i in 3 if there is any sloughing ; ointments 
he disapproves of. 

Omphalitis is a rare condition. When it exists the navel itself and the 
surrounding parts are inflamed and swollen, the wound remains unhealed, 
and the skin around is red, shiny, tense, and painful. The disease may 
spread and involve nearly the whole of the abdomen either superficially or 
throughout the entire thickness of the abdominal wall ; the infant becomes 
very ill, the legs are stiff and drawn up, breathing is thoracic, and small 
abscesses may form and burst from time to time. The disease begins in the 
second or third week of life and may last for some days or even weeks. 
The prognosis is good if the extent of mischief is small and suppuration occurs 
early, bad if the disease is widespread, and especially if it tends inwards 
towards the peritoneum ; if the navel vessels are involved, general sepsis 
or gangrene is likely to result. The younger the child the greater is the 
danger. 

The cause of this disease is doubtful. Probably it arises from bad 
management of the navel and infection. Fribe believes some cases to be 
syphilitic. Is it possible that some may be instances of sloughing phage- 
dena? According to Bouchut it is sometimes complicated by bleeding. 
Treatment consists in cleanliness and the application of salicylic acid be- 
neath a warm wet dressing (Runge). All abscesses should be opened early, 
. and any tendency to gangrene met with stimulants and antiseptics. 



Gangrene — Umbilical Arteritis 31 

Gangrene of the navel begins either as an ulcer or as omphalitis ; it 
occurs also in cases of cholera infantum ; as a purely local condition it is 
rare, and Wiederhofer believes that it arises from intense omphalitis. Pre- 
mature separation of the cord and irritation tend to produce gangrene. 

The disease usually begins as a blister containing muddy fluid ; on 
bursting this leaves an ulcer, or a sore may exist from the first ; the mischief 
spreads rapidly either superficially or deeply ; a bright red zone is seen sur- 
rounding a central slough, which after a time comes away ; there is rapid 
prostration of strength, though but little pyrexia. Recovery from gangrene 
of the navel is rare, though sometimes the slough separates and the cavity 
granulates up ; more often death results from peritonitis or exhaustion, or 
again from gangrene of the bowel and perforation, which is sometimes met 
with ; occasionally a faecal fistula is formed. 1 In many cases general sepsis 
occurs, and Ritter believes the gangrene is merely a result of the septic con- 
dition. In cholera infantum there is sometimes rapid gangrene without any 
sign of reaction, and this may occur as late as several months after birth ; it 
is always fatal. 

The treatment of gangrene consists in free stimulation and the use of 
antiseptics ; nitrate of silver, perchloride of iron, and salicylic acid are recom- 
mended by Runge, to whose work, ' Die Krankheiten der ersten Lebenstage,' 
we are indebted for nearly all our information on these diseases. Faecal 
fistula, if the child survives, should be treated as in older children. 

Umbilical Arteritis. — In fifty-five subjects of disease of the umbilical 
vessels Runge found fifty-four cases of arteritis, and in only one was there 
phlebitis alone. The mischief begins as inflammation of the cellular tissue 
round the vessels, and then spreads to them, producing thrombosis. Pelvic 
cellulitis, which sometimes occurs, is the result of septic lymphangitis spread- 
ing directly along the cellular tissue, and is not due to embolism. 

Birch Hirschfeld believed in phlebitis as a common affection, but Runge 
points out that the greater frequency of arteritis is due to the fact that the 
area of cellular tissue surrounding the arteries is twice as great as that round 
the veins. Inflammation in cases of arteritis may spread far and wide from 
the navel, and even reach the bladder or its neighbourhood. Where arteritis 
exists the navel presents often a projecting discoloured ulcer covered with a 
scab ; sometimes, however, the scar is healed and quite natural in appear- 
ance. The disease may arise either before or after separation of the cord, and 
suppuration and sloughing may occur. 

Sometimes the lumen of the arteries is seen open, and the vessels are full 
of pus or breaking-down clot ; suppuration usually spreads along the vessels 
as far as the cellulitis extends, beyond this adherent coagula are found. At 
times the arteries are pouched, and the sacs formed are found full of pus ; 
the intima of the vessels is always dull and has lost its polish. 

The most common complication of the disease is pneumonia ; this was 
found in twenty-two of Runge's fifty-five cases ; septic imflammatory foci 
may, however, also occur in the liver, spleen, kidneys, peritoneum, bones, and 
joints, &c. Erysipelas sometimes attacks the part, and slight jaundice is 
common, though severe jaundice with hepatitis is rare. Of Runge's fifty-five 

1 In one remarkable case an intussusception occurred through a faecal fistula. 



32 The Diseases incident to Birth 

cases, in nine there was arteritis alone, in sixteen there were complications 
such as syphilis, ' atrophy,' cerebral haemorrhage, &c, and in the remaining 
thirty cases there were pyaemic lesions. Buhl, Wiederhofer, and Miiller 
differ from Runge in thinking that usually the disease affects only the abdo- 
men and its viscera. Peritonitis is to be suspected as soon as distention 
appears. Tetanus is an infrequent complication. Arteritis is a disease of 
dirt and neglect ; it occurs in epidemics, and is often associated with puerperal 
fever; it may be inoculated by the lochia or decomposing umbilical cord, and 
has been found associated with ophthalmia neonatorum. It usually runs a 
rapid course, lasting from four to eighteen days, and is especially fatal to 
young and premature children ; in older infants the prognosis, though bad, 
is not absolutely so ; in fatal cases death is usually sudden. 

Umbilical Phlebitis. — As already pointed out, umbilical phlebitis is a 
rare disease. Birch Hirschfeld, in examinations of sixty infants who died of 
septic diseases beginning in the navel, found eleven cases of phlebitis, four 
cases of simple thrombosis of the vein, and thirty-two cases of arteritis, while 
in three instances both the arteries and vein were involved. Runge has only 
twice seen phlebitis apart from arteritis. 

The general appearances of phlebitis are very like those of arteritis : there 
is thickening of the perivascular tissue, the lumen of the vein is diminished ; 
it is tortuous and contains pus or sanious material, the intima is cloudy 
and eroded. Usually the whole vein as far as the liver is affected, and there 
may be hepatitis ; Wiederhofer found Glisson's capsule and the portal vein 
both involved. Peritonitis and intense jaundice are both common. The 
etiology of the disease is the same as that of arteritis. The symptoms of 
phlebitis are fever, icterus, altered respiration, inspiration being short, ex- 
piration prolonged, while the breathing is shallow, frequent, and entirely 
thoracic ; the upper part of the abdomen is tumid, and there is local tender- 
ness, the knees are drawn up and the child is restless. It is difficult to dia- 
gnose phlebitis from arteritis ; the intense icterus in the former is the most 
characteristic feature. The disease lasts only a few days, and is always fatal 
from general sepsis. The treatment of both arteritis and phlebitis consists 
in the application of salicylic acid or other antiseptic and the use of stimulants 
and free nourishment, together with careful cleanliness. 

These diseases appear to be almost unknown in this country at the pre- 
sent day, judging from the absence of any literature, but they are likely to be 
met with in dirty quarters of large towns. 

Umbilical Haemorrhage is to be looked upon as a symptom rather than 
a disease in itself ; it is met with in the shape of bleeding from the umbilical 
vessels themselves, and as a general oozing from the raw navel surface. 

Bleeding from the vessels may occur from slipping or imperfect tying of 
the ligature round the cord ; as, for instance, when a thin ligature cuts into the 
vessels. Bleeding, of course, by no means necessarily follows slipping of the 
ligature, or even failure to tie the cord at all ; the aspirating action of breath- 
ing prevents any haemorrhage in most instances, and this is supplemented 
by the contraction of the vessels after birth. 

Asphyxia may, however, produce some escape of blood as the vascular 
pressure rises in slight degrees of suffocation ; in other instances deficient 
muscular contraction appears to be the cause, hence bleeding is most common 



Umbilical Hemorrhage 33 

in premature children who have been asphyxiated or whose lungs have not ex- 
panded. If it arises from imperfect muscular contraction it may occur some 
hours after birth (Hofmann). As the vessels begin to contract at the cord, 
and the obliteration extends towards the hypogastrium, there is more risk of 
"bleeding if the cord is cut very short. So, too, drying up of the cord tends 
to obliterate the vessels, while gangrene and swelling tend to prevent their 
closure. Bleeding may also occur later from rough handling of the navel 
and separation of the scab. All danger of this form of haemorrhage may be 
prevented by tying the cord firmly with a broad ligature not too near the 
abdominal wall ; should bleeding occur, pressure or the application of astrin- 
gent powders, a fresh ligature or acupressure will arrest it. 

Idiopathic, or spontaneous bleeding so called, is a very rare occurrence, 
and its etiology is obscure. Grandidier collected twenty-two cases from 
various sources. The bleeding usually occurs about the fifth day, just after 
•or more rarely before the cord comes away, 1 the blood trickles from the sur- 
face of the umbilicus, and not from any distinct vessel ; the oozing may be 
continuous or intermittent. The subjects of the affection are generally 
healthy full-time children ; there is often, however, slight icterus ; in other 
•cases there is some intestinal disturbance, vomiting, colic, &c, with deep 
icterus, cyanosis, and drowsiness before the bleeding occurs ; in any case 
these symptoms appear soon afterwards. Bleeding not seldom comes on 
from the stomach or intestines, or there may be general purpura, and some- 
times there is oedema of the hands and feet together with the umbilical 
haemorrhage. 

The great difficulty or impossibility of stopping the flow is characteristic 
of the condition. Most of the cases die before the second week ; the 
mortality is put down as 83 per cent. The infant usually dies comatose, less 
often in convulsions. 

Umbilical haemorrhage is a symptom of several diseases ; probably in some 
cases, as we have already pointed out, it is due to haemophilia or syphilis. 
Privation, drink, and other depressing causes acting upon the mother are 
also assigned as reasons for it. Septicaemia and ' fatty degeneration of the 
newly born' are causes that have been established \>y post-mortem evidence. 
The blood in these children does not clot readily. It is said to be a com- 
moner disease in America than elsewhere. 

Pressure by various means, such as pads, filling the navel with plaster of 
Paris, underpinning, &c, may be tried as means of treatment with some hope 
of success ; caustics and astringents, such as perchloride of iron, do not 
appear to be of much use ; the actual cautery has succeeded. Idiopathic 
bleeding is very rarely met with. Fiirth has, however, collected records of 
some cases ; 2 it is sometimes epidemic. Weiss had 31 cases out of 742 
children in one year at Prague. 3 

For other morbid conditions of the umbilicus, see 'Deformities of the 
iimbilicus.' 

1 ' It may, however, come on in the third week.' — Minot. 

2 Arch. f. Kinderh., Band v. p. 305. 

3 For further details, vide a paper by Dr. Francis Minot in the American Jour, 
of Med. Set., Oct. 1852. 

D 



34 The Diseases incident to Birth 

Tetanus nascentium. — This disease is almost unknown in this country 
at the present day, although in past times, when less attention was paid to 
general hygiene in lying-in hospitals, it was common, and sometimes was 
the largest factor in infant mortality; it was also frequent at one time among 
the negro population in America. The disease is identical with the wound- 
tetanus of adults, and is caused by inoculation of the navel with the tetanus 
bacillus. This bacillus, as shown by Nicolaier, is constantly present in the 
superficial layers of the earth, and it gains entrance to the infant's body by 
dirty dressings applied to the navel. The bacillus multiplies in the neigh- 
bourhood of the navel, and a strychnine-like poison is absorbed, which 
gives rise to the muscular spasms. The bacilli may be detected in the pus 
of the navel wound, and if the pus be injected into mice they die with 
tetanic symptoms. (Rosenbach, Peiper.) Tetanus ('nine-day fits') usually 
appears in the first two weeks of life, most commonly from the third to 
the tenth day, the limits, according to West, being from the fifteenth hour 
to the fifteenth day. The symptoms are usually acute, the earliest being 
inability to suck from spasm of the facial and jaw muscles (trismus) ; general 
contractions, however, soon occur, the spasms are continuous, but increase in 
violence at intervals ; in most cases there is no complete relaxation. The 
child often utters a peculiar whining cry, and there is well-marked risus 
sardonicus ; the maximum rigidity is generally reached in twelve hours, and 
the child dies in a fit or becomes comatose. 

The spasms are increased by any exposure to cold and by noise ; emacia- 
tion is very rapid, and there is often jaundice. Death usually occurs in one 
or two days ; in rare cases the disease is chronic. Hartigan says the chronic 
form begins with dysentery and coldness and pallor of the skin ; hence it has 
been called 'white lockjaw.' It is attended by wasting and twitchings, and 
was described by Marion Sims as ' Trismoid.' Unlike the acute form, which 
always occurs within the first month of life, the chronic variety may appear 
at any time within six-months, and may be a sequel of the acute. 

The disease is readily recognised by the spasms and general rigidity. 

The preventive treatment consists in the most rigid cleanliness in dress- 
ing the navel and the removal of insanitary conditions. Opium, chloral, 
bromide of potassium, cannabis indica, belladonna, and other drugs have 
been occasionally successful ; warm baths sometimes relieve the spasms, and 
spinal icebags are worth a trial ; anaesthetics, such as ether and chloroform, 
are useful to relieve pain and allow the child to be fed, but none of these 
remedies have given any constant good result. Further details of the disease 
and references will be found in the works of Bouchut, Meigs and Pepper, 
Peiper, 1 Baginsky.* 2 

Sclerema neonatorum. — This rare disease is practically unknown outside 
foundling asylums and lying-in institutions, and is by no means common 
under any circumstances. The chief characteristics of the disease consist 
in an induration of the skin and subcutaneous tissues, and marked wasting, 
with an abnormally low temperature. The infants at birth may present 
no abnormality, and in some cases at least are plump and healthy-looking ;. 

1 Detttsches Archly fiir klinische Medicin, Bd. xlvii. H. i u. 2. 

2 Berliner klinische Woe heme hrlft, No. 7, 189 r. 



Sclerema Neonatorum — (Edema Neonatorum 35 

within a few days of their birth they begin to waste, the temperature 
becomes abnormally low, 83 to 86° F. in the rectum, and the integuments 
become hard and rigid ; the change usually begins in the lower extremities 
and spreads upwards, and involves the trunk, upper extremities, and face- 
In typical instances the skin is of a dirty yellow colour, its surface is hard 
and does not pit, and it cannot be raised from the subcutaneous tissues. The 
surface of the body has a cold feel almost like stone. In some described cases 
the rigidity of skin has been so great that the infant could be lifted by the 
head and heels like a rigid body. On account of the rigidity of the skin of the 
face, sucking is performed with difficulty, and the infant has to be fed with a 
spoon. The prognosis is bad, as such infants almost invariably die in a few 
days. In one case, however, reported by Dr. A. G. Barrs, which he believes 
to have been of this nature, the infant, which was a month old when seen by 
him, made a good recovery. In this case the skin over the buttocks and 
thighs was hard and rigid, and could not be raised from the deeper tissues. 
But it appears to have been red and shiny, and without the cold feel so 
typical of the ordinary cases of sclerema. The pathology of these cases is 
ill understood. It has been suggested with much plausibility that they are 
akin to myxcedema. In a typical case investigated by Dr. W. P. Northrup, of 
New York, the microscopical examination of the skin showed nothing ab- 
normal. In a case of Dr. J. W. Ballantyne's there was an increase in the 
number and size of the connective-tissue bundles and an atrophy of the 
adipose tissue. Langer attributes the rigidity of the integuments to solidifi- 
cation of the fatty tissues in consequence of the abnormally low temperature. 
(Edema neonatorum. — Weakly, especially premature, infants are apt to 
be cedematous at birth, or become so soon after. An cedematous condition 
of the skin and subcutaneous tissues differs from sclerema in that the former 
readily pits beneath the finger, and the skin is more or less smooth and 
shiny. It is obvious that oedema may be present in many different condi- 
tions, and it does not in itself constitute a disease. 



36 



CHAPTER III. 

THE HYGIENE AND DIET OF INFANTS AND CHILDREN. 

Wewly born Infants. — One of the first cares of the nurse after the navel 
has been properly attended to should be to direct her attention to the 
infant's eyes, carefully wiping away, by means of a soft rag, any mucus or 
vaginal discharge which may adhere, and thoroughly cleansing the eyelids 
with warm water. This is a matter of much importance and should never 
be neglected, for if conjunctivitis or a purulent ophthalmia be set up, much 
trouble may ensue and some time elapse before a healthy state is again 
attained, and the risk of corneal opacities and consequent loss of sight is by 
no means small. The temperature of the room in which mother and infant 
are should be maintained, at least in winter, at 65 , and means be taken to 
thoroughly ventilate it without producing draughts. 

In giving the infant its first bath — necessary on account of the slimy 
whitish secretion with which the infant is covered — care should be taken 
that it is done before a good fire, and that the water of the bath is not too 
warm ; the temperature should not exceed 95 ; the infant's skin is exceedingly 
tender, and hot baths are liable to give rise to urticaria or even pemphigus. 
The infant is usually given a daily bath in order to secure cleanliness, 
especially about the genital organs and buttocks, which are fouled by con- 
tact with the diapers, and nothing is more likely to give rise to excoriations 
and intertrigo than the skin being smeared with decomposing urine. Some 
infants' skins are far more tender than others and liable to eczema, and require 
constant care to avoid irritation. For such, care should be taken in the 
selection of a soap which is free from excess of alkali, such as the best class 
of pure Castile soaps, or Unna's 'over fatty' soap, all excess being removed in 
the bath. The skin should be carefully dried with a soft towel, and some fine 
dusting powder applied to the folds of the groin and buttocks. This may 
consist of finely powdered maize or buckwheat flour mixed with 2 per cent, 
of salicylic acid, or 5 per cent, of boracic acid, to prevent any tendency to 
decomposition. Pure boracic acid, as in the 'Sanitary rose powder,' answers 
very well, and as it is soluble in water is easily removed by washing. The 
diapers should be of a soft and absorbent material ; at least a dozen should 
be provided for use during the twenty-four hours. 

In the first few days, before the cord has separated, a flannel binder 
loosely applied is necessary to protect it and keep the dressings in position, 
but afterwards all binders should be avoided ; at least, nothing tight should 
be applied round the abdomen which would cause discomfort to the child by 
compressing the abdominal viscera. 



Newly born Infants — Infant Feeding 37 

It is hardly needful to say that a cot should be provided for the infant 
with a firm mattress protected by a waterproof covering, and under no 
circumstances whatever should the infant be allowed to sleep in bed with its 
parents or nurse ; fatal accidents through suffocation of the infant beneath 
the bed-clothes are constantly occurring in consequence of the mother falling 
to sleep with her infant in bed with her. 

Clothing-. — All the clothing should be loose, and as far as possible con- 
sist of woven or knitted woollen material, but it will have to be protected 
from being fouled by the discharges by means of napkins, which may be made 
of ' swansdown ' or similar material. The common tendency is to load the 
chest and body with too great an amount of clothes and to leave the legs 
and thighs too much exposed. For the latter, long loosely fitting woollen 
drawers coming to the waist should be used, carefully protected from being 
wetted by the diapers. 

Infant Feeding-. — The natural food of an infant is the milk from the breast 
of its mother, no kind of food being thought of for the first eight or nine 
months of its life. The importance of this is illustrated by the fact that of 
the deaths of infants which occur under one year, three-fourths are of in- 
fants brought up on artificial food. The mother's health may of course 
sooner or later interfere with the performance of this duty to her infant, but 
it is of great importance that it should be attempted, if for only a few weeks 
or months, for to undertake the artificial feeding of an infant from the first 
is to expose it to serious risk. 

The infant should be put to the breast a few hours after birth, after the 
mother has somewhat recovered from the pains and fatigue of labour, and 
has had some sleep. It is of much importance that both mother and infant 
should get as much rest at night as possible, and if the infant frequently 
wakes crying, every means should be taken to hush it off to sleep again, 
and for this a little sweetened water or barley water may be used. It is not 
unlikely that for the first few days, especially in primiparse, the supply of 
milk will be scanty and the infant will hardly get its full supply ; but this is 
a matter of little importance, and it is in many respects well not to overload 
the stomach at first, but to give it an opportunity of gradually accustoming" 
itself to its new function. 

From the very first it is of importance to accustom both infant and 
mother to regular times for feeding. At first, every two hours during the 
daytime will be quite often enough for an infant of average weight and 
strength. A longer interval may be taken in the night, so as to give the 
mother as long a sleep as possible ; ten feedings in the twenty-four hours 
will be sufficient. A strong newly born infant empties the breasts in about 
fifteen minutes, and, during this time, takes from 1 toi| oz. of milk, the 
total amount taken in the twenty-four hours during the first week being 10 
to 12 oz. The infant's stomach, at this period, being only capable of hold- 
ing about \\ oz. (see fig. 1) without marked distension, too rapid filling of 
the stomach with fluid is very likely to give rise to vomiting. It is there- 
fore of importance for the mother to feed the infant slowly, extending the 
time to fifteen or twenty minutes. We must not forget that probably rapid 
absorption is going on during the time the infant is being fed, in strong and 



38 The Hygiene aud Diet of Infants and Children 

vigorous infants, so that it may often happen that such will take more than 
the above amounts without injury. 

The infant's stomach rapidly enlarges, and the secretion of milk increases 
as time goes on ; so that, after the first week or two, eight nursings in the 
twenty-four hours— that is, every two and a half hours during the day, and 
a longer interval at night— will be often enough. From the beginning of the 
third month till the end of lactation, every three hours will be often enough, 
some 3 to 6 oz. being taken at a time, and some 20 to 40 oz. in the twenty- 
four hours. Six to seven nursings in the twenty-four hours will be sufficient. 

Too frequent nursing is bad for the infant, inasmuch as an overworked 
stomach cannot properly perform its functions, and a dyspepsia is only too 
likely to result ; the mother's breasts require an interval of rest, for, if too 
frequently drawn, the milk is apt to be unequal in composition, too watery 
after a long, and too rich and concentrated after a short interval. 

During the whole time the infant is being nursed the health of the mother 
■will necessarily be a question of the greatest importance, as it is impossible 
for a weakly mother, or one in ill-health, to give good milk. The food which 
she takes and the life which she leads are all-important. Anything causing 
indigestion in the mother will be extremely likely to affect the breast-milk 
and disturb the infant's digestive organs. 

Various drugs, such as morphia and Epsom salts, when taken by the 
mother, are excreted in the milk, and may of course affect the infant. Any 
violent emotion, such as a great sorrow or any prolonged anxiety suffered by 
the mother, is very likely to alter the quality of the milk, and the infant con- 
sequently suffers. Indeed, under these circumstances, the milk may cease 
to be secreted, and the infant have to be artificially fed. The mother's diet 
should consist largely of milk, porridge, soups, potatoes, fish, and light pud- 
dings, while beef, mutton, and stewed fruit should be taken in moderation. 
She should avoid all highly seasoned foods, and those difficult to digest, such 
as pastry, raw fruit, uncooked vegetables. Alcoholic liquors are unnecessary, 
and tea and coffee should be taken in moderation. Exercise in the open air 
is of the greatest importance. 

According to Forster, increasing the amount of fat taken in food does 
not increase the amount of fatty matters in the milk secreted, while proteids 
taken increase the fat in milk. For the mother or wet nurse excessive 
quantities of food should certainly be avoided, and, especially if she is much 
confined to the house, much meat should not be taken. 

The milk of the first few days differs from normal milk in that it has a 
higher specific gravity, contains more salts, less sugar, and is coagulated by 
means of heat in consequence of the large amount of albumen which it 
contains. This colostrum is apt to set up more or less dyspepsia or diarrhoea. 
In a few days the excessive quantity of albumen disappears and the milk 
becomes normal. The changes which occur in the quality of the milk during 
the lactation period depend very largely of course on the health of the 
mother. During the later months of lactation the milk becomes poorer and 
more watery, with a tendency, according to Pfeiffer, to a diminution of the 
proteids and an increase of the sugar. It must be borne in mind how com- 
pletely the secretion of the milk is under the influence of the nervous system, 
and, moreover, it varies from time to time from various causes ; and more 



Infant Feeding — Wet Nurses 39 

t be observed in draw 
any one cause on the quality of the milk. 

The occurrence of menstruation in a nursing mother or wet nurse is apt 
in some way or other to alter the secretion of the milk, and the infant, in 
consequence, may suffer from colic, flatulence, or diarrhoea. In many cases 
the infant does not appear to suffer at all, while in exceptional cases the 
intestinal disturbance and loss of flesh are so great that the question of wean- 
ing may have to be entertained. It may happen that the infant may suffer 
a good deal at one period and not at the next or succeeding ones. The 
chemical changes which occur during menstruation have been investigated 
by several observers, but no constant change has been found. In some 
cases the careful observations of Rotch have shown that the milk during 
this period is poorer in fat and richer in albuminoids, but it is tolerably cer- 
tain that this is not universally the case. Monti found that menstruation 
exercised no constant change or influence on the specific gravity or the fatty 
elements, though in some cases observed by him there was an increase in 
the quantity of fat during the period. 

As the result of numerous observations, Schlichter found that the casein 
and fat were slightly increased and the albuminoids, sugar, and solids were 
decreased during menstruation; but just as great changes were observed 
from time to time during the intervals between the periods, it is evident the 
changes noted during menstruation cannot be of importance. This author 
regards menstruation occurring before the sixth week as likely to affect the 
well-being of the infant by causing serious changes in the milk ; on the 
other hand, menstruation recurring at a later period is of comparatively 
small importance. 

Wet Nurses. — It not infrequently happens that, if an infant's life is to be 
saved, a wet nurse must be procured. It may happen that a weakly infant 
is deprived of its mothers milk, and a foster mother must be obtained if its 
life is to be saved. In some cases, perhaps, an attempt has been made to 
feed a young infant on some artificial food, various foods being tried, one 
after another, till severe convulsions or continuous diarrhoea warn the 
attendants that a return to the infants natural food is the only possible 
resource left. Much has been written about the advantages and disad- 
vantages of a wet nurse. We may say at once that, in our opinion, there is 
not the least doubt that no artificial food yet devised can compare with or 
form a substitute for the milk of a healthy woman. To attempt to bring up 
a weakly infant from the first on artificial food is to expose it to far more 
serious risks than if it is provided with a healthy wet nurse. Unfortunately 
in this country wet nurses are difficult to obtain, and when obtained are not 
always easy to manage in the household. At the same time, we are inclined 
to think that the character of wet nurses as a class has often been painted in 
too black colours ; certainly we have known many who have done their duty 
to their foster infants in a most worthy and exemplary manner. A difficulty 
often is presented with regard to the nurse's own child ; it is put out to 
nurse, and is deprived not only of its mother's milk, but also of its mother's 
care, and is only too likely to go the way that so many 'out-to-nurse' babies 
have gone before. In large cities wet nurses are usually obtained at the 
■workhouses, where many women go to be confined, and are often glad to 



40 The Hygiene and Diet of Infants and Children 

escape from the discipline of the workhouse, and to obtain a situation in a 
private family at good wages. 

A wet nurse should not be above thirty-five years of age, or below twenty- 
one years of age ; very young wet nurses are especially to be avoided, on 
account of their inexperience and the difficulty in managing them. It is 
better for the nurse's infant to be a month or so older than the infant to be 
nursed. Great disparity of age is an objection, as a nurse who has been 
confined five or six months before is not likely to make a good nurse for a 
newly born infant, at least, not for the whole time that the infant has to be 
nursed ; but such a nurse may be employed temporarily in the absence of a 
more suitable one. A disparity of two or three months is no objection, pro- 
vided the nurse is suitable in other ways. A medical examination of the 
nurse should always be made — at least, the medical attendant should satisfy 
himself that both the nurse and her infant are free from disease. There is 
one advantage in the nurse's infant being two or three months old, and that 
is that time would have been afforded for any syphilitic rash to make its 
appearance on the infant. If possible, an analysis of her milk should be 
made upon several occasions. But, in spite of all precautions, we must be 
prepared at times to find that the milk of a wet nurse who in every way 
appears suitable does not agree with the infant, and the only resource is to 
try another. Great pains must be taken in the dieting of the nurse, errors 
being most frequent in the direction of overfeeding with too little exercise. 
Meat once a day is enough, beer and porter are best avoided, and exercise 
in the open air must be insisted on. 

Weaning. — The length of time during which the infant takes its sole 
nourishment from its mother's breast depends upon a variety of circum- 
stances. When the mother remains strong and healthy and has a sufficient 
supply, the time may be extended to eight or nine months, or even more. 
Among the working classes the time is often extended much longer than 
this. Infants who are over-nursed are apt to be fat, but are not necessarily 
strong — indeed, they often appear rickety in a minor degree. Whenever 
weaning takes place it is wise to do it gradually, in the first place substi- 
tuting the bottle for the breast once or twice in the twenty-four hours, and 
carefully watching the result before attempting more than this. Gradually 
artificial feeding may be made to take the place of the breast entirely. It is 
well to avoid the hottest weather for this change on account of the risks of 
diarrhoea at this time. It is well, also, to avoid a time when the infant is 
cutting a tooth. 

At any time during the period of lactation it may be necessary, on 
account of the mother's health, to supplement nursing with other food, or to 
give up nursing altogether. The question of whether to give up nursing or 
not is often a difficult one to decide. If the mother is suffering from any 
organic disease, there cannot be any doubt as to giving up nursing both for 
her own sake and that of the infant. It may happen that the breast milk 
entirely goes, and either a wet nurse must be obtained or artificial food be 
substituted ; in other cases the decision is much more difficult : the infant 
does not appear to thrive, and the fault may be in the quality of the mother's 
milk. 

Much useful information may be gained by weighing the infant every- 



Weaning — Artificial Feeding 41 

Aveek ; a regular gain of 5 to 6 ounces a week during the first three or four 
and 3 to 4 ounces from the third to the sixth month will indicate that the 
infant is thriving in spite of some minor troubles it may be subject to. It 
must be remembered, however, that the infant may put on fat without a 
corresponding development in the other tissues. One of Salter's family 
spring balances with oblong pan capable of weighing 25 lbs. by 1 ounce will 
answer very well for the purpose. 

Still more valuable information may be obtained by an examination of 
the breast milk ; unfortunately, no mere inspection or microscopical ex- 
amination is of any use ; an analysis must be made by a competent analytical 
chemist if the result is to be of any value. Moreover, it will be necessary to 
have several analyses made before coming to any definite conclusion. Care 
should be taken to see that the milk taken for analysis is the middle portion ; 
that is, the infant should be put to the breast for five minutes or more, and 
then some 50C.C. drawn from the same breast by means of a breast pump. 
This will give a fair sample of the milk. The two most important constituents,, 
as Rotch points out, are the amount of fat and the amount of albuminoids 
present. A low proportion of fat and a high proportion of albuminoids 
indicate a bad milk. 

The following examples, taken from Rotch, represent examples of (I.) 
normal milk, (II.) poor milk, (III.) over-rich milk, (IV.) bad milk. 



I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


Fat . 
Albuminoids 
Sugar 
i Ash . 

Total solids 
Water 


4 
1-2 

• : 7 

. ' 0-2 


I-50 
2-40 
4'00 
0*09 


;-io 
3-5o 
7-50 
0-25 


o-8o 
4-50 
5-00 
0-09 


12-13 
88-87 


7-99 
92-OI 


16-35 
83-65 


io-39 
89-61 


I OO-IOO 


ioo-oo 


IOO'OO 


ioo-oo 



Recently Monti has published the results of his examination of the milk 
of 300 women by taking the specific gravity reaction, and estimating the fat 
by means of Marchand's lactobutyrometer. 1 (See Appendix.) It is easy by 
this means to get a good idea of the quality of the milk ; an analysis in the 
usual way, while much more difficult, yields information of greater value. 

Artificial Feeding-. — The most convenient substitute for human milk is 
the milk of the cow. The milk of some other animals, such as the goat, ass, 
mare, has been used with more or less advantage, but cow's milk is likely 
to remain the all but universal substitute. Goat's milk has one or two prac- 
tical advantages : in the first place, the goat is said not to suffer from tuber- 
culosis, while the cow is known to be very liable to this disease ; and in the 
second place, for a family in the country having their own grass plot, it 
may be often very convenient to purchase a milch goat and fodder it at 

1 Archiv fiir Kinderheilkunde, Band xiii. page I. 



42 The Hygiene and Diet of Infants and Children 

home. A milch goat is of course much cheaper than a cow, and can be kept 
.at practically no expense. The chemical differences between the milk of 

as the 



the cow and that of the goat are not great. 

The differences between human and cow's milk 


are considerable, 


following table shows : — 






( 
Reaction 
Water . 


Woman's milk 
directly from the breast) 

. alkaline 

. 87-88 


Cow's milk 
(as received in towns) 

acid 
86-87 


Solids . 


. 12-13 


13-U 


Fat 
Albuminoids . 


• 4-5 
. 1-2 


4-5 
4 


Milk sugar . 
Ash 


• 7 
•2 


4-5 
7 


Bacteria 


. absent 


very numerous 



It will be seen from the above table that human milk differs from cow's 
milk in being alkaline, containing less casein, more sugar, less ash, and being 
absolutely sterile ; while cow's milk contains not only more curd than 
human milk, but the curd behaves differently to various reagents. If an 
opportunity occur of making an examination of an infant's stomach two 
hours after having taken the breast, it will be found to be empty, the fluid 
portions having disappeared, and all that is left is a little mucus and small 
flocculi of soft curd and milk. If the infant has been fed on cow's milk, firm 
lumps of curd of various sizes as yet undissolved by the gastric juice will be 
found, some of the curd probably having been in the stomach some time, 
perhaps many hours or even days. 

Xfteig-s's Mixture. — Whilst the most ready way to prepare the infant's 
food is to dilute and sweeten cow's milk, it cannot fail to be noted that if 
the milk is diluted so as to reduce the amount of casein present from 4 per 
cent. to 1-2 per cent, the resulting mixture will be deficient in fat. To make 
good this fat, cream may be added or cream may be used instead of milk to 
prepare the food in the first instance. Cream as usually sold contains 15 to 
20 per cent, of fat, but its strength is of course not constant, and, moreover, it 
is apt to be stale and slightly acid. The best way of obtaining cream for the 
purpose is to follow the suggestion of Dr. A. V. Meigs. He directs that the 
morning's milk, say a pint, should be allowed to stand in a cool place in a 
tall cylinder or tin for three hoars ; the upper half is then decanted or drawn 
off by means of a stop-cock inserted halfway down the side of the tin. If 
three parts of this weak cream be diluted with five parts of water, the amount 
of fat and curd in the mixture will be about equal to that in human milk. 
Thus- 
Weak cream (as above) . . .3 ounces 

Water 3 ounces 

Lime water ...... 2 ounces 

Milk sugar 2 teaspoonfuls (3 J drs.) 

Less lime water may be added if thought desirable. We think highly of 
this mixture, and certainly prefer it to simple milk and water. 



Artificial Feeding 43 

Both Biedert and Rotch have also strongly recommended mixtures con- 
taining cream, milk, lime water, and sugar. Rotch suggests the following 
mixture : — 

Cream (20 per cent.) . ij ounces Lime water . . ^ ounce 
Milk .... 1 ounce Milk sugar . . 2 teaspoonfuls 

Water .... 5 ounces 

Cream is mostly digested well by infants if the proportion of fat in the 
food is kept below 4 or 5 per cent., and too much food is not given to the 
infant. Food too rich in fat may give rise to vomiting and diarrhoea, and 
possibly a gastric catarrh. 

Diluted Milk. — Undoubtedly the readiest way to prepare an infant's food 
is to dilute milk with water and lime water, and add sugar.' That food so 
prepared is inferior to the foods in which cream forms the basis is evident, 
yet it cannot be denied that very many children are brought up on diluted 
cow's milk and appear to thrive on it. Many such children pass much curd 
in their stools without being the worse for it. The poorer classes cannot 
:get fresh cream, or indeed any cream at all, and have from necessity to pre- 
pare their infants' food from milk. As we should naturally suppose, it is the 
newly born infants who are most intolerant of cow's milk, and great care is 
required in adapting the strength of the milk to the infant's condition. It is 
necessary at first to dilute good cow's milk with two-thirds water, one twelfth 
part consisting of added lime water, so as to secure that the food should be 
faintly alkaline. 

After the first three or four weeks, if the infant's digestion appears good, 
half milk and half water may be given, adding the same proportion of lime 
water. From three months of age to six months, one-third part of water 
should be added. 

Barley water, Oatmeal water, dec. — For many years past it has been 
the practice to use certain thin gelatinous fluids, such as barley water, oat- 
meal water, arrowroot water, or fluids containing maltose and dextrin, to 
dilute milk with for infant feeding. All these fluids, except perhaps the last 
named, contain small quantities of starch. Now it is certain that the powers 
of young infants for converting starch into sugar are feeble, and if these 
fluids are used care should be taken in their preparation to avoid any quan- 
tity of starch being present. The saliva of infants three or four months old 
lias undoubted powers of starch transformation, and apparently the pancreatic 
and intestinal juices have also, so that by the time this age is reached we 
nave nothing to fear from thin starchy fluids. It has been claimed for these 
gelatinous fluids that when used to dilute milk they play a useful part in 
preventing the curd from running together into lumps during the time that 
coagulation is taking place. It is certainly difficult to demonstrate this in a 
test-tube, but it is probable that any colloidal or gelatinous fluid interferes 
with the rapid diffusion of the acid and curdling ferment through the fluid, 
and consequently the curdling takes place slowly, and there is in consequence 
less tendency to the formation of lumps of curd. Neither starch nor maltose 
is present in the natural food of infants, yet experience teaches that the 
addition of a thin malted food or barley 01 oatmeal water has a considerable 
nutritive value, and we entertain no doubt on this point. For infants below 



44 The Hygiene and Diet of Infants and Children 

six months of age, we dilute milk more or less in order to reduce the amount 
of curd present ; in doing so we render the food poorer in hydrocarbons than 
mother's milk. This diluted milk is rendered more nutritive by the addition 
of malted starch, and this is, in some instances at least, more readily assimi- 
lated than milk diluted with water only. 

Whey. — Whey is a useful substitute for mother's milk in those cases 
where for a few hours or for a day or two milk fails to appear in the breasts. 
As a temporary resort in these cases, whey is a safer food than diluted cow's 
milk. A mixture of milk and whey or cream and whey is often used as a 
substitute for breast milk instead of diluted milk. The following mixture 
is a good one : — 

Weak cream . . . \ ounce Warm water . i ounce 
Whey .... i ounce Sugar of milk a small teaspoonfui 

Care should be taken in preparing the whey to use rennet or an artificial 
curdling fluid free from an excess of salt, as brine is often used to prepare 
the artificial rennet. 

Amount of Food to be given. — The amount of food to be given to an? 
infant must necessarily depend not only on its age, but also on its digestive 
powers and its development. It is evident that it is quite as important to- 
carefully regulate the times of taking food and the amount to be taken, as it 
is to decide upon the nature of the food. It must of course be borne in 
mind that the amounts given below are for an infant of average weight and 
digestive powers. Neither age nor weight should be taken blindly as a guide 
to the amount of food an infant should take. For the first two or three 
weeks (weight 6 to 8 lb.), give I to 2 ounces of food every two hours in the 
daytime ; 8 bottles being given, and 1 2 to 15 ounces of food being taken in 
the twenty-four hours. 

During the second month (weight 8 to 1 1 lb.), 3 to 4 ounces of food every 
two hours ; 8 bottles being given, and 20 to 30 ounces being taken in the 
twenty-four hours. 

During the third and fourth months (weight 11 to 14 lb.), 4 to 5 ounces 
of food every two and a half hours ; 7 bottles being given, and 30 to 35 ounces- 
being taken in the twenty -four hours. 

During the fifth and sixth months (weight 14 to 16 lb.), 6 to 7 ounces of 
food may be given every three hours ; 6 bottles being given, and 35 to 40 
ounces being taken in the twenty-four hours. 

Feeding-bottles. — The simplest feeding-bottles are the best. It is wise- 
to avoid all those provided with indiarubber tubes, corks, and those that have 
indented letters on their surfaces. The rubber tubes soon crack and become 
rough inside, corks absorb some of the food and quickly become foul, while 
any indentations on the inner surface of the bottle make it difficult to scour 
clean with a brush. The best class of bottles are those with rather wide- 
mouths, such as are supplied with Soxhlet's or Escherich's milk sterilisers, 
and are perfectly plain and fitted with large teats that can be turned inside 
out for the purpose of cleansing. The small teats supplied with the fancy 
bottles cannot be readily cleaned. The bottles after being used should be- 
thoroughly cleaned with a brush kept for the purpose, and inverted so that 
they may drain and no dust may be allowed to get into them. Escherich's 
graduated bottles, with the amounts of food to be given at the various ages- 



Artificial Feeding 45 

burnt on the sides, are especially adapted for the poorer classes, being cheap 
and simple. 

It is important that the food should not be given too hot ; a temperature 
of 98 F. is quite warm enough. 

Sterilisation. — Cow's milk as it is received in towns, after having 
travelled many miles, is often twenty-four hours old, or even more, before 
it is taken by the infant. By this time, especially in hot weather, it is 
swarming with micro-organisms, and more or less acid. Moreover, it is 
possible it may contain specific organisms derived either from the cow or from 
rmman beings. Under these circumstances it is highly desirable to destroy 
all the organisms present by boiling, or, still better, by using one of the many 
forms of domestic milk sterilisers now in the market. See Appendix. 

Where milk can be obtained absolutely fresh and uncontaminated, steri- 
lisation is, of course, unnecessary ; but only infants living in the country 
■can have such advantages. The worst milk an infant can possibly have is 
milk which is 'just on the turn,' being acid and crowded with micro- 
organisms ; such milk curdles into lumps directly it reaches the stomach, 
and, if vomiting does not take place, the curd decomposes in the stomach 
and gives rise to flatulence and indigestion. 

Sterilisation in one important particular renders cow's milk like human 
milk, in that it destroys all organisms. What other advantages or dis- 
advantages does the process possess ? In the first place, milk which has 
been heated coagulates less readily with rennet than raw milk ; indeed, if 
:he heating be continued long enough, the milk will not curdle at all with 
rennet. It certainly also curdles more slowly with an artificial gastric juice, 
and the curd thrown down is finer and more flocculent and shows less 
tendency to run into lumps. These facts afford an explanation of what we 
often find, viz., that sterilised or condensed milk excites vomiting less readily 
than the so-called fresh milk. On the other hand, sterilisation or boiling 
coagulates the serum albumen in the milk, and more or less alters the taste 
of the milk. Another more serious objection to sterilisation is that it more 
or less interferes with the emulsion of the fat ; in some specimens of steri- 
lised milk, oil globules appear on the surface, and much shaking is required 
to disperse the fat through the fluid. Sometimes in sterilising milk flocculi 
of curd are thrown down. In spite of these disadvantages we are strongly 
of opinion that it is wise to sterilise the milk for infants' use, especially for 
those who live in cities and have to be fed on milk brought from a distance. 
This, of course, is more important during the summer months than at any 
other time. 

Peptonised Milk. — This can be prepared in the usual way, by diluting, 
adding an alkali and pancreatic ferment, and boiling when the process is 
complete ; the day's or night's supply being made morning and evening. It 
is, however, more readily prepared by adding the pancreatic extract to the 
food shortly before it is taken ; this saves both time and trouble. 

In the early months it is best to take equal quantities of milk and water, 
add 2 oz. of boiling water to 2 oz. of cold milk (the temperature of the mix- 
ture will be about 120 F.); add three grains of ' Benger's Peptonising Powder ; ' 
in ten minutes digestion will have proceeded far enough to soften the curd, 
then add three or four teaspoonfuls of cream, sweeten with sugar, and give 



4 6 



The Hygiene and Diet of Infants and Children 



at once to the infant without boiling. When the infant is old enough, larger 
quantities of milk may be used, and barley water or decoction of starch may- 
be substituted for the boiling water. In the use of all pancreatised foods., 
there is the risk that digestion may proceed too far, and not only an unpalat- 
able taste be developed, but compounds formed which may give rise to vomit- 
ing or intestinal disturbances ; they are, moreover, expensive, and require 
some care and intelligence on the part of the friends or nurse in their pre- 
paration. 

Condensed Milk. — Condensed milk has long been a favourite substitute 
for mother's milk among the lower classes, and its use is by no means con- 
fined to the lower orders, though it has had but few defenders among- 
medical men. The fact that it contains a large proportion of added cane 
sugar has been sufficient to condemn it in the eyes of most, and many 
serious allegations have been made against it. It has been accused of pro- 
ducing eczema, diarrhoea, constipation, rickets, and it has been alleged that 
while children who have been brought up on it are fat and plump, they 
readily succumb when attacked with acute disease. We must confess to 
doubting the value of much of this evidence, and the fact that children un- 
questionably strong and healthy have been brought up on it from birth may 
be set against the rickety children who are said to owe their rickets to their 
having been fed on condensed milk. That it is a favourite food among the 
lower classes there can be no doubt ; it is convenient, it does not readily turn 
sour, and it may often be substituted for fresh cow's milk, when the latter 
causes vomiting, with good effect. The reason of its being useful in gastric 
catarrh, not being vomited when cow's milk and water have been, is probably 
that the condensed milk, as generally mixed, contains less curd than the 
mixture of fresh cow's milk previously used ; it seems certain also that the 
casein of condensed milk is more slowly thrown down than the casein of 
fresh milk. 

This will become apparent if we compare the following table from 
A. V. Meigs :— 





Human 


Cow's milk 


j Condensed milk | 

Condensed milk one teaspoonful j 

(Eagle Brand) ; to six tablespoon- 

fuls of water 1 


Water 
Fat . 
Casein 
Sugar 
Ash . 


87-163 
4-283 
1-046 

7-407 

•101 


87-OI2 
4*209 
3-222 
5*000 

•527 


27-942 92-673 
10335 I -095 

9-522 -868 

50-861 5-206 

1-340 -158 


ioo-ooo 


100 'OOO 


ioo-ooo 


1 oo-ooo 



From this it is clear that, if the condensed milk is mixed in the proportion 
of one teaspoonful to six tablespoonfuls of water, there is no excess of sugar 
as compared with human milk, but a great deficiency of fat and a slight 
deficiency of casein. This would indicate that the addition of cream to con- 
densed milk would render it far more deserving of being called a food. 



Artificial Feeding — Diet from 6 to 12 M out J is 47 

Condensed milk thus forms, we believe, a valuable substitute for fresh cow's 
milk, especially at those times when cows are being fed on turnips or other 
watery food, and during the hot weather, when milk is apt to turn sour. Care 
should always be taken to select some reliable brand and to be careful in 
diluting it, for if it is made too strong there will be a large excess of cane 
sugar, and if too weak a greatly disproportionate amount of fatty and nitro- 
genous stuffs. One heaped-up teaspoonful to six tablespoonfuls of water 
will be about the right proportion. Other forms of condensed or preserved 
milk are also to be obtained, the unsweetened condensed milk being one of 
these. This latter is milk which is concentrated to about one-third of its 
bulk without the addition of any cane sugar. To obtain milk resembling, 
the fresh milk it must be diluted with two parts of water. One of the diffi- 
culties in using it consists in the fact that it does not keep as long as the 
sweetened variety. 

Loeflund & Co.'s ' Kindermilch ' consists of preserved milk in which 
dextrine and starch sugar take the place of cane sugar in sweetened con- 
densed milk ; it contains less water than ordinary condensed milk. It may 
be used in a similar proportion. It consists of — 

Water .... 20-58 Fat . . . . . 12-22 

Maltose .... 33*84 Albuminoids . . . 9-86 

Dextrine . . . 8-63 Ash . . . . . 2*24 
Milk sugar . . .12-63 

In some cases this food will be found to suit better than condensed milk, 
especially in those where there is a tendency to diarrhoea, the dextrine and 
maltose being more suitable than the cane sugar. 

Undoubtedly one great disadvantage of using thick foods is the difficulty 
in measuring amounts, inasmuch as ' a teaspoonful ' is certain to differ 
materially, not only in the size of the spoon, but also in the amount taken up, 
while the measuring of liquid foods can be done with the greatest accuracy. 

If the condensed sweetened milk be used in too large proportions, the 
large amount of cane sugar will be likely to set up intestinal catarrh and 
diarrhoea. Another form of condensed milk which has recently been intro- 
duced is the peptonised condensed milk of Savory & Moore. This pre- 
paration is very palatable, easily prepared by mixing warm water with it, and 
much of the curd has been converted into peptone. It keeps well for some 
days after the tin has been opened, being preserved by the addition of cane 
sugar ; it appears to be concentrated to \ to i- of its bulk. In cases where 
cane sugar is not an objection it is often useful. 

Diet from 6 to 12 SVIonths. — While some mothers are strong enough, and 
are sufficiently good nurses, to suckle their children to the end of the first 
year, there are many others who begin to flag about the 6th or 7th month, 
and in such cases it is desirable to supplement the breast by means of some 
milk food. There is no lack of artificial or patent foods from which to 
choose. If the infant is entirely dependent upon artificial food, it should 
take from if to 2 pints of good cow's milk every twenty-four hours, between 
6 months and 1 year. Whether this should be given undiluted must depend 
upon the digestive powers of the infant, which may be gauged by its power 
of digesting casein as determined by an inspection of its stools and by its 



48 The Hygiene and Diet of Infants and Children 

growth and weight. Some form of starchy food may be added with advan- 
tage, for now the digestive powers of the infant are sufficiently advanced to 
form dextrine and maltose out of starch, thus forming a valuable and easily 
assimilated carbo-hydrate. Care must be taken that all starchy matters are 
thoroughly boiled so that the starch granules become gelatinised, as raw 
starch is less easily digested. It is a good plan, when starch is being given, 
to test the stools from time to time with iodine, to see if any undigested 
starch is passing through the intestines. 

Barley-jelly, whole-meal flour, maize, oatmeal all answer very well if 
thoroughly cooked and made sufficiently thin to pass through the tube of 
ordinary feeding-bottles. 

Instead of these starchy foods, which have the merit of being wholesome 
and cheap, some of the artificial foods containing pancreatine, such as 
Benger's, or Savory & Moore's, or Allen & Hanbury's, in which the starchy 
elements in the process of preparing are converted into dextrine and 
maltose, may be given. It must be borne in mind, however, that the starch 
is most perfectly acted on by ferments after it has been rendered soluble by 
boiling, while the act of boiling destroys the ferment. A more perfect result 
Is obtained by adding malt extract to the food after it has been boiled, and 
allowed to become just cool enough to taste ; it is then set aside for a few 
minutes before giving it. Five meals in the twenty-four hours will, as a 
rule, be sufficient, some 6 to 8 oz. being taken at each meal. The first meal 
may be taken between 7 and 8 A.M. ; the second, between 10 and 1 1 A.M. ; the 
third, 1 to 2 P.M. ; the fourth, from 4 to 5 P.M. ; and the fifth, the last thing 
at night. There is no harm in giving the infant a well-toasted crust to 
nibble, but thick foods should not be allowed, and beef-tea or eggs are 
certainly unnecessary, and best avoided. 

During the 7th, 8th, and 9th months, 3^ oz. to 3 oz. will be an average 
weekly gain, and by the end of the 9th month 20 lb. weight may be reached. 
During the last three months 2 oz. to \\ oz. per week ; the weight is usually 
over 22 lb. by the end of the first year. 

It must not, however, be forgotten that infants may put on fat which 
naturally adds to their weight without their being necessarily strong and 
healthy. Care must be taken to weigh them at the same time of day, so that 
there may be no mistake. 

At twelve months of age, if the child be strong and healthy, the bottle 
may be gradually left off, and food of a more solid character may be substi- 
tuted, but milk is still to be the staple food. 



Diet from 12 Months to 18 Months of ikge = 

First meal, 7.30 a.m. Fine bread sops with milk, or oatmeal or hominy 

porridge made with milk. 
Second meal, 11 A.M. A drink of milk. 
Third meal, 1.30 P.M. Breadcrumbs and gravy or a lightly boiled egg and 

bread and butter. Sago or rice pudding. 
Fourth meal, 5.30 P.M. Bread and milk. 
Fifth meal. Milk to drink. 



Diet from Twelve to Eighteen Months of Age 49 

After eighteen months of age, when healthy children have cut their first 
set of double teeth, small quantities of fish, fowl, or meat may be allowed. Of 
fish, boiled whiting, sole, or cod, carefully freed from all the bones, is readily 
taken by most children. Boiled fowl is better than butcher's meat in early 
childhood. Of the latter, underdone mutton-chops, torn into shreds and 
mixed with breadcrumbs or well-mashed potatoes, form the best and most 
digestible kind of butcher's meat. Rice, sago, and tapioca puddings, stewed 
apples and preserves of various fruits, may be allowed. 

Children unfortunately are often strangely fastidious in their tastes, and 
will frequently take a dislike to many forms of the most digestible foods. It 
is always well to introduce as much variety as possible into their diet. For 
older children hominy porridge with treacle for breakfast, to be followed by 
small quantities of bacon or egg, with cocoa or weak tea, are as a rule well 
digested and are beneficial, provided that the porridge or bread and milk 
forms the piece de re'sista?ice of the repast. Soups made in various ways 
from meat and vegetables form an exceedingly wholesome and digestible 
meal. Pastry, as a rule, is bad ; boiled rice with raisins and stewed fruit of 
various kinds are much to be preferred. 

When the child is old enough to sit up to table at dinner and take meat 
cut from a joint, the greatest care should be taken to see that the meat is 
carefully cut up into small pieces before being put into the mouth, and is 
carefully masticated before swallowing. So important is this, that if there is 
any doubt as to the cutting up by the nurse, it will be well to insist that all 
the meat should first be put through a mincing-machine ; the gravy can 
be afterwards added to it. Masses of half-masticated meat will not be 
digested if bolted in the usual way, and will be passed almost unchanged in 
the fasces, and if the food is thus bolted, it is less satisfying, and leads to 
more than is required by the system being consumed. A stand must always 
be made against the common practice of giving children biscuits or ginger- 
bread at almost all hours of the day. The stomach requires rest like every 
other organ in the body, and is certain to become deranged if sweet things 
are being' taken at all times. 



5o 



CHAPTER IV. 

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. 

Examination of the Mouth. — An inspection of the cavity of the mouth 
and fauces in infants and children is of great importance, and mistakes in 
diagnosis are exceedingly likely to be made if it is neglected. In newly born 
infants the mucous membrane of the mouth is comparatively dry, and con- 
tinues so for the first two or three months of life ; the secretion of saliva 
becomes gradually freer as the glands develop, and the infant begins to 
dribble, for it is some time before it learns to swallow its saliva and to keep 
its mouth shut. The lining of the infant's mouth is at first of a dull red 
colour, and flocculi of milk are often to be seen adhering to it, as the move- 
ments of the tongue and lips are imperfect, and there is but little secretion 
of fluid to cleanse the mucous membrane. All through infancy and early 
childhood the mucous membrane is exceedingly apt to become the seat of 
various lesions. The membrane is necessarily delicate, the epithelium is easily 
injured, and affords a favourable ground for the cultivation of cryptogamic 
growths and various micro-organisms ; hence the frequency with which we 
find parasitic stomatitis and various superficial ulcerations and aphthous 
patches. 

Inspection of the mouth of the newly born may reveal various abnorma- 
lities, some of minor importance, such as the small millet-seed nodules 
situated in the middle of the roof of the mouth, a shortened fraenum linguae, 
or the presence of small clear swellings (ranula) beneath the tongue. Among 
the important abnormalities may be mentioned cleft palate, or an abnormally 
high arched roof. 

All through early life there is a tendency to hypertrophy of the lymphatic 
tissues in the naso-pharynx and fauces. It must be borne in mind that the 
passage through the naso-pharynx in infants is exceedingly narrow, and the 
presence of adenoid excrescences or enlarged pharyngeal tonsil, which may 
perhaps be congenital, may seriously interfere with the infant's respira- 
tion, and in some instances seem to excite ' choking fits,' or spasm of the 
glottis. 

Bentition.— The influence of dentition upon the health of the infant de- 
pends very much upon the child's strength. A strong and vigorous infant 
which has been brought up at the breast will cut its teeth one after another 
without trouble, and but for the appearance of the teeth through the gums 
the friends will not be aware that dentition is in progress. On the other 
hand, if the infant is rickety, weakly, or the victim of hereditary tendencies, 
the period of dentition will be a period of danger, and the irritation caused. 



Dentition 5 1 

by the pressure of the tooth expanding its socket and cutting through the 
gum is very liable to give rise to various forms of disease, the process of 
dentition acting rather as the exciting than the predisposing cause. The 
first dentition begins during the middle of the first year and ends usually by 
the appearance of the posterior molars in the middle of the third year. In 
some, without any known cause, the first teeth make their appearance before 
this time ; indeed, it is not infrequent for infants to be born with a tooth 
already cut ; such teeth, however, are imperfectly developed, and consist 
merely of a thin shell of enamel. Some by no means strong children cut 
their teeth early. In rickets dentition is delayed ; in those cases in which 
rickets makes its appearance prior to the sixth month, dentition may not 
commence during the first year, the infant being toothless at a year old. In 
other cases the infant only becomes rickety towards the end of the first 
year, when the incisors are perhaps through the gum, and then there follows 
a long delay. 

By the fifth or sixth month saliva is formed in large quantities, so that it 
is frequently dribbling from the mouth, and the infant is constantly putting 
its fingers into its mouth, as if there were some sort of irritation going on 
there. Moreover, while up to this period it has taken its food well and slept 
the whole night without disturbing its mother, it now becomes restless, wakes 
crying, suffers from dyspepsia and flatulence, and is at times feverish. The 
gums may become tender, the whole mucous membrane congested, aphthsc- 
appear on the tongue, inside the lips, or on the hard palate, and the infant is 
feverish and cross to a degree. Perhaps now the edge of a tooth, usually 
one of the lower middle incisors, will be felt through the gum. Some days 
or even weeks will perhaps elapse before the edge of the tooth is actually 
cut. It is a singular but by no means unusual circumstance for a tooth to 
advance so as almost to stretch the mucous membrane of the mouth, and 
then become stationary for some time. The teeth, as a rule, make their 
appearance in groups ; the times of their being cut have already been 
referred to on p. 11. Some of the commoner dentition troubles may be 
mentioned here. 

Fcverislmess. — When the gum is swollen and tender prior to the cutting 
of a tooth, the infant is apt to be irritable, having fits of crying without any 
apparent cause, which nothing will pacify ; at first gently rubbing the gum 
will give ease, but at a later stage this only aggravates the trouble from the 
acutely painful state of the gum. The fever is intermittent, the child being 
hot and feverish for the most part at night and unable to sleep, while towards 
morning it cools down and dozes for a few hours ; the temperature may 
reach 102 or 103°, rarely more. Such attacks may often pass away without 
the tooth being cut, or may continue for some time after the edge of the 
tooth has appeared, and before the rest of the tooth has made its way 
through. 

Stomatitis.— Teat mucous membrane of the mouth, more especially that 
of the tongue, hard palate, and inside of the cheeks, may be the seat of small 
superficial ulcers or small spots denuded of epithelium, their surface being 
of a grey or yellowish colour, and their edges surrounded by a zone of erythe- 
matous redness. These spots are evidently sore, and may be the cause 
of the infant refusing the breast and crying whenever liquids containing 

e 2 



52 Diseases of the Digestive System 

salines, such as beef-tea, are taken. Sometimes these aphthous patches are 
present on the gum at the spot where the tooth is appearing. 

Enlarged Glands. — Occasionally it happens in children predisposed to 
glandular enlargement that the irritation caused by these aphthous patches 
gives rise to a swelling of the glands, either the submaxillary when the lower 
jaw is affected, or the parotid or upper cervical lymphatic glands, which receive 
the lymph from the upper jaw. These swellings may subside or end in either 
acute or chronic suppuration. In the latter case successive teeth being cut 
keep up the source of irritation. 

Diarrhcea. — During the hot months of late summer and autumn, the 
irritation of teeth is the exciting cause of intestinal catarrh and diarrhcea. In 
infants a transference of a lesion from one part of the body, more especially 
from one mucous membrane to another, is exceedingly common ; this 
diarrhcea is especially common in artificially fed infants. Even at other 
times than in hot weather a severe or even fatal diarrhcea may supervene 
when a tooth is being cut. 

Bronchitis. — During dentition, especially when the incisors are being cut, 
infants seem very prone to catarrh of the bronchial tubes and sometimes 
also to catarrhal pneumonia. 

Eczema and Lichen. — It constantly happens that infants who suffer, or 
are liable to suffer, from eczema are much worse while a tooth is pressing 
through the gum. The eczema very frequently gets well in the intervals, 
the face and body being free, until a tooth comes near the surface, and there 
is a return of the eczema, the face and forehead flush up and papules appear 
which begin to ooze and crust. Lichen in the form of strophulus or urticaria 
is also common. 

Convulsions. — It may be taken for granted that no healthy infants suffer 
from convulsions ; those who do are either rickety or the children of neurotic 
parents, and inherit a tendency to nerve disturbance. Spasmodic affections 
of various groups of muscles occasionally take place. 

Treatment. — Much controversy has arisen from time to time with regard 
to the use of the gum lancet, and the propriety of employing it in assisting 
dentition, many practitioners being in the frequent habit of using it, while 
others have not employed it for years. If the mucous membrane over the 
tooth is red, swollen, and tender, and the edge of the tooth can be felt, much 
pain and discomfort will be spared the infant by its use, presuming, of 
course, it is not a ' bleeder,' nor comes of a family in which there is a history 
of haemophilia. The relief afforded is due in all probability to the local 
loss of blood, as well as to the relief of tension in the gum. That it has been 
done often unnecessarily, and that many troubles are attributed to dentition 
that have no connection with it, is no argument against the use of the lancet 
in proper cases. The evidence is too strong to be lightly explained away, 
that fits of crying, feverishness, or even convulsions may be quickly relieved 
by freely lancing a swollen and tender gum. It, perhaps, need not be said 
that it is useless to lance the gum unless there is evidence that the cutting 
edge of the tooth is near the surface, or disappointment will certainly follow. 
In one case coming under our notice, in which an upper incisor was lanced in 
a rickety child, the tooth was not cut till exactly a year after the operation. 
The feverishness and tenderness in the mouth and sleeplessness may be 






Stomatitis 5 3 

generally relieved by mercurial purges, bromides, or simple salines (F. 1 
and 2). 

As much as five grains of bromide may be given if the infant is very 
restless, or two or three grains of chloral hydrate. 

Painting a tender and swollen gum with a saturated solution of bromide 
of sodium in glycerine and water will often relieve pain. If the gums remain 
spongy, or there is aphthous stomatitis, F. 3 may be used. 

The size and hardness of the temporary teeth differ much in different 
children ; in weakly rickety children they are not only late in appearing, 
but when they do appear are dwarfed and consist of mere shells, quickly 
becoming black and carious, or loose and falling out of their sockets. In 
other children the enamel appears deficient, and caries occurs early. Great 
care should always be exercised in the preservation of the first set of teeth. 
A soft tooth-brush should be used every night, and the mouth thoroughly 
cleansed with warm water, in order to dislodge the fragments of food which 
have collected between the teeth. If the teeth show signs of caries, it is a 
good plan to use the tooth-brush after every meal, mixing a few drops of an 
alkaline mixture with the water (sp. amnion, aromat. Jj, sp. vini rect. §iij). 
Whenever it is possible, carious temporary molars should be properly filled. 

The second dentition is not accompanied by the same troubles as the 
first, or at any rate to the same degree. The first molars and incisors usually 
make their appearance unobserved, and rarely occasion any inconvenience. 
The second molars may give more trouble. It sometimes happens that the 
gums get into an unhealthy state, being spongy and bleeding readily, while 
the teeth become loose and give pain during mastication. It is during this 
period that ulcerative stomatitis may be present. Gumboils may be another 
source of trouble. If it is of importance to attend to the cleansing of the 
mouth during early childhood, it is of still greater importance to do so when 
the permanent teeth are appearing, and no effort should be spared to prevent 
their premature decay. 

Diseases of the Mouth. Catarrhal Stomatitis. — Catarrhal inflamma- 
tion of the mouth may be primary, but it is more often secondary, accompany- 
ing dentition, dyspepsia, pneumonia, and other diseases. Stomatitis is 
especially apt to make its appearance during the first year of life, though it 
is common during the whole of childhood. Infants who are thus suffering, 
having begun to take the breast, suddenly let it go and cry, and are apt to 
stuff their fingers in their mouths ; the infant is feverish and irritable, the 
saliva is increased in quantity, and the mouth feels hot if the finger be in- 
serted ; the salivary glands, especially the sublingual, are swollen and tender. 
On examination of the oral cavity, patches of intense redness are to be seen 
on the mucous membrane inside the cheek, on the gums, or hard palate, 
the tongue is generally bright red and clean, or the surface is covered with 
a thick creamy fur, the edges and tip being clean and red. This form of 
stomatitis is often called Stomatitis erythematosa. Very frequently at 
the seat of these erythematous patches, an exudation of yellowish or greyish 
secretion takes place, or there is a breach of surface where the epithelium is 
denuded, and small shallow ulcers are formed. These yellowish patches or 
ulcers are surrounded by a zone of redness. Such patches are usually 
termed Aphthae, and when present the term ' aphthous stomatitis ' is often 



54 Diseases of the Digestive System 

applied. Older children are subject to these attacks, and it is often seen to 
affect a whole household at the same time, the adults by no means always 
escaping. It is uncertain if it is contagious, but it is certainly epidemic ; it 
is sometimes associated with tonsillitis. There may be feverishness, the 
temperature rising to 103 , accompanied by the appearance of vesicles on 
the mucous membrane of the lips, tongue, soft palate ; the vesicles soon 
disappear, being followed by patches of yellow exudation, or a shallow ulcer 
may remain. The spots remain sore for several days. Similar attacks have 
been described as occurring both in infants and children from drinking the 
unboiled milk of cows suffering from ' foot and mouth ' disease ; and in any 
case where these affections occur in a widespread epidemic it is well to make 
careful inquiry into this as a possible cause. 

It is probable there are several distinct diseases resulting from specific 
micro-organisms included under the term ' aphthous stomatitis.' 

During attacks of tonsillitis, scarlet fever, measles, &c, aphtha? often make 
their appearance on the tongue and inside the lips, while the corners of the 
mouth become excoriated. 

In infants, aphthous patches, two in number, situated on the hard palate, 
one on each side of the median raphe, near the junction of the hard and soft 
palate, are often seen ; these are round superficial ulcers ^-^ in. in diameter, 
their base being of a yellowish colour and surrounded by erythema. They 
have been described as Bednar's aphthae, or plaques pterygoidiennes, by 
Parrot. They are produced by the pressure of the back of the tongue against t 
the hard palate in sucking. They have nothing to do with syphilis. 

The treatment must depend upon the cause, whether the stomatitis 
depends upon dentition, gastro-intestinal catarrh, or other pathological con- 
dition. In most cases a mild purge will be useful to expel any indigestible 
food present in the alimentary canal, to be followed by one- or two-grain doses 
of chlorate of potash in a little glycerine and water (F. 4). 

Locally the spots may be touched with a solution of permanganate of 
potash (5 grs. to the oz.) or boracic acid (15 grs. to the oz.). If the spots are 
slow in healing, they may be touched with lapis divinus. This latter consists 
of equal parts of sulphate of copper, alum, and saltpetre fused together. The 
diet should consist of milk and barley-water made more dilute than usual, 
and for older children milk and sops. Beef-tea and saline fluids are generally 
objected to on account of causing smarting in the mouth. 

Parasitic Stomatitis. Thrush. — This form of stomatitis differs essen- 
tially from the forms already described, as it is due to the presence and growth 
in the epithelium of the mouth of a species of cryptogam. It is especially 
common in newly born infants and in those of a few months old, who are 
suffering from some form of wasting disease, and when the mucous membrane 
of the mouth is in an unhealthy condition. But it is also found in infants 
during the last half of the first year, less commonly during the second and 
later years. It appears as small white distinctly raised points or scattered 
patches on the soft palate, mucous membrane of the cheek, lips, and tongue. 
While its chief seat is the mouth, it has been found in the larynx, oesophagus, 
stomach, caecum, and in one or two instances in the lungs. If touched with 
a small paint-brush, the patch is found to adhere firmly to the mucous mem- 
brane and cannot be detached as can milk flocculi, for which it may readily 



Thrush 



55 



be mistaken ; if forcibly detached there is left a red surface denuded of 
epithelium. The mucous membrane of the mouth is often red and unhealthy 
around the patches, in other cases it is quite normal. In mild cases these 
white patches are small and few in number ; in severe cases they become 
confluent and large, and the surface of the tongue and cheeks is covered 
with them. Infants so affected are mostly weak and ill and often suffer from 
diarrhoea or gastric catarrh with wasting. It occurs in older children in the 
last days of tuberculosis, tubercular meningitis, typhoid, and pneumonia. 

If a piece of the white patch be detached and examined microscopically, 
it will be found to consist of epithelial cells, bacteria, yeast-fungi, and the 
thread-like filaments of various mould-fungi. The identity of the fungus 
which gives rise to the disease is a matter of uncertainty, the difficulty of 
identifying it being largely due to the presence of various organisms in the 
white patches. It has been identified as the Oidium lactis, the mould-fungus 
which is present in sour milk ; the cultivations of Grawitz led him to believe 
it to be identical with the yeast-fungus or wine ferment {Saccharomyces 
mycoderma). Rees, who further investigated it, believes it to be a yeast- 
fungus, though not identical with the above ; he gave it the name of 
Saccharomyces albicans. The micro- 
organism of thrush is most pro- 
bably, as Fraenkel states, a link 
between the yeast-fungi (Saccha- 
romycetes) and the mould- or 
thread-fungi {Hypomycetes). It 
can be cultivated in syrup, gelatine, 
or potatoes and bread-paste ; under 
certain conditions of nutrition it 
appears to resemble the yeast- 
fungi, as on the surface of the 
gelatine ; while at the bottom of the 
test-tube cultures it appears more 
like the thread-like forms of the 
mould-fungi. 

Plaut believes it to be identical 
with a fungus growing on sweet fruits and rotten wood (Momlza Candida). 

The fungus usually appears in the form of filaments made up of cells 
jointed together 3-4 n broad and 50-60 /j. long ; these branch in various 
directions ; oval cells bud out from the joints between the elongated cells ; 
spores are present in these roundish cells. (See fig. 8.) 

Treatmeiit. — It is of much importance that great care should be taken to 
■cleanse the mouth after the infant has taken the bottle, especially in a weakly 
infant of low vitality, weak alkaline solutions, just tinged with Condy's fluid, 
being useful for this purpose. This can be done with a large paint-brush or 
soft wet rag, and on the first symptoms of thrush the borax lotion (F. 3) or 
similar solution should be used. As a stronger application to the parasitic 
patches a solution of sulphate of copper (2 grs. to the oz.) or carbolic acid 
(2 grs. to the oz.) is very effectual when applied with a paint-brush. The 
success of the treatment depends not only on the destruction of the fungus, 
but also on an improvement in the child's general health. 




Fie. 8. 



—Fungus of thrush ( x 300). 
( After Crookslmnk.) 



56 Diseases of the Digestive System 

Ulcerative Stomatitis. — This form mostly occurs during dentition., 
and is perhaps most common during the period of the second dentition, or 
from the age of five to ten years. The children who suffer from it in the 
severe form are unhealthy, and are either recovering from some infectious 
disease, or have been badly fed, or have been exposed to unhealthy sur- 
roundings ; it is also common in tuberculous children. A very similar con- 
dition is produced by scurvy, rickets, and by chronic mercury or phosphorus 
poisoning. The first symptoms consist in increased salivation, the gums 
become pale, swollen, and spongy, and the breath foul ; the salivary glands 
are swollen and painful, and there is often much swelling of one or other of 
the lips. The spongy gums bleed, and the blood together with the matters* 
taken as food decompose, giving rise to a very foul condition of the breath. 
The first part of the gums to be affected is usually that near the incisors or 
eye-teeth of the lower jaw ; the front part of the gums suffers more than the 
back. The gums sometimes swell so as to partly cover up the teeth, irregular 
ulcers form on the swollen gums, which, as they increase, expose the roots 
of the teeth ; the latter become loose and perhaps fall out. The ulceration is 
at first confined to the gums, but may involve the sulcus between the gum 
and cheek, and also the mucous membrane lining the cheek or the inside of 
the lower lip. In mild cases the symptoms are much less severe than this. 

Necrosis of the jaw is apt to follow in some of the more severe cases of 
ulcerative stomatitis ; instead of the process ceasing, as it usually does, the 
mischief spreads and a chronic osteomyelitis of the jaw is set up, much 
intensely foetid discharge comes away, the child's health suffers, the cheeks 
become puffy and flabby, the ulceration of the gums spreads, and after a 
while it is found that a large piece of jaw, carrying perhaps two or three 
teeth, is loose ; this is taken away, and in some instances the process stops ; 
often, however, any new bone that may have formed becomes infiltrated with 
the foul discharges, and the mischief spreads along the jaw, piece after piece 
is taken away, until at last the entire jaw may have to be removed. We have 
removed the whole bone from condyle to condyle for this condition. Many 
surgeons believe that the disease begins as a periostitis and not as an 
ulceration of the gums, and that alveolar abscess is the starting-point ; this 
is so sometimes, though we think certainly not always. 1 

The child's health materially suffers from the discharge and foul state of 
the mouth. In one instance, after removal of the jaw, the child was sent 
home convalescent, but died suddenly, apparently from falling back of the 
tongue. Restoration of the jaw is very imperfect in these cases, for the new 
bone necroses as fast as it forms. The process closely resembles phosphorus 
necrosis, but it is not due to that poison. 

Treatment. — After every meal the mouth should be well rinsed with 
warm water or Condy's fluid, and the gums and teeth cleaned with a bit of 
absorbent wool or soft rag, not sponge, so that the same bit may never be 
used again ; the gums should then be mopped over with the glycerine of 
borax 2 parts to tincture of myrrh 1 part. Of internal remedies, by far 
the most efficient is chlorate of potash, given in five- or six-grain doses three 

1 Dr. Angel Money has reported a case coming on after typhoid and affecting the 
upper jaw. The lower jaw is the one most commonly attacked. 



Cancmm Oris 57 

times a day. The diet should consist of fluids and sops, beef-tea and other 
nourishing liquids being given freely, especially in those cases where the- 
disease occurs in the poorly nourished and underfed. This treatment wilt 
usually suffice to arrest the disease, but once the bone becomes seriously 
involved, in some cases nothing seems to have any effect. Strong nitric 
acid, carbolic acid, &c, seem to have little power, and the purulent infiltra- 
tion only ceases when the whole bone has been destroyed. These plans 
should, however, be carefully tried, chloroform being of course given, and 
subsequently there should be very frequent cleansing of the mouth with 
equal parts of rectified spirit and water. As soon as the disease has ceased 
to spread, any loss of bone or teeth should be supplied by a plate with arti- 
ficial teeth, to prevent falling in of the lips and the prematurely senile 
appearance thus produced. Even where the alveolus alone is destroyed., 
since no new formation of bone occurs the permanent teeth are often 
loosened and fall out. 

Cancmm Oris. — Cancrum oris occurs almost invariably in squalid, half- 
starved children after one of the exanthemata ; sometimes, however, it seems 
to have no such predisposing cause. The disease begins as an inflamed 
spot on the inner surface of the cheek or upon the gum, the mischief rapidly 
spreads, both in depth and area, and the whole thickness of the cheek and 
gum becomes involved. On the outer surface the cheek is swollen, shining. 
stiff, and pale, or sometimes dark red, its vessels are thrombosed, and soon 
a black spot appears in the centre of the pale waxy area ; the cheek is per- 
forated, the black spot becomes a definite slough which partially separates. 
Then the edges of the gap become black and the sloughing spreads, preceded 
by a zone in which the skin is pale and cedematous. In severe cases the 
whole side of the face is rapidly destroyed, the gums slough away, the jaw 
necroses, and the teeth drop out. There is intense fcetor of the discharge 
and breath, which poisons the child, frequently causing pneumonia and 
death before the process is complete. Dr. Wilks considers that when 
the sloughing attacks the gum first it may be only an aggravated form of 
the ulceration met with as a late condition in scarlet fever ; this is seen 
usually in the lower jaw, while in true cancrum oris the upper jaw is 
attacked. 1 

Sansom has described an organism which he found in the blood and 
diseased tissues ; when taken from the blood and inoculated into guinea- 
pigs and mice, it was found again in their blood. 2 In a fair number of 
instances the process is arrested and the sloughing ceases, the parts clean 
up and heal rapidly, leaving, of course, a more or less severe deformity. In 
fatal cases, death is due to exhaustion or septic pneumonia. The amount of 
pain and distress suffered is variable, sometimes but little of either exists. 

Treatment. — The treatment of cancrum oris consists in the free local 
application of the actual cautery, or, better, of pure nitric acid. The child 
should be put under chloroform and the parts carefully dried with lint ; 
sticks dipped in strong nitric acid should then be rubbed well into the 
edges of the sloughing parts and over the surface of the gums, after cutting- 

1 An excellent description and figure are given in Mr. Cooper Forster's book on the 
Surgical Diseases of Children. ~ Med.-Chir. Trans. 1878. 



S3 



Diseases of the Digestive System 





away any loose sloughs and removing sequestra. Care must, of course, be 
taken not to allow the acid to run over the sound skin. Several applica- 
tions of the acid should be made, the parts being dried after each. After- 
wards, a little iodoform should be powdered on and the surface smeared 

well with carbolic oil. E. C. Kings- 
ford has had good results from the 
application of perchloride of mercury, 
but it has not proved universally suc- 
cessful. 1 No less important than the 
local treatment is the free adminis- 
tration of stimulants and abundant 
nourishment. As much wine or brandy 
as the child will take (about 3-4 ounces 
of brandy in twenty-four hours for a 
child of five years), carbonate of am- 
monia and bark, eggs beaten up with 
milk, strong soup and meat extracts 
should be given. In these cases, as 
in phlegmonous erysipelas, patients 
seem to be able to take almost an 
unlimited amount and to thrive upon 
it. Opium should be given, but with 
caution, as it is not always well borne. 
If the child recovers, the deformity is 
often remediable to a considerable 
extent by a plastic operation. Perhaps 
the most troublesome after condition 
is closure of the mouth by adhesions ; an attempt to prevent this should be 
made during healing by the use of screw-gags or mouth-openers, and 
later, by division of the scar tissue : in some cases even section of the jaw 
and the establishment of a false joint may be required. It must be confessed, 
however, that the treatment of this cicatricial contraction is far from satis- 
factory, and often no permanent good result is obtained. 

Some cases of cervical cellulitis (so-called angina Ludovici) closely 
resemble cancrum oris in their results {vide Diseases of Lymph Glands). 
Acute Tonsillitis. — It is hardly possible to exaggerate the importance 
of a thorough examination of the throat of a feverish child, especially when 
the cause of its illness is not obvious. A child, more particularly a young one, 
does not, like an adult, volunteer the information that its throat is sore and 
painful during the act of swallowing, and will even deny that it is sore when 
it is actually suffering from severe tonsillitis. Without a careful examina- 
tion it is quite possible to overlook not only tonsillitis but scarlet fever or 
diphtheria, especially if there is some chest complication present to throw 
the observer off his guard ; or he may come to the conclusion that a case of 
submaxillary ' mumps,' or croupous pneumonia with physical signs delayed, 
is a case of scarlet fever. Anyone who has had any experience of a fever 
hospital will be able to call to mind many cases where errors have been 



Fig. 9. — Deformity resulting after recovery 
Irom cancrum oris ; subsequently remedied 
by a plastic operation. Dr. Wilkinson's case. 



1 Lancet, Sept. 1891. 



A cu te Tons Uli tis 5 9 

made through neglecting to examine the tonsils or from want of knowledge 
of their appearance in health and disease. 

Children are very liable to tonsillitis in its broadest sense, and this is in 
liannony with the fact that the lymphatic system during childhood is ex- 
tremely active and especially prone to inflammation. The use which the 
tonsils fulfi] is uncertain, but, whatever their exact function, it is certain 
that they belong to the lymphatic system, and they have been justly com- 
pared to Peyer's patches inasmuch as they resemble them in structure, con- 
sisting of a congeries of lymph follicles or so-called ' solitary glands.' They 
have a large blood supply and their lymph sinuses freely communicate 
with the lymphatics of the mouth and pharynx, and also with the deep 
cervical glands situated behind the angle of the jaws. Their surfaces are 
■covered with deep clefts or pits which serve to increase the surface of the 
mucous membrane covering them, and these clefts or crypts, as they are 
called, are apt to become filled with thick yellowish secretion, and are then 
seen as yellow points scattered over the surface. One of the functions of the 
tonsils is probably the formation of leucocytes, or white blood-corpuscles, 
which are shed into the salivary secretion, and the cheesy secretion formed 
•during inflammation consists principally of these bodies. Tonsillitis occurs 
under the influence of many different conditions during childhood, and possibly 
the proneness of the tonsils to inflame is, in part at any rate, the result of their 
position at the entrance of the fauces, where the various forms of aerial 
poisons, bacilli or other germs, would, when inhaled, be especially prone to 
lodge. Many of the zymotic diseases are accompanied, or, what is a very 
significant fact, are preceded, by tonsillitis. Thus the tonsils are the seat of 
inflammation in scarlet fever and diphtheria. Typhoid fever sometimes 
■commences with a sore throat, measles and rotheln are mostly attended with 
some congestion or catarrhal inflammation about the fauces. The tonsils 
are apt to become inflamed as the result of cold, as from a wetting or 
exposure to a draught or keen east wind, and possibly also from some gastric 
disturbance. There can be little doubt also that tonsillitis is at times due 
to inhaling sewer gas or unwholesome smells. It also appears sometimes 
to precede or accompany an attack of acute rheumatism, or peri-endocarditis. 

The record of tonsillar complication is not complete without reference 
to the epidemics of sore throats which are apt to occur in schools, hospitals, 
and other public institutions, or wherever many children are brought 
together. Some of these epidemics have appeared to be modified scarlet 
fever or diphtheria, as proved by their belonging to a scarlatinal or diphthe- 
ritic epidemic which was coexistent in the neighbourhood or preceded or 
followed the epidemic of sore throats. But in other cases it has been clearly 
shown that there is an epidemic or infectious form of sore throat which 
closely resembles both scarlet fever and diphtheria, but which, while similar in 
many respects, is actually distinct, as shown by its not protecting from either 
of the above diseases. 1 Some cases of epidemic sore throat have apparently 
been traced to the consumption of the milk of cows suffering from 'foot and 
mouth' disease. Whenever sore throats occur in a household or school, the 
possibility that they are the result of the scarlatinal or diphtheritic poison 

1 Vide Tonsillitis in Adolescents, by C. Haig-Brown, M.D. 



6o Diseases of the Digestive System 

should always be kept in view, while at the same time the milk supply ancH 
the sanitary condition of the establishment should be carefully investigated. 

Acute Catarrhal Tonsillitis. — To whatever cause the tonsillitis is due ? 
whether sporadic or epidemic, the symptoms are mostly the same. The 
attack usually begins suddenly, though it is often preceded for a few hours by 
a feeling of soreness in swallowing. Unlike scarlet fever, it is usually un- 
attended by vomiting ; the evening temperature runs up to 103 or more, the- 
tonsils are swollen and red, there is much secretion of mucus, and in a few 
hours yellow points make their appearance upon the tonsils, the result of" 
secretion retained in the crypts. The tongue is furred, but does not become 
of a ' strawberry' appearance as in scarlet fever. In some cases, instead of" 
the yellow points seen on the tonsils there is a yellowish exudation formed 
by the coalescence of the yellow spots on the inner surfaces of the tonsils ; this. 



Fig. 10. — Acute Tonsillitis, a, child aged three years ; b, child aged four years. These 
two cases belonged to an epidemic of sore throats ; scarlet fever was not certainly ex- 
cluded, but in no case was there a rash. 

does not adhere, as a rule, with any degree of firmness, and may be removed! 
with a brush. The inflammatory lesion remains for the most part tonsillar., 
and shows but little tendency to spread and involve the nasal mucous mem- 
brane or the middle ear, and, while the glands at the angle of the jaw may- 
become enlarged, they are not hard or surrounded by cellulitis. There is no- 
true ulceration of the tonsils or sloughing of the palate. The temperature: 
remains remittent for a few days, gradually returning to normal. 

Such is the clinical history of an attack of acute catarrhal tonsillitis, but. 
it must be remembered that many such attacks are exceedingly mild, and; 
are accompanied by but little pyrexia, and may perhaps come and go with- 
out much complaint being made about them. Acute tonsillitis from any- 
cause is apt to leave the tonsils enlarged, and the mucous membraner 
covering them in a condition of chronic catarrh. Repeated attacks im 



Chronic Tonsillitis 61 

-children liable to glandular swellings, accompanied as they are by catarrh 
of the naso-pharynx in many cases, give rise to various troubles which will 
Idc described later on. 

Diagnosis. — The most important question to consider, when called to 
see a case of tonsillitis, is whether scarlet fever and diphtheria may be ex- 
cluded with certainty ; as, if they can, it is tolerably certain that the case is 
not one which will give rise to any anxiety either on account of the patient 
himself or his friends. Unfortunately, however, it is not often possible to 
express an opinion without misgivings ; that which appears to be a simple 
tonsillitis may be scarlatinal or diphtheritic in origin. It need hardly be said 
that the child suffering from tonsillitis should be stripped and a careful 
examination made of the surface of the body by a good light in order to 
detect a rash, and the faintest rash would necessarily arouse suspicion. In 
the absence of a rash a certain diagnosis is often impossible, but glandular 
enlargement, discharge from the nose, much yellow exudation on the tonsils, 
true ulceration of the tonsils or soft palate, otitis, if present, would make the 
diagnosis of scarlet fever a probable one. Should desquamation follow, if it 
is certain there has been no rash, it is of no diagnostic importance. If 
nephritis occur in the third week, it points to the scarlatinal nature of the 
attack as beyond doubt. A strawberry tongue is rarely present in the 
absence of a rash. The difficulty of diagnosis between mild diphtheria and 
tonsillitis accompanied by greyish exudation is hardly less than that between 
tonsillitis and scarlet fever in the absence of a rash. Albuminuria, nasal 
discharge, glandular enlargement and cellulitis, and the presence of Loefflers 
iDacillus in the exudation, all point to diphtheria ; if paralysis follow, the 
diagnosis of diphtheria is certain. (See Diphtheria.) 

Treatment. — Every attack of tonsillitis during childhood should be 
treated not only with respect but with suspicion, and the case should at 
once be isolated as far as it is possible to do so. It should constantly be 
"before the mind of the practitioner that the case may be one of abortive 
scarlet fever or diphtheria, and that the next case to which he is called in the 
same household may be a genuine attack of one of the above zymotic diseases. 
It is always wise, when called to such cases, to give a guarded diagnosis 
and prognosis until the case has been under observation for a few days. 
The patient is to be confined to his room or to his bed, according to the 
severity of the attack, and his diet should consist of milk, beef-tea, and sops. 
If there is much pain in swallowing, hot fomentations medicated with bella- 
donna or opium may be applied externally and renewed at frequent intervals. 
The tonsils should be painted with a solution of boro-glyceride in water 
(1-12), or iodine gr.ij, glycerine 5jj an d water 3J ; black-currant jelly or 
lozenges are also useful. Salines, such as the citrates or chlorates of the 
alkalies, combined with aconite or salicylate of soda, if there is much fever, 
may be given during the febrile stage ; acids and cinchona during con- 
valescence. 

Chronic Tonsillitis. — So-called chronic tonsillitis, or tonsillar hyper- 
trophy, is a very important child's disease, though by no means limited 
to childhood. The affection consists in an actual overgrowth of the tonsillar 
adenoid tissue, so that the tonsils become greatly enlarged and project as 
rounded or irregular masses in various directions. Most commonly they 



62 Diseases of the Digestive System 

grow inwards towards the middle line, and may reach such a size as to meet 
and be flattened by mutual pressure ; they may then almost completely block 
the orifice of the pharynx. In other instances they enlarge vertically and 
become large oval masses, projecting far down into the pharynx and upwards 
and backwards towards the posterior nares. In other cases again they 
protrude outwards, separating the layers of the soft palate and forming a 
bulging mass on the roof of the mouth. Sometimes the surface is almost 
smooth, marked only by the orifices of the tonsillar crypts, and sometimes it 
is quite rugged and irregular. 

The overgrowth is often accompanied by recurrent attacks of acute in- 
flammation, in other cases there is no pain or acute distress at any time. 
The secretion of the mucous glands may be retained and thick pellets of 
inspissated matter be shut up in the crypts. Occasionally, on examining 
the region of the tonsil, instead of the usual appearance, a large yellow mass 
will be seen blocking up the whole of that side of the pharynx ; it is soft and 
fluctuating, and on incision gives exit to a large quantity of thick debris of 
mucus, pus, cholesterine, &c. This condition we have sometimes thought 
to be a congenital mucoid cyst. It is rather alarming at first sight and looks 
like a large abscess on the point of bursting. The symptoms are those of 
tonsillar hypertrophy with more or less dysphagia. 1 

The ordinary enlarged tonsil is usually pale, and in old cases hard and 
sometimes almost cretaceous. The enlargement may be found at any age 
from birth (being sometimes congenital) to puberty, or more rarely later ; it 
gives rise to a definite series of symptoms, all or most of which are usually 
present together. There is a vacuous, heavy look, from obstruction to 
breathing and consequent imperfect aeration of the blood, also imperfect 
development, and often stunting of growth ; the mouth is kept open, the 
breathing is stertorous and in sleep snoring. These children usually sleep 
heavily but restlessly, often starting in their sleep ; incontinence of urine is 
sometimes present, a result, no doubt, of the supply of imperfectly aerated 
blood to the nervous centres. There is usually chronic nasal and often 
aural catarrh, from the extension of irritation from the tonsils to the neigh- 
bouring mucous surfaces. The speech is nasal and indistinct, the chest is 
often ill-developed, pigeon-breasted, or, as pointed out by Lambron, has 
the diaphragmatic constriction (M. Mackenzie). Recurrent acute tonsil- 
litis is generally complained of, but there is seldom constant dysphagia ; 
there is an increase of the pharyngeal mucus due to catarrh, aud the breath 
is often foul. The actual dwarfing and stunting from this condition is some- 
times very marked. We have seen a difference of several months' growth in 
twins, one of whom had enlarged tonsils, the lost ground being rapidly 
regained after removal of the glands. 

Treatment. — Chronic tonsillar hypertrophy, when once well established, 
is little affected by mere local applications or constitutional treatment ; it is 
only during an attack of acute inflammation that good can be done by such 

1 The causes of tonsillar hypertrophy are obscure ; it has been supposed to be the result 
of irritation of neighbouring parts causing enlargement, as in other parts of the lymphatic 
apparatus, in some cases possibly connected with one of the exanthems, in others perhaps 
the result of the obstruction of the tonsillar mucous glands ; or, as some writers think, it 
may be a result of the so-called strumous diathesis. 



CJironic Tonsillitis 6$ 

means. In the early stages of the affection astringents, such as glycerine of 
tannin, and tonics sometimes succeed. The only efficient mode of treat- 
ment is by removal ; caustics and the actual cautery are inferior methods of 
obtaining the same result. 

For that form of enlargement in which the tonsils project inwards, or in- 
wards and downwards, nothing is so efficient, simple, or easy as removal 
with the guillotine. 1 Chloroform should be given if the child will not allow 
removal otherwise ; there is no objection to it except that it makes the 
operation somewhat more troublesome. 

As much tonsil as can readily be removed should be taken away, but it is 
not necessary to remove the whole gland, the part left behind usually soon 
shrinks. Both tonsils, if enlarged, should, if possible, be removed at one sitting. 

The guillotine cannot be satisfactorily used unless the tonsils project con- 
siderably towards the middle line ; in many cases, however, its use may be 
made easier by pressing the tonsil inwards with the finger applied to the 
neck just in front of and below the angle of the jaw.' 2 Where the overgrowth 
is outwards and the guillotine cannot grasp the tonsil, the vulsellum and 
guarded blunt-pointed bistoury must be used, care being taken to keep the 
edge of the knife turned somewhat inwards. In some few cases even this is 
impracticable, and it is only in these rare instances that puncture with the 
Paquelin cautery should be employed ; the cautery may be thrust through 
the anterior pillar of the fauces, or directly into the gland between the pillars 
at one or two points ; shrinking will usually follow. Potassa fusa is some- 
times used, but is dangerous and tedious ; scraping away the tonsils with a 
sharp spoon is the best plan if the gland is very friable and soft. 

Removal of enlarged tonsils while acutely inflamed is usually condemned. 
We have, however, done it with great relief to the patient ; it is, of course, 
much more painful for a few minutes. 

After removal some swelling often follows, and may last for a week or so, 
but soon subsides. After free removal the enlargement rarely recurs. We 
have, however, seen two or three instances where a re- growth, larger even 
than the original one, has appeared after a lapse of some months. We 
should be inclined to look with suspicion upon such cases as possibly indicating 
a tendency to lymphomatous growth elsewhere. 

We have unintentionally enucleated a tonsil with the guillotine on two 
or three occasions, the whole gland coming away entire instead of being cut 
through ; the result was, of course, satisfactory. It has recently been pro- 
posed to revive this old method of enucleation, but we think in the majority 
of cases it will not be found practicable. 

After the operation iced milk only should be allowed for the first day, 
and milk and soft food for the next day or two ; after this the ordinary diet 
may be gradually resumed. Painting the tonsils with glycerine of tannin 
after the operation is perhaps useful. 

We have never seen bleeding follow the operation to any serious extent ; 

1 Fahnestock's is the one that -we prefer, though it is a somewhat delicate instrument 
and liable to get out of order ; those usually sold are too large and clumsy for conve- 
nient use. 

2 The tonsil cannot be felt externally, but a lymphatic gland lies just on its outer side, 
and when enlarged is often mistaken for the tonsil (Treves). 



64 Diseases of the Digestive System 

when it does occur it usually arises from injury to the pillars ot the fauces, 
which are sometimes stretched over the tonsil so tightly as to be indistinct. 
A little ice to suck is all that is needed in most cases ; should there be any 
severe bleeding, pressure or the application of the cautery, or perchloride 
•of iron, might be required. Injury to the carotid is, of course, out of the 
question. 

The argument against the excision of tonsils, that the overgrowth subsides 
as the child grows up, is altogether invalid in any severe case, for the mischief 
to the general development, and often to the hearing power, is done before 
the tonsils subside. There is probably no foundation for the idea that any 
wasting of the testes occurs from removal of the tonsils ; it is much more 
likely that a lack of development would be due to the tonsillar enlargement 
than the reverse. The operation is an altogether harmless and beneficial one. 
Tonsillar Calculus is a very rare condition, due to collection of secretion 
or inflammatory material and subsequent calcareous degeneration ; the tonsil 
is enlarged, hard, and often painful, the calculus can be felt by a probe, and 
should be turned out of its cavity. 

For the connection of tonsillitis with adenitis, the reader is referred to the 
•chapter on Diseases of the Lymphatic Glands. 

Enlarged Uvula. — The uvula is sometimes acutely inflamed as part of 
.a pharyngitis or chronically enlarged ; in the latter case it may require to be 
snipped off. We have also met with a case of papilloma of the uvula. 

Nasal Adenoid Growths. — It often happens that a child is brought with 
all the symptoms of tonsillar hypertrophy — chronic nasal catarrh, pinched 
nose, nasal obstruction, snoring, nasal voice, deafness, stupidity, &c. {vide 
Chronic Tonsillitis), and yet the tonsils are little if at all enlarged, or if they 
are their removal does not cure the affection. In such cases there is probably 
overgrowth of the post-nasal adenoid tissue, the ' pharyngeal tonsiP so called. 
This condition, which was first described by Meyer, is very common in 
•childhood and is often overlooked ; it is, however, readily found out and 
treated if its symptoms are remembered. 

A finger passed back into the pharynx and turned up behind the soft palate 
to the posterior nares will feel warty, sessile, or pedunculated masses about the 
upper surface of the soft palate and round the posterior nares, often almost 
completely blocking the apertures. 

These excrescences bleed readily, but are not tender to the touch. In 
such cases free scraping with the finger-nail will sometimes suffice for the 
removal of the growths ; in other instances, the use of an artificial steel 
finger-nail, or, better still, scraping the masses away with a Volkmann's spoon 
passed through the anterior nares and guided by a finger in the pharynx, is 
the best treatment. A Meyer's ring scraper or forceps may be employed if 
preferred ; the last two methods of course require the use of chloroform. It 
is sometimes necessary to repeat the operation before all the growths are 
removed. 

The affection is an exceedingly common one, and may be met with at all 
ages. We have seen it in quite the first few months of life, and it is even 
•said to be sometimes congenital. No treatment except mechanical removal 
is to be recommended, though the application of caustics may in some cases 
be effectual. 



Post-pliaryngeal Abscess 65 

Post-pharyngeal Abscess. — Abscess in the prevertebral fascia is 
usually either the result of caries of the cervical spine (see Spinal Disease) 
or of suppuration of the lymphatic glands in]this region from irritation about 
the pharynx or posterior nares. The symptoms are dysphagia and dyspnoea, 
with pain and dribbling of saliva or mucus ; a peculiar nasal or palatal 
resonance in the cry is described by Politzer. 1 On examination, a soft 
fluctuant swelling will be felt, and the posterior wall of the pharynx will be 
seen to project unduly, and possibly the yellowish colour of the pus may be 
seen through the mucous membrane. When the abscess is due to simple 
mucous irritation it should be opened through the mouth with a guarded 
knife, the child being turned on its face as soon as the incision is made, to 
allow the pus to flow out readily. We have seen post-pharyngeal inflamma- 
tion give rise to so much dyspncea without any visible pointing as to render 
tracheotomy necessary. Occasionally a large mucous cyst, such as that 
described as occurring in the tonsil, will be found on the posterior wall of 
the pharynx ; free incision is all that is required for these conditions. In 
other instances suppuration tracks round the outer side of the pharynx 
from the tonsil or soft palate or from suppurating cervical glands or other 
neighbouring parts. Where there is external evidence of abscess it is better 
to make the opening in the neck, so that the wound may be rendered 
aseptic, as in abscess from spinal disease. Other causes of post-pharyngeal 
abscess are injuries and pharyngitis ; it may also occur in the course of scarlet 
fever or be the result of a breaking-down gumma. Many cases are recorded 
by Bokai as idiopathic ; it is not improbable that some of these were 
glandular. Wiel gives otitis as a cause. Convulsions, facial paralysis, great 
swelling of the neck, and spasm of the sterno-mastoid may sometimes occur 
(M. Mackenzie). The disease has been mistaken for many different affec- 
tions, probably most often for croup. Examination of the throat by the eye 
and finger will always clear up a doubt in the later stages, though, as already 
pointed out, the diagnosis may be very obscure at first. 

Retro-cesophageal abscess sometimes occurs, and may give rise to dyspnoea 
necessitating tracheotomy, rarely to dysphagia ; it may be due to spinal 
caries or extension of suppuration from other parts. 2 It is not so common in 
children as the retro-pharyngeal abscess ; when it occurs there is swelling 
on both sides of the neck, dryness of the throat, tenderness and pain on 
movement, with fever and alteration of the voice. The abscess may burst 
into the oesophagus or burrow round the neck. We have recently met with 
two cases of abscess bursting into the oesophagus : in one caries of the spine, 
and in the other tuberculous gland disease was the cause of the abscess. 
According to Barthez and Rilliet, a form of dry coryza, with even coma or 
convulsions, may occur, and the onset may be sudden. After the abscess 
has burst, ' traction diverticula,'* or stricture of the gullet, may result. The 
prognosis is bad. Fomentations and feeding by enemata or an oesophageal 
tube should be the early treatment, with incision at the posterior border of 
the sterno-mastoid as soon as there is distinct evidence of suppuration. 

Stricture of Esophagus, — Apart from congenital malformations, 

1 Jahrbuchf. Kinderheilk., B. xxi. H. i, 2. 

2 Ripley, Archiv. of Pediatrics, Feb. 1884. 



66 Diseases of the Digestive System 

oesophageal obstruction in children is due either to paralysis, or to cicatricial 
strictures, resulting usually from swallowing hot or corrosive liquids, such as 
potash, hydrochloric acid, &c. In such cases there is immediate danger of 
suffocation from implication of the larynx, as well as more or less dysphagia 
from pain and swelling. These troubles, however, may be slight and tran- 
sient, and yet after a time cicatricial stricture may appear, or the obstruction 
may persist from the first. 

In cicatricial strictures there is a good deal of muscular spasm present, 
either constantly or from time to time, and this may be much increased by the 
passage of bougies. In some cases it is impossible to pass even a small in- 
strument without an anaesthetic, and yet a fair-sized one may be admitted when 
the child is fully under chloroform. Sometimes at intervals the child is able 
to swallow fairly freely, while at other times the obstruction is almost com- 
plete. The profuse secretion of saliva and mucus is often very distressing.. 
The most common seat of such contractions is high up in the gullet, but they 
may be very extensive. The position of the stricture may be ascertained by 
auscultation during drinking, or by the passage of bougies, 1 after the history 
of the accident and the dysphagia have led to the discovery of the obstruc- 
tion. A careful examination should be made of the oesophagus, to find out 
if possible the calibre, position, and number of the strictures, but bougies 
must be used with the utmost gentleness. We have had a case of perforation 
of the oesophagus and escape of fluid into the pleura in our own experience. 
In a case which we saw with Mr. T. H. Pinder he told us that at one time 
marked improvement in power of swallowing followed entire deprivation of 
all food by mouth ; the child was supported for some days entirely by 
enemata, and it is probable that absence of irritation caused relaxation of 
muscular spasm, though there was a possibility that the relief was due to a 
sloughing off of the edge of the constricting cicatrix at least in part, or it 
may have been merely that there was an interval in the progress of the con- 
traction analogous to that occurring in cases of malignant disease. Mr. Pinder 
suggested that abstinence might also have diminished the size of the pouch, 
which forms in these cases above the stricture, and so abolished the valve- 
like obstruction to some extent. 

The best treatment of oesophageal stricture in such cases is usually that 
by gradual dilatation with bougies. 2 The drawback to it is that relapse is. 
very apt to occur as soon as the daily passage of the instrument is omitted.. 
Forcible dilatation by MacCormac's dilator and internal oesophagotomy have- 
been employed ; the former may be useful, the latter is too dangerous. Fail- 
ing these, cesophagostomy may be performed if the stricture is limited to the 
upper part of the gullet, or if not, gastrostomy ; the latter operation is the- 
safer and the more generally applicable one. If an operation is to be done,. 
it must not be put off too long. As soon as it is clear that dilatation is insuf- 
ficient and the child is losing weight, no further time should be wasted.. 
Done early, and done in two stages (Howse), good success may be expected 
from gastrostomy, and the rest given to the gullet by the operation may 

1 In new-born children the distance from the gums to the cardiac orifice is about seven 
inches (Sir Morell Mackenzie). 

2 Keller records thirty-five cases under two years of age with twenty-three cures, im- 
provement in three cases, and five deaths, four remaining under treatment. 



Szvalloiving Foreign Bodies 6j 

result in restoration of the canal subsequently (Davies Colley). For details 
of the operations we must refer to the general text-books. In a recent case 
in which we performed gastrostomy there was much trouble from regurgita- 
tion of the food through the gastric fistula. The wound became unhealthy, 
and the child died of abscess between the liver and stomach. 

(Esophageal stricture from congenital syphilis, and obstruction from 
pressure of abscesses outside the gullet or from traction by cicatricial tissue 
around (peri oesophageal abscess), are occasionally met with. 

Swallowing- Foreign Bodies. — It is very common for children to be 
brought with a history of having swallowed a farthing or button or some- 
thing of the kind, and much alarm is caused to the child and its friends. 
In many cases the history is a mistaken one, in others the foreign body passes 
into the stomach, gives rise to no symptoms, and is voided in a day or two 
with the motions. 

The only treatment required in such cases is to give the child plenty of 
bread, potatoes, suet pudding, &c, to provide a sufficient faecal sheathing for 
the harmless passage of the body. 

In some few instances, however, an angular mass such as a bone, or some 
sharp-pointed object as a pin, may be swallowed, and maybe arrested in the 
pharynx or oesophagus. In such cases there is usually some obvious sign of 
its presence, such as pain, dysphagia, retching or vomiting ; possibly some 
blood-stained mucus is brought up. 

If there is no urgent dyspnoea, a careful examination of the fauces should 
first be made, to see if the object is not lodged between the pillars ; failing this, 
the finger should be passed to the back of the throat and the root of the 
tongue and epiglottis be searched, care being taken not to mistake the 
cornua of thehyoid for a foreign body. If nothing is found, and the site of 
the body can be felt from the outside of the neck, and especially if the mass 
is hard, angular, and insoluble, an attempt should be made to remove it 
with the bristle probang or coin-catcher, or, failing these, possibly with 
oesophageal forceps, though these are more dangerous. Failing these plans,, 
the choice lies between an attempt to push the foreign body on into the stomach 
and the performance of cesophagotomy. The first plan should be followed in 
the majority of cases, and can be best managed by the gentle, steady use of 
a good-sized bougie. It is applicable to instances where the foreign body is 
soft, smooth, and rounded, and not likely to give rise to trouble in its pas- 
sage through the intestines. It must be remembered that a feeling of soreness 
and irritation may remain about the fauces for some time after the passage 
and removal of a foreign body, and may give rise to the belief that there is 
still something there. In cases of swallowing fish-bones, and their becoming 
impacted, doses of hydrochloric acid or vinegar and water may be given,, 
but the remedy is unpleasant and tedious. An anaesthetic may be used to 
lessen the discomfort of examination. Emetics, as a rule, are not good 
treatment. 

Oesophagitis. — Infantile oesophagitis, first described by Billard, is a rare 
disease, supposed to be caused by irritation from bad milk, improper feeding,, 
or sore nipples. The symptoms are unwillingness to suck, crying and im- 
mediate regurgitation after beginning to suck, and often some tenderness, 
about the neck on pressure. The inflammation may be local or general, and 



68 Diseases of the Digestive System 

may give rise to ulcers or sloughing, and possibly to subsequent stricture. 
The prognosis is bad ; the disease may come on immediately after, or even 
exist at birth. It is not likely to be mistaken for anything except congenital 
malformation, in which the obstruction is absolute. Cleanliness, careful 
feeding, and the administration of glycerine of borax in small doses, con- 
stitute the treatment. 1 

Other rare conditions met with are congenital hypertrophy of the mucous 
.glands and varix of the oesophagus. 

1 Sir Morell Mackenzie. 



6 9 



CHAPTER V. 

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM {continued). 

Examination of the Abdomen. — Inspection. — The abdomen in infancy 
is proportionately larger and is usually more distended than the abdomen 
of adults, and this is at once apparent on inspection, as the infant lies stripped 
in its cot or on its mother's lap. An exaggeration of this condition is often 
seen in cases of chronic dyspepsia or intestinal catarrh ; there is great 
distention of the intestines with ' bound wind,' the abdomen being much 
increased in girth and the skin stretched and shiny. If, as is often the case, 
there is more or less wasting of the fatty tissues, the large abdomen con- 
trasts strangely with the wasted and shrivelled form of the infant, giving it a 
very characteristic appearance. The large liver of the infant is responsible 
to some extent for the disproportionate size of the abdomen. An inspection 
of the abdomen will reveal any enlarged veins on the surface, or the 
presence of large tumours or an excessive amount of fluid in the peritoneum. 
The umbilicus will be examined at the same time, and any hernia or local 
lesion here detected. Instead of a distended abdomen, the condition of 
flatness or retraction may be present, especially if there is acute cerebral 
disease. 

Palpation. — The muscular wall of the abdomen is comparatively thin, 
and less rigid in infants and young children than it is in adults, and conse- 
quently palpation yields more certain results, and is of greater value as a 
means of diagnosis in the former than in the latter. Thus in young children 
the edge of the liver, an enlarged spleen, faeces in the large bowel, a distended 
bladder, a matted and thickened omentum, and even enlarged mesenteric 
glands may be felt by more or less deep pressure by the hand on the 
abdomen. It is needless to say that the conditions are not always favourable ; 
distention of the intestines with gases so as to bulge and distend the abdo- 
minal walls will necessarily interfere with palpation of the abdomen ; then, 
again, a fractious and crying child is necessarily difficult to examine in this 
way. But even under the most unfavourable circumstances, the warm hand, 
laid on the abdomen and firmly pressed in, may detect a tumour or some 
enlarged]organ, and information be gained which may be of great advantage in 
making a diagnosis. Even ascertaining the tenseness or laxity of the abdo- 
minal walls is of importance in forming a diagnosis between cerebral and 
gastric vomiting, as in cerebral disease there is mostly a relaxed state of the 
walls of the abdomen which enables the edge of the liver and perhaps other 
organs to be felt with abnormal distinctness ; while, on the other hand, 



70 Diseases of the Digestive System 

in gastro-intestinal disorders there is usually more or less distention of the 
stomach and bowels, the distended organs interfering with a thorough 
exploration of the abdominal contents. Palpation may give valuable 
information with regard to pain and tenderness in the abdomen, provided 
the observer is alive to the fallacies which may arise through the fractiousness 
of his little patient. 

By percussion the investigator is able to confirm the results obtained by 
palpation, and gain information not otherwise obtainable ; thus he may map 
out by percussion the outline of a dilated stomach, or ascertain the limits of 
fluid in the peritoneum. 

Anatomically the abdomen of the infant differs from the adult's in that 
the liver is proportionately larger, in the newly born infant occupying at 
least half of the abdominal cavity. The inferior limit of the liver is conse- 
quently lower, and the left lobe covers the stomach to a greater extent in 
the infant than in the adult. The infant's stomach, as far as shape is con- 
cerned, does not differ in any important respect from the adult's ; the cardiac 
curvature is perhaps less well marked, and it comes into closer relation with 
the liver and spleen. As a consequence of the thinness of their walls, the 
stomach and intestines are apt to become dilated during infancy from the 
pressure of gases given off from their contents, and to remain more or less 
constantly in a distended state. The large intestines — more especially the 
caecum, ascending colon, and sigmoid flexure — are more movable, and conse- 
quently more easily dragged from their normal position, in infants than in 
adults. 

This is especially true of the sigmoid flexure ; for sometimes at an 
autopsy the sigmoid flexure, if distended with gas or faeces, may be found 
much displaced towards the right side. This must be remembered in pal- 
pating the abdomen, for faeces which from their position may appear to be 
in the ileum or caecum may in reality be in a displaced sigmoid flexure. 

The Dyspeptic Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. — No infant, 
whether fed at the breast or with artificial foods, escapes having indigestion 
in one form or another; various dyspeptic ailments are certain sooner or 
later to supervene and form no insignificant part of the troubles of an infant's 
life. We have not far to go to seek an explanation of this. The alimentary 
canal of an infant is exceedingly intolerant of any form of irritation, while, 
with very slender resources to fall back upon, it has to perform a large 
amount of work in the digestion of food in order to make good the losses 
incident to life and supply suitable material for the rapid growth which is 
taking place. During the whole of infancy the digestive apparatus is worked 
to its uttennost capacity in digesting the food required for the infant's main- 
tenance and growth, and any overtaxing of its powers is exceedingly likely 
to be followed by disturbed function. The commonest causes of indigestion 
in infancy are practically the same as those in adults, the appetite perhaps 
is in excess of the digestive powers, and more food is taken than can be 
digested, or the food taken is of an improper quality ; in both cases the 
result is the same, the presence of decomposing food in the alimentary canal 
giving rise to vomiting, flatulence, and diarrhoea. In some cases the excessive 
and continued vomiting points to the stomach being most affected ; in others 
the passage of loose stools containing undigested food, with much flatulence, 



Flatulence and Colic. Vomiting Ji 

indicate that the small intestines are involved, the large bowel when colic, 
tenesmus, and an excoriated condition of anus are present. Before long a 
catarrhal condition of the mucous membrane is set up, or in the milder cases 
perhaps there is a deficient secretion of the digestive juices, or they are im- 
paired in quality so that the food taken undergoes decomposition, irritates 
the bowels, and leads to its being quickly expelled instead of undergoing the 
normal process of digestion and absorption. In discussing these dyspeptic 
conditions arising during infancy and childhood, it is convenient to consider 
the prominent symptoms separately, always bearing in mind, however, that 
they are only symptoms of morbid conditions and not diseases. 

Flatulence and colic may be present unaccompanied by either vomit- 
ing or diarrhoea, both breast-fed and bottle-fed babies alike suffering, though 
the latter more frequently. It is the result in many instances, perhaps most 
frequently, of the infant taking its food too quickly and in too large quanti- 
ties ; digestion is performed imperfectly, decomposition ensues, and gases 
are formed which distend the bowels. The abdomen is distended, the 
infant is restless and cannot sleep, it is constantly crying and tossing about, 
and brings up or passes large quantities of flatus with much relief. Ease 
for the most urgent symptoms may be found in giving the infant a few tea- 
spoonfuls of an equal quantity of lime-water and cinnamon-water, or small 
doses of carbonate of ammonia and soda in peppermint- water, or a small 
piece of the compressed salts known as ' soda-mints,' dissolved in a little 
syrup. It will be necessary, temporarily at least, to lessen the amount of 
food which the infant is taking ; this can be done in breast-fed children by 
.giving them some sweetened barley-water or whey before taking the breast 
.and not allowing the breast to be given for too long or too often. In artifi- 
cially fed infants the amount of food, especially the amount of curd, must be 
reduced either by dilution with barley-water, lime-water, or by predigesting 
the curd. Large enemata of warm water (10-15 oz an d hot fomentations 
to the abdomen will generally relieve the severer cases of colic due to flatu- 
lence, and a grain of mercury and chalk powder combined with half a grain 
of Dover's powder may be given by the mouth. 

Vomiting-* — Vomiting is a very common complaint for which medical aid 
is sought. That this vomiting is readily brought about is hardly to be 
•wondered at when it is remembered with what vigour an infant will suck, 
and yet the stomach of a newly born infant cannot hold more than a wine- 
glassful of fluid without being over-distended, and that, moreover, during 
digestion active peristaltic movements take place. The most frequent way 
in which food is rejected from the stomach is what is termed by mothers 
* posseting,' which consists of eructations of small quantities of fluid from 
time to time without any effort, the food escaping from the corners of the 
infant's mouth in consequence of a too vigorous peristaltic action of the 
stomach. Fluid will also frequently regurgitate during the eructation of 
gases from the stomach. In true vomiting there is more or less retching, and 
the contents of the stomach come up with considerable force. The most fre- 
quent cause of this is an irritable condition of stomach due to a catarrhal state 
■of the mucous membrane, the curdling ferment is abnormally active, while 
the digestive ferment is present in smaller quantity than usual. Vomiting 
is especially common in infants who are taking cow's milk, and who are 



J 2 Diseases of the Digestive System 

unable to digest the large quantities of hard curd contained in the milk. 
Sometimes the vomiting is the result of over-distension, or the occurrence of 
excessive quantities of wind, or of coughing. The vomiting of breast-fed in- 
fants is frequently due to their being given the breast at too frequent intervals,, 
or to some other cause, as the ingestion of unsuitable food on the part 
of the mother ; or she may be suffering some great anxiety, which is in itself 
quite sufficient to cause an alteration in the quality of the breast milk. 
Vomiting may be the result of some congenital or acquired obstruction of 
the bowels. It must also be borne in mind that vomiting in infants and 
children is frequently reflex, and not due to any lesion of the stomach, but 
the result of cerebral disease, as meningitis or tumour, or of the irritation 
caused by cutting a tooth. Vomiting is sometimes the first, and for a time 
the only, symptom in tubercular meningitis, and may precede for a week, or 
even longer, any marked cerebral symptoms. Reflex vomiting may at first 
be entirely undistinguishable from dyspeptic vomiting ; the condition of the 
tongue is no certain guide, and it is only as the cerebral symptoms become 
more marked, the abdominal walls either retracted or in a toneless, flabby 
condition, that a diagnosis can be made. In older children the vomiting of 
an acute gastric catarrh may last for a few days, but any long-continued or 
habitual vomiting is very suspicious of cerebral disease. Hysterical vomiting 
is occasionally seen in girls about puberty. Vomiting is usually an early 
symptom of scarlet fever and also influenza. 

The treatment of vomiting must necessarily depend upon its cause. 
Vomiting in the breast-fed infant, provided the mother's manner of life or diet 
is not at fault, is probably the result of too large quantities of milk being 
taken, and it will generally be sufficient to insist upon regular hours of feed- 
ing at not too frequent intervals, and to give the infant a few teaspoonfuls of 
sweetened lime-water before it has the breast, with a dose or two of hyd. c. 
creta to act on the bowels. Vomiting in the bottle-fed infant is more difficult 
to deal with, especially when a gastric catarrh exists. The infant is under 
these circumstances very intolerant of cow's milk, even when largely diluted,, 
the milk being quickly curdled by the acid mucus in the stomach, and the 
hard lumps of curd are vomited in masses. In the milder cases of vomiting 
in infants, it may probably be sufficient to resort to diluting the milk with 
barley-water in the proportion of one-third to two-thirds of the latter, or of 
using Mellin's food. Sterilised milk and condensed milk, if properly diluted^ 
are nearly always retained more readily than fresh cow's milk by infants 
who vomit. Whatever food is resorted to, great care must be taken that too 
large quantities are not given at a time or taken too quickly. In severer 
cases, where no form of fresh milk is tolerated, milk peptonised by the 
addition of Benger's peptonising powders, or condensed peptonised milk 
sent out in tins by Savory & Moore, are frequently useful, and are 
retained when no other form of milk is tolerated. If the vomiting is severe 
and continued, the bottle must be done away with and the infant fed by the 
spoon, or a wet nurse may be obtained. In some forms of severe vomiting 
there is an inability to retain any form of milk, and veal broth or barley- 
water must be resorted to for a while at least. An alkali, such as car- 
bonate of soda, with two or three grains of pepsine in powder, may be given 
before meals, and is often of use ; or bismuth and nux vomica may be 



DiarrJioea 73 

given. (F. 5.) Washing out the infant's stomach is often a useful expedient ; 
the infant ceasing to vomit after acid mucus and decomposing curd have 
been washed out. 

Diarrhoea. — Looseness of bowels is symptomatic of many different dis- 
orders and morbid conditions. An attack of diarrhoea frequently ushers in 
scarlet fever, or may be present in all stages of the malignant form ; it may 
accompany typhoid fever ; it is often present in septicaemia, empyema, 
uraemia, peritonitis. The commonest form in children is the result of 
an accumulation of undigested food in the intestines, or of some irritating 
matters taken in the food. Infants at the breast are liable to suffer from 
looseness of bowels soon after birth on account of the colostrum not 
agreeing; they are also liable to suffer from the taking of improper food 
on the part of the mother during lactation ; the consequence of over- 
feeding or a fit of anger, or other strong emotions on the part of the 
mother, has been known to be followed by diarrhoea in the infant. Artifi- 
cially fed infants are much more liable to suffer than infants at the breast. 
The difficulty with which the curd of cow's milk is digested overtaxes the 
digestive powers, the undigested curd irritates the bowels, and increased 
peristalsis of the bowels is set up. An intestinal catarrh is soon established, 
the infant is restless, peevish, and cannot be got off to sleep, the abdomen is 
distended with gas, the legs are drawn up, and the infant passes perhaps five 
or six stools or more per diem. 

An examination of the napkin shows, instead of the bright yellow homo- 
geneous stools of the healthy infant, curdy flakes or other undigested food, 
and a greenish slimy liquid which stains the diaper. The infant is thirsty, takes 
the breast or the bottle vigorously at first, but is soon satisfied and pushes it 
away when offered. The tongue is coated and the mouth is often the seat 
of aphthous stomatitis. Vomiting may be present, but is mostly absent. In 
a day or two the infant begins to waste, the muscles of the limbs grow flabby, 
and the skin hangs about the thighs in loose folds, and the parts about the 
anus and genitals become red and frequently raw. In most cases improve- 
ment takes place after a few days ; the stools become more normal and the 
infant quickly recovers. Some infants are liable to such attacks especially 
during hot weather, and the final result may be a more or less chronic con- 
dition of catarrh, to end finally in general malnutrition from gastro-intestinal 
atrophy. Rickets is a very frequent sequence of intestinal catarrh. 

Not infrequently the symptoms point to a catarrh of the large bowel, and 
are more of a dysenteric character. Dysenteric diarrhoea may be primary 
or follow an attack of simple diarrhoea, the general affection passing away 
and leaving a local inflammatory condition in the colon, sigmoid flexure, and 
rectum. The same form of diarrhoea frequently succeeds whooping-cough 
and measles. There is distention of the abdomen, with often more or less 
tenderness in the left iliac region on pressure, frequent passage of small 
liquid stools, consisting largely of mucus, biliary matters, and perhaps blood, 
preceded by much straining and forcing down and frequently followed by 
prolapse of the rectum. Older children often suffer from this form of catarrh 
of the large bowel, passing lumpy mucoid stools, and getting up perhaps 
several times in the night to sit on the vessel, only passing each time a little 
mucus streaked with blood. Dysenteric diarrhoea is apt to become chronic> 



74 Diseases of the Digestive System 

alternately better and worse, until the patient is reduced to a condition of 
wasting. 

Sometimes dysenteric diarrhoea occurs in epidemics in winter as well as 
in summer. We have known several such epidemics. 

Older children sometimes habitually suffer from what has been termed 
lienteric ' diarrhoea, in which a loose stool is apt to follow the ingestion of 
food. Such children are generally subject to loose bowels, a diarrhceal stool 
following any form of excitement, especially a fright, the immediate cause 
being an exaggerated peristaltic action of the ileum and colon. There is 
often in such cases a catarrh of the large bowel, as evidenced by the excess 
of mucus which they pass : phthisical children also may suffer in this way. A 
form of diarrhoea which has been termed ' fat diarrhoea,' from the presence 
of an excessive quantity of fat in the stools, has been described, which is pre- 
sumably due to catarrh of the duodenum and pancreatic duct. 

Treatment. — In the slighter forms of diarrhoea in infants, where there is 
not much restlessness, distention of abdomen, and not more than four or five 
loose stools during the day, it will be mostly sufficient to underfeed them 
for a day or two, and give them some mild laxative, as castor oil or hyd. c. 
■creta, and a simple alkaline mixture. Infants at the breast may be given a 
few teaspoonfuls of sweetened barley-water in lieu of the breast, or after the 
infant has been partially satisfied at the breast. Bottle-fed children should 
liave their milk more diluted than usual, or a mixture of cream and barley- 
water may be substituted. 

If the purging is at all severe and curdy masses are vomited, or appear in 
the stools, it will be best at once to withhold all milk for a day or two, and to 
substitute some more digestible and less fermentable food. Peptonised milk 
will sometimes answer very well in the less severe forms of diarrhoea, but it 
must be borne in mind that in any given case much of the curd remains un- 
converted into peptones, and the unchanged curd may often be seen in large 
quantities in the stools, even where great care has been taken in the pepton- 
ising of the food ; peptonised milk is of more service in gastric catarrh and 
vomiting than in acute diarrhoea. In the severer cases, where the stools 
are frequent, the blandest and most unirritating foods must be given ; such, 
for instance, as 

Arrowroot-water 2 ounces 

Whey . . 2 „ 

White sugar i teaspoonful 

or 

Barley-water io ounces 

White of egg i ounce 

White sugar . i or two teaspoonfuls 

Either of these may be given out of a bottle every few hours, and in amounts 
according to age. Veal broth is also very useful. 

The medicinal treatment in the early stage consists in giving a laxative 
for the first twelve or twenty-four hours. In these cases the diarrhoea is 
probably the result of a congestion of the mucous membrane of the intestine, 
and the presence of irritating, perhaps putrescent materials, and it is wiser to 
assist elimination than attempt to prevent it by means of opium or astringents. 



Constipation 7 5 

To this end emulsion of castor oil or small doses of calomel (£ to | grain) 
may be given, the latter being preferable if there is vomiting, on account of 
its being more readily retained by the stomach. (F. 6.) 

By the end of twenty-four or forty-eight hours the laxative will have done 
all that can be expected of it, and the stools will be yellow, homogeneous, 
and less frequent. A sedative may now be useful, such as bismuth or zinc 
(F. 7 and 8). 

In the majority of cases of simple diarrhoea the attack is arrested by these 
means — namely, a liquid diet in which milk is excluded or given sparingly, 
and a laxative for a day or two followed by bismuth or zinc. It not unfre- 
quently happens, however, that a simple diarrhoea without urgent symptoms 
passes suddenly into the acute or inflammatory form, or, on the other hand, 
into a more or less chronic condition of looseness of bowels with marked 
loss of flesh. 

As improvement takes place, milk diluted with whey or Mellin's food may 
be allowed in small quantities, or, what is useful and readily prepared, milk 
•diluted with twice its bulk or an equal quantity of arrowroot-water (a tea- 
spoonful to 10 oz.) and sweetened with white sugar. Malt extract may be 
added a few minutes before taking. During convalescence, diluted acids with 
pepsine or astringents are the best class of remedies. (F. 9 and 10.) 

constipation. — Constipation is one of the minor troubles which are of 
most frequent occurrence during infancy, and for which the advice of the 
practitioner is sought. Both breast-fed and artificially fed infants suffer, 
though the latter far more frequently and severely than the former. The 
healthy infant passes two or three semi-liquid homogeneous orange-coloured 
stools daily without effort or straining, while some infants appear to have a 
difficulty in defecation from want of expelling power, but at once pass 
a fairly healthy stool if the colon is reflexly stimulated by inserting a small 
suppository into the rectum. In the majority of cases, however, in which 
■constipation exists, the stools are dry and pale with an excessive quantity of 
mucus, and an evacuation only occurs once a day, or perhaps once every two 
or three days. There is usually much straining before the stool is passed, 
and perhaps some mucus tinged with blood may accompany or follow the 
stool. Infants who suffer much from constipation are usually weakly, 
anaemic, and dyspeptic, but they are by no means always badly nourished 
as far as fat is concerned. Rickety children during their second and third 
years mostly suffer more or less from constipation. 

It must be borne in mind that constipation is only a symptom, and may 
~be the result of grave cerebral disease, or there may be some congenital 
malformation of the intestine. In the majority of cases it is the result of 
a want of tone in the large bowel, which in chronic cases may be dilated, 
the peristaltic action being sluggish and not easily evoked ; while the intestinal 
juices are scanty and the bile deficient in quantity. Mucus appears in these 
cases to be secreted in excess. There is apparently in these cases a deficient 
digestion of the curd of milk, the faeces contain an abnormal quantity of 
solid matters which accumulate in the colon and which it is powerless to 
expel. Fluid faeces in the colon seem much more readily to excite peristalsis 
than solid faecal matters. Infants who are constipated usually have ab- 
normally distended abdomens, and faecal masses may often be felt in the 



y6 Diseases of the Digestive System 

transverse and descending colon. In some cases constipation is distinctly 
hereditary ; mothers who suffer much from this trouble often have infants who. 
also suffer in this way. It seems likely that in some instances the mother's, 
or nurse's milk may be poor in quality, and there may in consequence be a 
small amount of faecal matter. It must not be forgotten that narcotics in 
small doses constipate, and bromides — though in less degree — have the same, 
effect. 

It is needless to remark that constipation is a frequent trouble not only 
in infants, but also in both young and old children. Fat, rickety children,,; 
who are late in walking, very frequently suffer in this way. In some, con- 
stipation and looseness of bowels alternate with each other. It mostly,, 
perhaps, occurs in those children where milk in too large quantities is given 
and is not well digested, as evidenced by the large solid pasty stools. In 
older children it occurs in those who take little exercise, and who have large 
appetites ; though in some of these cases it appears to be hereditary. If an 
infant at the breast suffers from constipation, care should be taken to first 
inquire into the diet and habits of the mother or wet nurse. The milk may 
be of poor quality, being deficient in fat, or the mother's diet may be too 
constipating, and it may be necessary for her to take more in the way of 
stewed fruits or some laxative medicine, such as confection of senna or 
cascara. In some cases the infant's stools may be fairly normal, and the 
infant appears to suffer from a want of expelling power ; this may be over- 
come by gentle friction of the abdomen with the oiled hand, or it may be 
necessary to reflexly stimulate the colon and abdominal muscles by intro- 
ducing into the rectum a small soap or other suppository, or a few drops of 
glycerine and water. In artificially fed infants of feeble digestive powers, 
treatment is often much less successful. The first consideration is the diet p 
this will probably have to be changed in the direction of diminishing the 
quantity of curd, increasing the amount of fat, and adding some form of 
malted food or extract of malt. Oatmeal- water, or a small quantity of finely 
ground oatmeal added to each bottle, may have the desired effect. Persistent 
and carefully applied massage to the abdomen by a trained nurse is of much 
value in obstinate cases of habitual constipation. Enemata of glycerine and 
water (5ss~5J)or olive oil are preferable to medicines for habitual use. Bitter 
and nauseous medicines are to be avoided as far as possible, for it is more 
than likely they will not be persevered with by the nurse or friends. In 
slight cases five to ten grains of the old-fashioned manna, or a teaspoonful 
or two of fluid magnesia, may be added to the food as often as is necessary, 
but it is more than likely both of these remedies will have been tried by the 
friends before medical advice is sought, and indeed they will only be of 
service in slight and easily overcome constipation. When these fail, small 
doses of calomel {—^ grain) twice a day for a few days will, if aided by 
enemata, often succeed in bringing about a more satisfactory state of things, 
for a while at least. The fluid extract of cascara in five to ten minim doses 
made into a cordial with tr. and syrup of orange-peel is often useful for con- 
tinued use ; liq. jalapas res. or injectio glyc. jalapae res. may be of service, 
as also euonymin and ipecac, in small and continuous doses. 

In older children the diet must be carefully regulated ; pastry, salt meat, 
and sweets must be forbidden, while oatmeal, green cooked vegetables, 



Acute Gastric Catarrh yj 

stewed fruit, orange juice, stewed prunes and figs, may be given with dis- 
cretion. Sponging with cold water in the morning, plenty of outdoor 
•exercise, and only a moderate amount of brain work, should be insisted on. 
Of medicines, the most efficacious are some of the mineral waters, such as 
Rubinat, yEsculap, Franz Josef, given in warm water or milk overnight or the 
first thing in the morning. Granules containing £ grain of aq. extract of 
aloes or calomel \ grain, with ex. coloc. co. f grain, are useful ; or ^ grain of 
res. podophylli. But we frequently find in practice that children will neither 
take mineral waters nor granules, and we have to fall back on such drug 
sweetmeats as cascara chocolate bonbons, or ' tamar indien : lozenges, which 
are pleasant to take, and in some instances at least very effectual. 

Acute Gastric Catarrh. — If a child is suddenly attacked with vomiting 
and high fever, the probability is strong that the symptoms are due to the 
onset of some zymotic disease, such as scarlet fever, epidemic influenza, or 
to gastric irritation. In infants the symptoms may indicate the onset of 
the so-called ' cholera infantum,' or zymotic diarrhoea. It is, of course, quite 
possible that the vomiting and fever may be due to a chill ; but it is far more 
likely to be the result of some serious error in diet. In any such case, inquiry 
must be made as to the food the child has taken during the few hours pre- 
ceding the attack, as well as to the possibility of a scarlet-fever infection, and 
the throat and skin carefully inspected. In some children there is a special 
liability to the so-called bilious attacks, which are in all probability really 
attacks of acute gastric catarrh. There is headache, nausea, vomiting, and 
fever ; the stomach may reject first some undigested food, then more or less 
bile-stained fluids. In a few days the attack passes off, and the child is 
perhaps better in health than it was before the attack, the vomiting and 
thorough emptying of the stomach having had a distinctly salutary effect. 

In all cases of acute gastric catarrh it is important to give the stomach 
a temporary rest by avoiding all food or fluids, and giving a little ice by the 
mouth till the vomiting ceases. Rectal alimentation may be resorted to if 
necessary. Veal broth and peptonised milk are the most likely foods to be 
retained by the stomach, but it is not wise to attempt to give food by the 
stomach too soon. Small doses of calomel are useful if the bowels are 
confined ; dilute hydrocyanic acid and antipyrin are also useful in checking 
the vomiting. 

Acute Gastro-intestinal Catarrh. Inflammatory or Zymotic Diar- 
rhoea. Cholera Infantum. — With the commencement of the warm weather 
in June or July there is an increase in the number of cases of infantile 
. diarrhoea ; and by the time the end of July or the beginning of August is 
reached — especially if the weather is close and dry — there is tolerably certain 
to be, in large cities, an epidemic prevalence of diarrhoea. It must be 
within the experience of all that the diarrhceal diseases are commoner in 
summer than in winter, and, moreover, that there is more diarrhoea in a hot 
dry summer than in a cold and damp one. The following figures show these 
facts in a forcible manner ; they are taken from the records of the Children's 
Dispensary, Manchester : ' — 

1 By ■ diarrhoea ' are meant those cases in which diarrhoea was a prominent symptom. 



7 8 Diseases of the Digestive System 

Monthly Admissions of Cases of Diarrhoea for the year 1880. 



- 


No. of cases 


No. of deaths 


Mean lowest and 
mean highest 
temperature 


January 
February . 
March 
April . 
May . 
June . 
July . . 
August 
September . 
October 
November . 
December . 






12 

24 
19 
26 

19 

45 
89 
362 
264 
62 
18 
13 


I 
2 

4 
33 
43 
13 




26-41 F. 

34-52 

34-57 

37-59 

39-64 

47-72 

52-72 

55-75 

5i-73 

37-58 

28-53 

33-52 


Total .... 


953 96 


— 



These figures show that there are at all times of the year a certain number 
of cases being brought for medical aid on account of suffering from diar- 
rhoea, the number being fairly constant during the first four months and the 
last two months of the year ; with the warm weather of June the number 
increases, reaching its maximum in the hottest weather of August, then 
declining to the normal number in the last two months of the year. The 
year 1880 was a more than usually hot summer for this country, but other 
years show the same relations between the diarrhceal disease of the winter 
and summer months, though in cooler summers the disproportion is not so 
great. 

The same story is told by the mortality tables of diarrhoea in Berlin 
(Baginsky), in New York (Siebert), and also in Baltimore (Miller) ; but in 
these cities the greatest mortality is in July, which is their hottest month, 
while in this country August is usually the hottest month, and the month when 
diarrhoea is most prevalent. The above table bears out the general state- 
ment that diarrhoea begins to be prevalent whenever the average tempera- 
ture of the twenty-four hours reaches 6o° F., and whenever this average 
temperature is exceeded by only a few degrees, diarrhoea prevails in a wide- 
spread epidemic. 

A similar table showing the corresponding number of cases of bronchial 
catarrh and bronchitis would show that these diseases were more prevalent 
and fatal during the cold and damp months of the year than in the warm 
and dry months ; and it has been argued that, just as bronchitis is produced 
by exposure to cold and damp, so diarrhoea is caused by a high temperature, 
giving rise to an intestinal catarrh or to a 'heat-stroke.' But there are facts 
to show that the explanation is not so simple as this. It is certain that a 
single exposure to a high atmospheric temperature does not give rise to an 
intestinal catarrh ; that hot weather does not at once increase the number 



Zymotic Diarrhoea 79 

of cases of diarrhoea, but it is only after a high temperature has continued for 
some days ; and that infants at the breast, especially those under three 
months, though exposed to the same conditions of temperature, are only 
exceptionally attacked. 

Summer diarrhoea is much more prevalent and fatal in large cities than 
in country districts, and among the poorest classes who live in back-to-back 
houses in crowded courts and low-lying districts, while it is much less common 
among the better-housed classes of society, especially among those who live 
in the country or suburbs and upon a high and bracing site. 

It is most prevalent between the ages of three months and two years.. 
The infants who suffer most are the weakly and dyspeptic ones, who are 
perhaps already suffering from an intestinal catarrh, and who are badly fed 
and improperly cared for — such, for instance, as the illegitimate class of 
infants who are put out to nurse. The infants who suffer least are the 
breast-fed infants ; thus out of nearly 2,000 fatal cases recorded by Emmet 
Holt, only some 3 per cent, had been breast-fed. This immunity is no doubt 
due to the fact that the milk they take is ' sterile,' and not swarming with 
organisms as cow's milk is apt to be. 

The epidemic prevalence of summer diarrhoea has been attributed, with 
more or less plausibility, to the ingestion of sour milk, unripe fruit, inhalation 
of sewer gas, emanations from the soil ; and possibly each of these may 
contribute to the cases of diarrhoea. That they are not the constant and 
invariable cause is certain, as infants fed on sour milk by no means invariably 
suffer from diarrhoea, and the epidemic is too widespread to be explained on 
the unripe fruit theory ; and, moreover, diarrhoea is not especially prevalent 
in some towns where sewer gas is constantly present in the houses (Ballard).. 
While it is certain that the ordinary lactic acid changes occurring in milk 
when it turns sour are not the cause of diarrhoea, yet there is a strong 
pbroability that milk often is the vehicle by means of which certain micro- 
organisms or poisons enter the system, and give rise to the symptoms- 
which are present in diarrhoea. 

That the diarrhoeal diseases are epidemic in hot weather is certain. Are 
any of the forms also infectious ? In some recorded cases it certainly appears 
this has been so. Dr. Bruce Low l gives an account of four different out- 
breaks of diarrhoea in which it appears that the disease was communicated 
by contagion. 

Among the conclusions which various observers have arrived at with 
reference to the etiology of summer diarrhoea, we may mention the fol- 
lowing. 

Ballard believes the cause to be a micro-organism not yet detected or 
isolated which is constantly present in the superficial layers of the earth, 
which, entering the food, develops under favourable conditions — either 
inside or outside the body — a virulent poison or ptomaine, which gives rise 
to the symptoms observed in the disease. This unknown micro-organism 
is supposed to play the same part in producing the disease as the comma 
bacillus does in Asiatic cholera. 

1 Supplement to the Seventeenth Annual Report of the Local Government Board,. 
1881-1888. 



80 Diseases of the Digestive System 

A. Baginsky, after an exhaustive experimental inquiry into the micro- 
organisms found in the stools of infants suffering from diarrhoea, failed to 
find any specific or pathogenic organism, but found many saprophytic or 
non-pathogenic bacteria, and he inclines to the belief that the decomposition 
products formed by these various forms of micro-organisms are the toxic 
substances which give rise to the disease. 

Meinert, while acknowledging that micro-organisms and their decompo- 
sition products when present in milk may give rise to an intestinal catarrh, 
believes that the acuter forms of summer diarrhoea are produced directly 
by the action of a high temperature, and are in reality a sort of heat- 
stroke, having nothing to do with micro-organisms or ptomaine poisoning. 

In spite of all the facts before us, we are bound to acknowledge that we 
have no certain knowledge as to how a high temperature favours the occur- 
rence of diarrhoea. Although the fact that no pathogenic organism has been 
detected does not disprove its existence, we are not yet in a position to 
accept the conclusion that summer diarrhoea is a definite zymotic disease 
like Asiatic cholera or scarlet fever. A high atmospheric temperature, main- 
tained for days and nights together, favours the development of all sorts of 
saprophytic organisms, which can grow in every kind of food, both animal 
and vegetable, and, under certain conditions, produce poisons such as musca- 
rine, which, when taken into the stomach, give rise to an irritant poisoning, 
with fever, depression, and collapse. It is certain that these organisms can 
flourish both inside and outside the body, and there is much reason for 
believing that they play an important part in giving rise to the severer forms 
of diarrhoea prevalent in the summer. 

Symptoms. — The symptoms may supervene suddenly in an infant in 
apparent health, though more frequently an infant is attacked who has 
already suffered for a day or two from intestinal disturbance or has had an 
attack of diarrhoea a week or two before. The first symptom is generally 
vomiting ; this is followed by a loose motion and accompanied by more or 
less fever, at the same time the infant is restless and irritable, the abdomen 
is distended with gas, and the legs are drawn up. The vomiting in the 
severest cases is very distressing, everything taken being rejected imme- 
diately, the vomited matters consisting of undigested food, and subsequently 
of simple mucus tinged with bile ; the stools are watery and consist of undi- 
gested food ; they are usually at first yellow and frothy, or green, containing 
lumps or flocculi of curd. Later, in severe cases, they consist of little else 
than slightly coloured water, or resemble the rice stools of cholera, and 
as the attack becomes more chronic they are of a dirty brown colour and 
very offensive. The tongue becomes coated with a thick white fur, 
the thirst is mostly extreme, the child eagerly taking the bottle or spoon, 
but vomiting immediately afterwards ; there is great restlessness, the 
child may doze for a short time, but rarely manages to get off into a sound 
sleep. 

The fever is seldom high and mostly intermittent, varying from 99 F. to 
102 F., in exceptional cases 105 F. or still higher. The stools become more 
and more frequent as the disease advances, sometimes being passed every few 
minutes, perhaps escaping unconsciously or being preceded by a short cry or 
an expression of pain on the infant's face. Very often more or less erythema 



Zymotic Diarrhoea 8 1 

or excoriation occurs about the anus and genitals. After a longer or shorter 
period, according to the acuteness of the case, symptoms of collapse make 
their appearance. There is a change in the infant's face which strikes the 
most casual observer ; the eyes are sunk in the head and kept partly closed, 
the fontanelle is depressed, the face is pallid or of an earthy tinge, the 
muscles of the neck and limbs lose their tonus, and the head rolls about when 
the infant is moved. There is no longer any great restlessness, the infant 
is generally listless and drowsy, and takes little or no notice of its friends. In 
this stage the vomiting usually ceases, the stools become less frequent and 
.are smaller, and the abdomen becomes sunken and its walls flabby. 

The further progress of the attack depends upon whether improvement 
sets in ; if so, the diarrhoea ceases, more or less colour returns to the infant's 
face, it takes notice of its friends, and, though still weak, begins to use its 
limbs and take its food. In other cases it becomes more exhausted, it wastes 
rapidly, parasitic stomatitis makes its appearance and frequently convul- 
sions occur, which quickly bring the end. The fatal event is often preceded 
by the occurrence of cerebral symptoms, such as coma and Cheyne-Stokes 
respiration, a condition which has been termed ' false hydrocephalus ' from 
its resemblance to meningitis, and indeed it is often believed by the friends 
and others that death has occurred through ' water on the brain.' In 
this state the coma is profound, the pupils dilated, and at times unequal, 
the respirations irregular, the child is pulseless, and there may be twitchings 
of the face or limbs. The state of the fontanelle will generally assist the 
diagnosis in deciding whether the cerebral symptoms are due to arterial 
anaemia of the brain, as in false hydrocephalus, or to meningitis ; in the 
former case the fontanelle is depressed below the level of the cranial bones, 
inasmuch as the brain occupies less space than normally, in consequence 
•of the arterial system being nearly empty, the result of a failing heart. 

The length of time the disease lasts differs considerably. So rapidly fatal 
are some attacks that the term cholera infantum has been applied to them, 
and indeed in a few instances this resemblance to Asiatic cholera is very 
close indeed. Such cases occur much more commonly in the large cities of 
the continents of Europe and America than in our own cooler climate. 

The following case may be taken as an instance : — 

A boy of five years of age was taken suddenly ill with vomiting and purging at i A.M. 
and died at 2.45 p.m. on the same day. When admitted to hospital at n a.m., he was 
completely collapsed ; the pupils contracted, the conjunctivas nearly insensible, the lips 
were pallid, the pulse could hardly be counted, the temperature was 104 F. In spite of 
brandy, ammonia, and nitrite of amyl, he failed to rally. The post-mortem examination 
showed the body to be well nourished and rigor mortis strongly marked. The intestines 
were distended with gas, and contained a small quantity of pale gelatinous fluid, the 
mucous membrane of the whole length of the alimentary canal was pink with minute ex- 
travasations of blood, and the solitary glands were enlarged. The tissues generally were 
pale and dry. The case occurred in August 1880, a summer which was unusually hot, 
and during which zymotic diarrhoea was very prevalent. 

In a few cases, convulsions may supervene during the first few days, and 
bring about a fatal termination. In the majority of fatal cases the duration 
is somewhat longer, perhaps a week to ten days, the infant passes through 
the acute attack, the symptoms then assume more or less of a dysenteric 

G 



82 Diseases of the Digestive System 

character, and it succumbs through exhaustion and inanition from a failure 
of the alimentary canal to recover its normal functions. Many infants who- 
escape with life in August, die in September or October from gastrointes- 
tinal atrophy, which has followed as the result of the acute attack. 

Complications. — By far the most common complication of acute intes- 
tinal catarrh is broncho-pneumonia, or bronchitis and collapse of lung. The 
symptoms are apt to be latent, but any dyspnoea or high temperature would 
necessarily call for a careful examination of the lungs. Thrombosis of the 
cerebral sinuses occasionally takes place in the later stages, but it is com- 
paratively rare ; the symptoms consist in distention of the veins emptying 
into the cavernous sinus with oedema of the forehead and eyelids ; there 
will also be tonic spasm of the limbs and neck, and convulsions. Albu- 
minuria frequently occurs during acute diarrhoea ; nephritis and urasmic 
convulsions have been described by some authors. Peritonitis occasionally- 
occurs, hyperpyrexia may also occur. 

Sequela. — Should the infant recover from the acute attack, it is by no- 
means certain that complete recovery will take place ; for it is extremely 
probable that gastro-intestinal atrophy may supervene, or a chronic diarrhoea 
remain, the result of chronic catarrh with follicular ulceration of the colon,, 
sigmoid flexure, and rectum. In the latter case the symptoms are those of 
dysenteric diarrhoea ; defalcation is frequently accompanied by much pain 
and straining, the stools consist of mucus, often tinged with blood, or are dark 
brown and liquid. The rectum becomes prolapsed, and is sometimes returned 
with difficulty, and the child rapidly wastes. General oedema may be left. 

Diagnosis. — The principal difficulty in diagnosis occurs in the acute form 
of the disease, as it may be confounded with acute scarlet fever, sunstroke,. 
or irritant poisoning, such as from eating poisonous fungi. We have several 
times been requested by the coroner to make a post-mortem on a child who- 
has been seized with vomiting, purging, and high fever, with great depres- 
sion, followed by death in a few hours ; and we have been unable to say 
for certain, from the post-mortem appearances, whether the death has been 
due to malignant scarlet fever or acute inflammatory diarrhoea. The pro- 
blem has been solved in some instances by the occurrence of scarlet fever 
"in the same house shortly afterwards. In the majority of cases the appear- 
ances seen in the throat would suffice for diagnosis. The diagnosis between 
sunstroke and acute cases of cholera infantum may be difficult, as there may- 
be a high temperature in both ; but in most instances the gastro-intestinal 
disturbance is much more marked in the latter than the former. It must be 
borne in mind that some consider cholera infantum to be really cases of 
' heat-stroke.' 

Prognosis. — Acute intestinal catarrh must always rank as a serious, 
disease, not only from its tendency to prove fatal during the attack itself, but 
because it so frequently passes on into a subacute or chronic form of catarrh. 
to be succeeded by atrophy. The younger the infant, the more serious the 
prognosis becomes, especially if it has been artificially fed ; in older children, 
though the attack may be severe and the depression produced very great, 
the disease usually terminates favourably. The onset of cerebral symptoms 
is of very unfavourable augury, and the chances are against the infant, 
though the case is not hopeless. Convulsions are generally followed by death- 



Zymotic DiarrJioea 83 

In those cases in which infants lapse into the chronic stage the prognosis is 
serious, as they are already exhausted by the acute attack. 

Morbid A?iatojny. — If death has taken place early in the disease, the 
body is well nourished and perhaps even plump, but the face retains 
the same expression it had during life, the eyes and cheeks being sunken. 
On opening the body, minute haemorrhages are usually present on the sur- 
face of the lungs and heart, and there is hypostatic congestion at the bases 
of the lungs. The mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels is swollen 
and pink from capillary congestion, the congestion often being present in 
patches, and minute haemorrhages may have taken place. The mucous 
membrane of the large intestine is congested, especially along the summit of 
the folds of the membrane. An excess of mucus is generally present, and 
the contents are liquid. The Peyer's patches and solitary glands are most 
frequently swollen ; the kidneys are pale, the cortex frequently enlarged. 
In the later stages, the body is more or less emaciated, the lungs are semi- 
solid at their bases from the presence of catarrhal pneumonia, the mucous 
membrane of the small intestine is swollen and congested, but the principal 
changes will be noted in the large intestines. Here the mucous membrane 
is generally much congested, especially about the caecum and descending 
colon, there may be superficial ulceration or excoriation at the summits of 
the folds of mucous membrane, or the bowel may be pitted with deep but 
small ulcers from the results of breaking down and discharge of the solitary 
glands. Microscopical examination of the intestines shows a distention of 
the network of capillaries of the villi and mucous membrane, and an exuda- 
tion of leucocytes is mostly present in the sub-mucosa and between the 
tubules or crypts of Lieberkuhn. Numerous micro-organisms are present. 
The solitary glands especially in the large bowel are very often in a state 
of softening in their centres, or their contents have discharged, giving rise to 
sharply-cut ulcers. 

On examining the brain, no constant or indeed definite lesion is found ; 
in most cases the sinuses are distended with blood or occupied by a firm pale 
clot, but this condition of engorgement appears to be the result of death 
taking place through cessation of respiration, or during a convulsion, and is 
due to mechanical causes from interference with the return of blood to the 
lungs. The symptoms referable to the brain during the last few hours of 
life, coma, Cheyne-Stokes respiration, &c, have been attributed to exhaustion, 
and an anaemic (arterial) condition of brain due to diminished arterial tension. 
The suggestion that they are due to uraemia is improbable, though it is not 
unlikely they are due to the absorption of poisonous bodies from the alimen- 
tary canal. Meningitis is extremely rare ; in one case, however, which came 
under our notice, lymph was found about the optic commissures. 

Treatme?it. — The most important part of prophylactic treatment is con- 
nected with the food which the infant takes and the purity of the air which 
it breathes. No weakly infant who is being reared on artificial food and who 
has previously suffered from intestinal catarrh ought, if it is possible to avoid 
it, to remain in the crowded part of a large town during the hot weather, but 
should be sent away to a bracing seaside place, or country quarters should 
be found for it among breezy hills. The greatest care should be exercised 
in the selection of pure milk and in its storage before it is taken by the 

g 2 



84 Diseases of the Digestive System 

patient, as there is little doubt that milk readily absorbs noxious gases, is 
easily contaminated by micro-organisms present in the atmosphere, and 
changes are set up which render it unfit for food. All milk taken by infants 
and children during the summer months should be carefully sterilised in one 
of the milk-sterilisers sold for the purpose. Care must also be taken that 
the infant is not given food in excess of its digestive powers, as undigested 
curd or other foods are exceedingly likely to decompose in the alimentary 
canal and give rise to irritation and diarrhoea. The stools, both of infants 
at the breast and bottle-fed children, should be carefully watched, and any 
traces of undigested food or of unusual foulness or looseness of bowels 
should be the signal for lessening the amount of food taken. No infant at 
the breast should be weaned during the continuance of the hot weather, 
and if diarrhoea makes its appearance it should, if possible, be returned to 
the breast. 

The indications for treatment when the diarrhoea has commenced are in 
the first place to give a laxative to clear away all irritating or decomposing 
foods and relieve the congested bowel, and secondly to give food only in 
small quantities and of the blandest character. The first indication can be 
fulfilled by giving castor oil, as long ago advocated by Dr. Geo. Johnson, or 
by a dose or two of calomel. The former may be given in emulsion in com- 
bination with an unirritating antiseptic, as boracic acid or salicylate of soda ; 
the latter helps to prevent decomposition in the emulsion, and perhaps also 
plays a similar part in the stomach in checking putrefactive changes. (F. 1 1.) 

The oil may be given by itself in half-teaspoonful or teaspoonful doses, 
but it is apt to cause sickness. Instead of the castor oil, especially if there 
is much sickness, small doses of calomel maybe given, and on account of its 
small bulk and tasteless character it is in many respects to be preferred. It 
is better, if the attack is a sharp one, to give it in small and repeated doses, 
especially in weakly infants ; \ to h grain may be given to infants and 
young children every two hours, until one or two grains have been given. 
In the course of twelve hours or more, according to the intensity of the 
diarrhoea, all appearances of undigested food will have disappeared from the 
stools, the latter perhaps continuing frequent and watery. 

Unless the infant be at the breast, all milk or milk foods should be 
stopped and barley-water with white of egg substituted (p. 74). The most 
troublesome symptom at first is frequently the vomiting ; this may be 
constant, following every attempt at feeding, and it will be necessary to desist 
from all attempts at feeding for some hours, only moistening the mouth with 
a small brush dipped in iced water. Counter-irritation and hot applications 
to the abdomen at this stage are undoubtedly serviceable. For this purpose 
a liniment composed of five drops of oil of mustard to an ounce of camphor- 
ated oil may be gently rubbed over the abdomen, and spongio-piline or 
several folds of flannel wrung out of hot water applied. Or the spongio-piline 
may be wrung out of water at no° in which mustard has been diffused in 
the proportion of two tablespoonfuls to a gallon. 

The medicinal treatment of acute diarrhoea is often very unsatisfactory. 
The vomiting may continue, the stools in spite of the most careful dieting 
may be loose and frequent, and the child may rapidly lose ground. The drug 
which one is tempted to fly to is opium in one form or another, in the hopes of 



1 Zymotic Diarrhoea 85 

allaying irritation and diminishing the frequent flux from the bowels, which 
appear to the friends at least to be the cause of the child's increasing weak- 
ness and distress. It must, however, be borne in mind that the disease is 
something more than a congested, irritable state of bowels in which the 
contents are rapidly passed downwards into the colon and rectum, since the 
diarrhoea is rather the result of a form of irritant poisoning. There cannot 
be the least doubt that in many cases with the cessation of the diarrhoea the 
child becomes no better, but rapidly passes into a condition of collapse with 
cerebral symptoms, due in all probability to toxaemia ; or the temperature 
rises and pneumonia supervenes. It must, however, be admitted that the 
treatment of the worse cases of summer diarrhoea in infants is often unsuc- 
cessful, and this is borne out by the number of drugs which have been 
employed. 

The drug which has appeared to us the most successful in the vomit- 
ing in the early stages is carbolic acid, the glycerine of carbolic acid being 
given in drop doses every two hours or even oftener. Carbolic acid has a 
sedative action on the stomach, and helps also to check the decomposition 
changes which go on. Other drugs of a similar class, namely creosote, 
resorcin, napthalin, have been given as antiseptic remedies in the hopes of 
checking the putrefactive changes in the bowel and preventing the formation 
of toxic products. Salicylate of soda has also been used, 1 and is highly spoken 
of by Dr. Emmett Holt, of New York, who has used it extensively ; he gives 
it in doses of one to three grains every two hours according to age. Resorcin 
may be given in \ to 2 grain doses dissolved in water every two hours, and 
naphthalin may be given in 1 to 5 grain doses rubbed up with sugar. In the 
few cases in which we have tried the last two, we have not been particularly 
satisfied with the result. Both bismuth in the form of carbonate and oxide 
and zinc oxide (F. 7 and 8) are usually of undoubted service. Opium, in the 
early stages, is useless and harmful, more especially when there is undigested 
food in the stools and where the vomiting is persistent. In the latter stages^ 
if the stools continue small and numerous, especially if they approach the 
dysenteric type — the large bowel being chiefly involved — opium is of much 
value in soothing the patient and diminishing irritability. It is best given by 
enema or subcutaneously. The advantage of the former method is that it is 
more slowly absorbed and its topical effects are useful ; one or two enemata 
of laudanum during the twenty-four hours will mostly relieve the irritative 
diarrhoea, when accompanied by straining and colicky pains, without the 
necessity of omitting or altering the medicine given by the mouth. Two to 
five drops of laudanum may be given in warm decoction of starch to an 
infant of six months to twelve months, the effects carefully watched, and re- 
peated in the course of six to twelve hours if necessary ; ^ of a grain of 
morphia may be given subcutaneously to a child over a year. If there be 
much fever, tepid sponging, or in cases of greater severity sponging with 
ice-cold water, may be practised. 

Stimulants may be required from the first, but it is wise to reserve them 
for a later stage, especially as they are apt to give rise to sickness. Brandy, 
a sound port, or champagne, are the form of alcoholic stimulants most useful, 

1 By A. Jacobi. 



86 Diseases of the Digestive System 

and they are usually required to be given freely in the later stages if collapse 
is threatened. Ammonia, camphor, and musk are valuable remedies if 
symptoms of collapse have made their appearance. Camphor may be given 
in the form of spirits of camphor, three or four drops every second hour ; 
or musk. (F. 12.) 

Camphor and musk are not agreeable medicines to take, and are apt to 
cause nausea. 

Even when convalescence is established great care must be exercised 
for many weeks in the management of the patient ; the child is certain to 
be left with impaired digestive powers, anaemic, and liable to gastric or 
intestinal disturbance. A severe attack will often affect the child's health 
and development for many months, so that it is late in talking, or standing 
alone, and at 18 months or two years of age resembles a child of 12 months 
old or less. Moreover, the diarrhoea may become chronic or return in a 
subacute form, and a child may thus be lost who has managed to struggle 
through the primary attack. The diet during convalescence requires the 
most extreme care, and a return to milk diet should not be allowed until 
there is evidence of much-improved digestive powers. Broths and beef-tea 
made with barley or some light starchy food, meat juice, scraped underdone 
chops, whey, Mellin's food, may be given in moderation. 

The mineral acids, pepsine wine, decoction of pomegranate bark, the 
vegetable bitters and astringents, will be useful as the child improves. 

Summary. — Place the child in the coolest room of the house and sponge 
frequently if there is much fever. 

Stop all forms of milk food, giving barley- or arrowroot-water with white 
of egg, and veal broth ; if there is much vomiting stop all food for some 
hours. 

Apply hot fomentations or counter-irritation to the abdomen. 

Give castor oil or calomel till all undigested food has disappeared from 
the stools, followed by zinc, bismuth, carbolic acid, or resorcin. Later, if there 
is much restlessness or colic, give opium by the rectum. In severe cases 
brandy or other stimulant will be required, but it is apt to cause vomiting. 

In infants at the breast lessen the quantity of milk taken and give some 
barley-water. 

Acute Ileo-colitis. Dysenteric Diarrhoea. — Diarrhoea of a dysenteric 
character is sometimes secondary to acute catarrhal diarrhoea, or it may follow 
measles, whooping cough, or other zymotic disease. In these cases it is mostly 
chronic or at the most subacute. There is straining at stool : the evacuations 
contain much mucus and are streaked with blood. Prolapse of the rectum 
is common. In some cases, which occur almost entirely in older children, 
ileo-colitis is an exceedingly acute and fatal disease. Cases of this descrip- 
tion have been recorded by Henoch, Goodhart, and Eustace Smith. The 
onset is sudden, with vomiting, colic, and fever, the latter usually not high ; 
there is much straining at stool, followed by the passage first of faecal 
matters, later blood and mucus only. There is mostly some abdominal 
tenderness, and in some instances a purpuric or petechial rash on the skin. 
There is certain to be great depression and rapidly increasing weakness. 
There is often delirium at night. At the autopsy the last foot or so of the 
ileum is found to be involved, and the changes are more marked in the colon, 



Acute Ileo-colitis 8? 

"but most of all in the sigmoid flexure and rectum. The mucous membrane 
is swollen and intensely injected with patches of thin membranous exudation, 
or if the child has lived some days there is ulceration of a superficial 
character. The etiology of these cases is obscure. They occur in the hot 
weather of summer, but their occurrence is not limited to this time. One of our 
■cases occurred in April, at the height of an epidemic of influenza. (See below.) 

In one case coming under our notice in a girl of twelve years, who was 
admitted to hospital under the care of our colleague, Dr. Hutton, the attack 
■commenced with vomiting and diarrhoea, followed by delirium, petechias on 
the skin, and bleeding from the nose. She was admitted to hospital on the 
sixth day of her illness in a collapsed condition, with a pulse of 190 and a 
temperature of 102 F. ; she passed loose stools containing some hard lumps 
with blood and mucus ; later, the epistaxis again supervened, the tempera- 
ture rose to 104 F., and she died exhausted on the ninth day of her illness. 
The post-mortem showed the folds of the mucous membrane of the colon to 
be of an ashy-grey colour, with well-defined ulcers varying in size from a pin's 
Tiead to half an inch in diameter ; all the changes were more marked below 
the sigmoid flexure. 

In another case of a somewhat similar nature coming under our care, 
the symptoms so closely resembled those of an invagination of the intestine, 
that an exploratory incision was made into the abdominal cavity. Cases of 
intussusception are not unfrequently diagnosed as ' dysentery,' but it is rare 
for the opposite mistake to be made. The case was shortly as follows : — 

A boy of nine years of age was suddenly seized (April 22, 1891) with pain in the abdomen 
whilst at school, followed by the passage of blood and mucus by the bowel ; he continued 
in this way during the succeeding night. He was admitted to hospital next day, and, in 
spite of fomentations and opium, he passed twelve stools consisting almost entirely of 
"blood and mucus. Temperature 99-100 F. April 24. — The tenesmus'and bloody stools 
continued, in spite of large enemata of warm water ; the latter brought away a small 
quantity of faecal matters. Xo tumour could be felt ; the abdomen was not distended 
nor tender to the touch. Temperature 97^99 "6° F. In the evening, as no improvement 
had taken place, and the boy seemed rapidly sinking, it was decided to explore the 
abdominal cavity, in order to relieve an invagination of the bowel if present. This was 
•done ; but no invagination was found, only an intensely congested colon. Death followed 
about eight hours after. At the post-mortem the stomach and small intestines, to within 
twenty inches of the caecum, were found normal ; the last foot or two of ileum was found 
■congested, with patches of thin membranous exudation. The mucous membrane of the 
colon, sigmoid flexure, and rectum was intensely injected, the changes in the lowest parts 
being most marked, the rectum being haemorrhagic. There were patches of thin mem- 
branous exudation, but no ulcers. 

These acute cases of dysenteric diarrhoea appear to occur in children of 
•over eight or nine years rather than in younger children. 

Diagnosis. — Tenesmus, with passage of blood and mucus by the bowel 
in an infant under a year old, should certainly suggest intussusception rather 
than ileo-colitis ; and a careful exploration of the rectum and palpation of 
the abdomen should certainly be made. In older children these symptoms 
indicate ileo-colitis rather than invagination ; fever, delirium, vomiting, also 
point the same way. 

Treatment.— In acute ileo-colitis only the blandest food should be given, 
such as arrowroot, veal broth, or white of egg mixture, and if there is vomit- 



88 Diseases of the Digestive System 

ing, the less food given the better. Hot fomentations containing opium 
should be applied to the abdomen, and every effort made to allay the inflam- 
matory condition of the colon by small starch and opium enemata. Anything 
that can possibly irritate, such as purgatives or irrigation of the bowel, must 
be avoided, as likely to increase the peristalsis and tenesmus. Five to six 
ounces of warm starch mucilage and boracic acid with 10 minims of laudanum, 
may be given to a child often years. Stimulants are certain to be required 
sooner or later. In mild or chronic cases, irrigation of the bowel is often of 
the greatest service. Thin starchy mucilage may be used with bismuth 
oxide or nitrate, and the amount employed should be sufficiently large to 
reach|the caecum. Laxatives, as rhubarb and soda or castor-oil emulsion, are 
also useful. Great care must be taken in the diet and all rich foods avoided. 



CHAPTER VI. 

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM — (continued). 

Chronic Gastro-intestinal Catarrh. Gastro-intestinal Atrophy. — In 

some cases a gastric catarrh exists with but little evidence of the intestines 
being in any way affected, and in other cases the intestines may be the only 
part of the alimentary canal which .appears to suffer; but in perhaps the 
majority of cases, especially in infants and small children, there is no sharply 
defined limitation between the two, the whole of the alimentary canal ap- 
pearing to be involved. 

The terms chronic vomiting-, chronic diarrhoea, simple atrophy, 
malnutrition, athrepsia, are sometimes applied, according" to the most 
prominent symptom which is present ; thus, chronic vomiting is the most 
marked and striking" symptom which may be present in catarrh of the 
stomach ; diarrhoea is mostly present, or at least more or less looseness of 
the bowels, in the early stages of an intestinal catarrh, though the latter may 
exist without any marked diarrhoea, or in the later stages there may be con- 
stipation. If the only marked symptoms are dyspepsia and wasting, then 
the term simple atrophy has been applied. In all these conditions, while 
the symptoms may differ, the anatomical groundwork is the same — namely, a 
chronic gastro-intestinal catarrh, which in later stages passes into a gastro- 
intestinal atrophy. 

Thus, an infant soon after birth, or perhaps when a few months old,. 
suffers from repeated and frequent vomiting, or it suffers from diarrhoea, or 
if these are absent there are other chronic dyspeptic troubles, such as flatu- 
lence and colic ; it fails to thrive and gradually wastes, and after a more or 
less protracted course, during which the wasting" becomes extreme, it dies 
exhausted or is carried off by some intercurrent disease. In some cases the 
course is very short, perhaps only a few weeks, but in the majority the course 
is chronic and the infant lives for months, suffering constantly from dys- 
pepsia, unable to digest its food, finally dwindling away and dying at last. 
The less severe cases, especially if they come under treatment, gradually 
improve, and after months of the most careful feeding and nursing completely 
recover, though such cases usually become rickety or are otherwise weakly. 
Recovery is only possible during the earlier stages ; if the catarrhal stage has 
passed on into one in which there is advanced atrophy of the mucous mem- 
brane of the stomach and intestines with the secreting" glands, recovery is of 
course impossible. 

Experimental research has shown that there is a diminution in the amount 
of hydrochloric acid and pepsin secreted, while there is an excessive forma- 



90 Diseases of the Digestive System 

tion of mucus, lactic, acetic, and butyric acids. Much gas is given off from 
the decomposing food. 

This gastro-intestinal atrophy rarely occurs in children over 18 months of 
age, and indeed is most common in infants under 6 months. Older children 
suffer from chronic intestinal catarrh, which rarely goes on to atrophy, though 
it is frequently the precursor of tuberculosis of the mesenteric glands. 

In the majority of cases, chronic gastro-intestinal catarrh is the result of 
improper feeding. Infants who come of a healthy stock and are nursed at 
the breast of healthy mothers, rarely, if ever, suffer from it, at least as a 
primary disease. It is the infants who are fed from the first on cow's milk 
or the various forms of starchy foods that chiefly suffer. The infant may go 
on fairly well for the first few weeks or more, suffering more or less from 
dyspepsia ; then comes an attack of diarrhoea or vomiting, and forthwith it 
begins to go downhill ; no food seems to suit, though often changed, and 
it never recovers its digestive powers, which appear to have been hopelessly 
damaged. Some infants appear to go 'on fairly well till they suffer from an 
attack of broncho-pneumonia, or measles, or whooping-cough, which they 
survive only to begin gradually to waste. In some few instances, more 
especially in dispensary practice, atrophic infants may be seen of a few 
months old, who have been, according to their mother's account, entirely 
breast-fed. In these cases the infants have been congenitally weak or pre- 
mature, and very probably the mother's milk has been deficient in quality 
and quantity, or the child may have been fed whenever it cried, and in every 
way been badly cared for. 

Symptoms. — Infants. The history which is generally obtained from such 
cases is that they were suckled for a few weeks or months after birth, then 
the mother had to go to work or her milk failed and the infant was made over 
to a friend or hireling to be artificially fed, and from this time it began to 
waste. On cross-questioning the mother or caretaker, it is found that it has 
been fed on sopped bread or biscuits, because cow's milk did not appear to 
satisfy it, or it vomited the milk curdled, and it has constantly suffered from 
colic, vomiting, or more commonly diarrhoea. On the other hand, there is 
sometimes constipation, but this usually has been preceded by diarrhoea ; 
the diarrhceal symptoms being most marked in those suffering during the 
summer months. If the symptoms be analysed, three stages in the course of 
the disease may be recognised as first clearly pointed out and emphasised by 
Parrot, whose description of these cases under the name of athrepsia leaves 
nothing to be desired. The early symptoms or first stage are those of a 
simple gastric or intestinal catarrh, in the second the progressive wasting be- 
comes the prominent phenomenon, and in the last stage the infant passes into 
an exhausted condition in which cerebral symptoms make their appearance. 
First stage. The infant suffers from a simple diarrhoea or looseness of the 
bowels ; the stools, instead of being bright yellow and homogeneous, are liquid 
curdy, and often green in colour, or contain an excess of mucus ; the abdomen 
is distended with gas and remains constantly in this condition, the tongue is 
coated, and patches of aphthous stomatitis appear in the mouth. The infant 
is restless, constantly whining, and will not sleep at night. Frequent vomiting 
may be a prominent symptom, the milk being returned curdled. The tissues 
become flabby, and then wasting commences. In the second stage all the 



Chronic Intestinal Catarrh 91 

■symptoms are intensified and the characteristic wasting becomes manifest. 
The stools for the most part are loose and frequent, and consist of undi- 
gested food, being often pale and putty-like, with a peculiar odour ; at other 
times they are of a dark-brown colour from the presence of altered bile. The 
infant is mostly voracious, liquid food does not appear to satisfy it, and by 
the mistaken kindness of its friends it is fed with sopped bread or some thick 
food, a diet which has the great merit in their eyes of keeping it quiet for a 
longer time than liquid food or diluted milk ; at times it cries incessantly, 
hardly ever appearing to sleep or only dozing for a short time unless under 
the influence of a ' soothing syrup ' supplied by its nurse. The mouth 
oecomes the seat of parasitic stomatitis, the skin is harsh and dry, small boils 
or a lichenous rash make their appearance, the buttocks and genitals are raw 
and excoriated. Its temperature is below normal, the feet and hands are 
congested, the face has a pallid earthy tint, and a sickly lactic acid smell is 
given out from the body, especially the abdomen. The wasting is extreme, 
the face being shrivelled, the skin wrinkled and hanging in folds about the 
thighs and arms. In the thi?'d stage the infant passes into a moribund state ; 
it is too feeble to cry loudly, it becomes heavy and drowsy, taking little 
notice of anything. It becomes more and more somnolent, and death ensues, 
probably preceded by muscular twitchings, strabismus, or general convulsions. 

If we analyse the principal symptoms of the disease, we shall find that 
sometimes one symptom, as diarrhoea, sometimes another, as vomiting, is the 
most prominent. In the majority of the cases there is more or less diarrhoea 
throughout the whole course, so that such cases would come under the cate- 
gory of chronic diarrhoea, or this chronic condition may alternate with the 
acuter forms. The stools at first are yellow, liquid and frothy, with flocculi 
of semi-digested curd ; later they become green, the acid contents of the 
intestines acting on the bile-pigments ; when the diarrhoea has become chronic 
the stools are either liquid and of a dirty brown colour, or more often, especi- 
ally if milk is being taken, they are white and semi-liquid, the bile-pigment 
having disappeared, and they consist of decomposing foul-smelling curd and 
mucus. Sometimes the stools consist almost entirely of mucus, the mucous 
membrane both of the small and large intestine secreting large quantities ; 
the child is constantly passing stools of mucus and undigested food. 

In some cases chronic vomiting: is the most troublesome symptom, 
there being no diarrhoea but sometimes constipation. Cases of chronic 
vomiting with the consequent malnutrition are at times most difficult to deal 
with. So great is the irritability of the stomach that everything is rejected, 
either immediately after being taken, or after the lapse of perhaps half an 
hour. Diluted milk, peptonised preparations, meat-juice, cream, and a variety 
of patent foods are tried one after another, separately or mixed, only to end 
in disappointment, the infant meanwhile becoming more and more wasted. 
Under such circumstances among the poorer classes the infant is given 
some thick food, as sopped bread or corn-flour. Vomiting in many cases 
appears to be the result of the rapidity with which cow's milk is coagulated 
in the infant's stomach and of the hard lumps of curd which are thrown down, 
this occurring even where the milk is reduced to one part of milk to five of 
water. In other instances it appears to be due to the rapid changes occur- 
ring in the sugar of milk, lactic acid being formed, and the contents of the 



92 Diseases of tJie Digestive System 

stomach are rejected, having a strong smell of sour and decomposing milk. 
In the catarrhal condition of the mucous membrane of the stomach much, 
mucus is formed, while the gastric juice is weak, but its curdling power 
undiminished. Many such cases go from bad to worse, no food appearing 
to agree, all forms coming up alike. It must not be forgotten, in a case of 
constant vomiting, that it may be due to cerebral disease or some congenital 
defect. The prognosis in chronic vomiting is unfavourable if it commences 
in an artificially reared infant and becomes thoroughly established, and is 
associated with progressive wasting. 

As the child 'wastes the skin becomes rough and harsh and hangs in folds 
upon the limbs and trunk, and very frequently, as the anaemia increases, the 
face, hands, and feet become cedematous. This oedema is due to anaemia 
rather than to any kidney complication. An erythematous rash is apt to 
make its appearance about the anus in those cases where there is much 
diarrhoea, and spread over the perineum and thighs. Small boils and abscesses 
are also common. Pemphigus may also appear. 

The temperature is constantly below normal, often measuring 96 or 
97° F. all through the twenty-four hours. 

Comftlicatioiis. — Broncho-pneumonia is very common. Tuberculosis of 
the mesenteric or mediastinal glands may occur, or there may be a more 
general distribution of tubercle throughout the body. It must be borne in 
mind that it is only in the more severe and neglected cases that intestinal 
catarrh passes on into atrophy ; in the majority of cases the course of the 
disease is intermittent, sometimes better, at other times worse, and as the 
child grows older the symptoms of rickets become grafted on to those of a 
chronic catarrh of the bowels. 

Older Children. — A chronic intestinal catarrh is not so serious a disease 
in children over two years of age as in infants, as it is rarely followed by an 
atrophic condition of the glandular apparatus of the stomach and intestines,, 
but takes rather the form of habitual indigestion than anything else. It is, 
however, apt to be exceedingly chronic in its course and to be followed by 
various evil consequences, the most serious of which is tuberculosis of the 
lymphatic glands, or there is a constant state of health below par, which in 
itself is a source of danger. Chronic catarrhal affections of mucous mem- 
branes, either of the nose, mouth, respiratory tract, or intestines, are ex- 
ceedingly apt to be followed by swelling and caseous degeneration of the 
lymphatic glands with which the mucous membrane is connected. The 
intestinal lesion finds its origin for the most part in unsuitable food ; the 
mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels is kept in a constant state of 
irritation by food which is too great in quantity or of too indigestible 
character. Weakly children are especially apt to suffer, particularly those 
who are brought up in our large cities and whose time is spent either indoors 
or playing in the street. Children who suffer habitually from ozaena, 
chronic tonsillitis, or chronic disease of the strumous type, are the chief 
sufferers from chronic gastro-intestinal catarrh. It is very common in 
rickety children. Both the children of the well-to-do and the poor classes 
suffer. 

Symptoms. — There is habitual indigestion with perverted appetite, the 
child refusing its bread and milk and craving for ' tasty ' bits from its parents' 



Chronic Intestinal Catarrli 93 

table, or altogether refusing its meals unless its food is highly seasoned, at 
other times the appetite is excessive. The abdomen is invariably rounded 
from the constant distention of the stomach and intestines with gas given off 
from the decomposing half-digested food. This distention is very frequently 
accompanied by more or less pain. The face is generally pale with 
dark areolae around the eyes, fat is absorbed as the disease progresses, the 
muscles become flabby, and the emaciation of the child contrasts markedly 
with its large tumid abdomen. Such children have usually coated tongues, 
at other times the tongue is red and glazed, showing the enlarged fungiform 
papillae more distinctly than usual and resembling the ' strawberry-tongue ' 
of scarlet fever. Sometimes the surface has a worm-eaten appearance, 
being coated with a thick fur except in irregular sinuous patches where the 
surface is red and glazed. The bowels are generally confined, the stools being 
frequently pasty with much mucus ; there are apt to be intercurrent attacks 
of vomiting and diarrhoea. There is very frequently more or less feverish- 
ness at night, especially in the subacute cases. Headaches are common, 
there is often restlessness at night, grinding of teeth, and night terrors. Some- 
times when the disease is subacute, and there is some feverishness towards 
evening, the symptoms resemble mild typhoid fever and constitute what at 
one time was called ' infantile intermittent fever.' It is important to bear in 
mind that subacute intestinal catarrh may be present with an evening ex- 
acerbation of temperature as the principal symptom and with no vomiting 
or diarrhoea. An intermittent fever during early childhood with no pulmo- 
nary symptoms is probably, if typhoid can be excluded, due to an intestinal 
oatarrh. It will not fail to be noticed that diarrhoea is a prominent symptom 
in the majority of cases of infants suffering from chronic intestinal catarrh, 
while in older children not only is the diarrhoea not present, but there is 
usually constipation. The explanation of this is perhaps not very clear, but 
it must be borne in mind that those cases where diarrhoea is present and 
excessive are more acute in character and run a more rapid course than those 
where the bowels are less irritable ; there is also more likely to be diarrhoea in 
the early stages where the mucous membrane is congested, than in the later 
stages where the bowels have become more tolerant of irritation and the 
muscular walls wasted through long- illness. 

Diagnosis. — The disease most likely to be confounded with chronic intes- 
tinal catarrh is tuberculosis of the mesenteric glands, or the early stages of 
tubercular meningitis. During the first three or four years of life, it happens 
very frequently that infants or young children are thought to have ' consump- 
tion of the bowels,' because they have capricious appetites, ' pot-bellies,' and 
have lost much flesh, when in reality they are suffering from a chronic intes- 
tinal catarrh That the diagnosis is often difficult is only what is to be ex- 
pected when it is remembered that an intestinal catarrh of more or less severity 
is the exciting cause of mesenteric tuberculosis ; and in an advanced case, it 
may be quite impossible to say if a tuberculosis of the glands has supervened. 
Mesenteric disease is, however, much less common than simple intestinal 
catarrh, and is infinitely less so during the first six months of life than gastro- 
intestinal atrophy. Any evidence of tubercle in the lungs, or enlarged veins 
on the surface of the abdomen, or the detection of rounded masses by palpa- 
tion in the abdomen, would favour a diagnosis of mesenteric disease. In 



94 Diseases of the Digestive System 

older children the fact that those suffering from intestinal catarrh grind the 
teeth, are restless at night, are subject to night terrors and headaches, is 
sufficient for most parents to become alarmed, fearing that the child is com- 
mencing with tubercular meningitis. 

Morbid Anatomy. — Chronic G astro -intestinal Catarrh. — In the early 
stages there is swelling, and injection of the mucous membrane of the 
stomach, and small and large intestine. The surface is grey, streaked with red,, 
and there is an excess of mucus ; the changes are usually most marked in the 
ileum and colon, especially about the sigmoid flexure ; in these places the 
solitary glands are enlarged, the mucous membrane is raised in folds, and 
often much injected, and follicular ulceration may be present. The micro- 
scopical appearances somewhat resemble those already described in acute 
catarrh. The surface of the mucous membrane of the stomach is covered 
with masses of leucocytes and micrococci embedded in mucus. The capil- 
laries are everywhere distended, the gastric glands are separated from one 
another by columns of leucocytes effused between them, the whole mucous 
membrane is swollen, and the muscular layer thickened. 

Similar changes are seen in the intestines, leucocytes are present in large 
numbers in the submucosa and between Lieberkuhn's glands, the latter are 
compressed and finally disappear, so that in places only masses of round cells 
are seen taking the place of the glands. A stage of atrophy succeeds that of 
chronic catarrh, and the appearances presented are those of a wasting of the 
mucous membrane, and a destruction of the secreting glands. The chronic 
swelling of the mucosa, and infiltration with leucocytes, have led to a wasting- 
and cicatrisation of the tubular glands ; but death usually takes place before 
this stage is reached. 

In infantile atrophy the stomach and intestines are distended with gas., 
the former is frequently dilated, the mucous membrane is everywhere pale, 
the intestines are thin and translucent. This is especially marked in the 
more advanced cases, the intestinal walls are exceedingly thin, the solitary 
glands and Peyer's patches are wasted and have almost disappeared, with 
perhaps brownish spots or streaks where minute haemorrhages have taken 
place. These appearances will be varied with those of chronic catarrh 
according to the amount of atrophy that has taken place. The microscopical 
appearances show the mucous membrane of the stomach to have undergone 
wasting, being reduced to perhaps one quarter its normal thickness. The 
gastric glands in places have completely disappeared, in other places they are 
compressed and partly destroyed by round cells and young connective-tissue 
fibres. In the small intestines the appearances will be those of chronic 
catarrh, or these with the addition of destruction of the glandular apparatus. 
The tubular glands in places have disappeared, or are compressed or dilated 
by a connective-tissue growth, villi have completely disappeared, or only 
their remains are present, the solitary glands are atrophied or have disappeared. 
Similar changes may be found in the colon. Parrot has described various 
other lesions in the alimentary canal of infants dying within a few weeks of 
their birth ; such as a spread of the parasitic growth from the mouth to the 
stomach and intestine, usually the caecum. The same author has found 
minute circular ulcers in the stomach, from which haemorrhage has taken 
place, less often larger and irregularly shaped ones ; he has also seen the 



Chronic Intestinal Catarrh 95 

mucous membrane of the stomach to be the seat of a diphtheroid exudation. 
In the later stages, when the blood is profoundly altered, thrombosis of the 
renal veins, pulmonary veins, or sinuses of the brain may take place. Fatty 
degeneration isteatose of Parrot), softening, or meningeal haemorrhage, may 
take place in the brain. The kidney may be the seat of uric acid infarcts. 

Treatment. — The treatment of chronic gastro-intestinal catarrh in infants 
consists principally in careful feeding ; the blandest and least irritating 
forms of food must be selected, while frequent weighings of the infant should 
be resorted to in order to ascertain if any progress is being made. Where 
there is much diarrhoea, milk must be used sparingly or altogether omitted 
for a while, as the hard curds formed in the stomach are beyond the digestive 
powers of the weakened stomach and intestines. Small quantities of whey and 
barley-water, white of egg and barley-water, or the juice of an underdone 
chop, may be given at short intervals during both day and night. Improve- 
ment having taken place as regards the diarrhoea, milk in some form or other 
must be given. Peptonised milk is often of much value under these cir- 
cumstances, when made by mixing 3 oz. of boiling decoction of arrowroot 
with 3 oz. of cold milk, adding two teaspoonfuls of cream, half a peptonising 
powder (Benger), sweetening, and giving to the infant after it has stood for 
fifteen minutes. The cream mixtures are often of much service, such as 1 
oz. of cream, 3 oz. of barley-water, one teaspoonful of sugar, or 1 oz. of milk, 
3 oz. of water, 1 oz. of cream, and a large teaspoonful of sugar. Every care 
must be taken that the feeding-bottle is clean, and the food prepared with the 
most scrupulous care. Whenever the weather permits, the infant must be 
taken into the open air as much as possible. The medicines given must be 
selected according to the most prominent symptoms. If the stools are loose, 
contain much mucus and curd, and are foul or stinking, small doses of castor- 
oil emulsion or calomel should be given, to be followed by bismuth and small 
doses of opium. If the stools are dark brown or yellow and very liquid, 
astringents in the form of extract of logwood, catechu, or pomegranate will be 
of most service, especially if small doses of opium are given by the bowel. 
If the diarrhoea approach the dysenteric type, much mucus and blood being 
passed with straining and forcing down, enemata of nitrate of silver and 
opium, alum or vegetable astringents will be useful. (F. 12, 13, 14.) 

The treatment of chronic gastric catarrh in infants when it has become 
confirmed is very often extremely discouraging. 

In the milder forms of vomiting the importance of diluting the milk so 
as to reduce the quantity of curd, or of peptonising the milk to gain the same 
end, must be insisted upon. It is also of much importance not to give food 
too frequently, but to give the stomach a complete rest for several hours. 
In severer cases in which milk or whey, in whatever form it is given, returns 
sour and curdled in a few minutes, other food must be substituted at least 
for a time. In such cases Mellin's food, either made with w r ater or weak veal 
broth (half a pcund to the pint), may be given ; the bottle being discontinued 
and the infant fed with a spoon. Instead of veal broth, raw meat-juice or 
' liquid meat ' may be used. After a few days, milk may be again tried, or 
small quantities of cream may be added to the Mellin's food in lieu of the 
meat-juice. In this acid condition of stomach small doses of sodii bicarb., 
and pepsine are often very useful. (F. 15.) 



g6 Diseases of the Digestive Systein 

In older children careful dieting is of the utmost importance, and the first 
difficulty encountered will probably be that the child has been over-indulged 
and so spoilt by its parents, that it is difficult to get it to take a carefully 
selected and restricted diet. In arranging a diet it must be borne in mind 
that the child should take only such quantities as the impaired state of 
the digestive juices can deal with, any excess being liable to undergo decom- 
position in the intestines, and give rise to flatulence and other troubles. It 
is also most important to give the stomach a complete rest during the intervals 
between meals ; sweet biscuits taken during the morning or a run on the 
kitchen at frequent intervals during the day are fruitful sources of chronic 
indigestion, and the plainest and most peremptory directions should be given 
to the parents by the medical attendant that nothing whatever should be 
taken except at regular meals. If the child refuses, or only half gets through 
its breakfast, this should by no means be supplemented by a second edition 
at the parents' table, or a tasty lunch to make up for the morning's deficiencies. 
It is wiser by far, if the breakfast is but half taken, to let the child wait till the 
next meal ; a little starvation can do no harm, at any rate much less than 
over-indulgence and the formation of bad habits. The importance of fresh 
air and change of scene in cases of habitual indigestion can hardly be over- 
estimated. The worst form of exercise is a ' constitutional ' taken with the 
nurse or governess ; outdoor games of various kinds, gymnastics, riding, or 
driving, or some form of recreation which will occupy the mind and give an 
interest to the exercise, are far preferable to any dull routine. A change to 
the seaside, or some bracing elevated inland site where there is a keen 
cool air, will often work wonders in these cases. It must, however, be re- 
membered that such cases are often worse, or there is no improvement, at 
first ; children when first removed to the seaside are apt to do too much and 
eat too much ; they are over-tired and fretful at night, and attacks of dyspepsia 
or perhaps eczematous or other eruptions occur. A caution is often neces- 
sary to prevent this. 

It is wiser in most cases to lay down a complete diet chart for the guid- 
ance of the parents, though a certain latitude must necessarily be permitted 
on account of varying tastes. The following diet tables may be taken as 
samples, which can be modified according to circumstances. 

Diet for a child of 5 to 7 years, indigestion not severe ; 

Breakfast, 8 A.M. — A breakfast cupful (8 oz.) of bread and milk, made 
from wholemeal bread ; a teaspoonful of malt extract may be added ; this 
may be followed two or three times a week by the yolk of a lightly boiled egg 
on strips of toast, or a piece of toast and dripping or bacon fat. 

Di?uier, 12 to I P.M. — A broiled mutton chop, finely minced, or fresh white 
fish, with mashed potato, spinach, or French beans ; to be followed by ground 
rice pudding or a baked apple. Milk to drink. 

Tea, 4 to 5 P.M. — A cup of cocoa and milk, with toast, or stale bread. 

Supper, 7 P.M. — A cup of beef-tea or mutton broth. 

In the more severe and protracted cases it is well to avoid farinaceous 
food as much as possible, as recommended by Dr. Eustace Smith. 

Breakfast, 8 a.m. — Half to three-quarters of a pint of fresh milk, alkalin- 
ised by twenty drops of the saccharated solution of lime ; a slice of toast 
with yolk of egg, or fresh fish. 



Dilatation of Stomach 97 

Dinner, 12-1. — A small mutton chop or boiled sole, a thin slice of stale 
bread, with half to a wineglassful of sherry or claret, well diluted. 
Tea, 4-5 P.M. — Same as breakfast. 
Supper, 7 P.M. — A cup of beef-tea. 

In all cases of habitual indigestion it is of much importance to sponge 
every morning with cold or tepid water (6o°-7o°), keeping the child's feet in 
warm water during the process, if it is subject to cold feet or has a sluggish 
circulation. A shower bath is often of much service. After the morning's 
bath friction with as rough a towel as the child's skin can stand should be 
used. The child's dress should consist of woollen garments next to the skin, 
and every chance of getting cold should be avoided. 

The medicines which are most likely to be of service in chronic intestinal 
catarrh are laxatives such as rhubarb, senna, and aloes ; or saline purgatives 
such as sulphate of soda ; alkalies as carbonate of soda ; arsenic, and nux 
vomica. 

Arsenic is often of much value, but requires to be given in increasing 
doses to bring out its full value. For a child of seven years, three-drop doses 
may be given, and gradually increased to six drops, or it may be given in 
small granules, which are readily taken by children, preferably an hour after 
food. At the same time it is well to order a saline purgative, which shall 
keep the bowels relaxed rather than loose. 

Alkalies with senna or rhubarb are often prescribed with much advantage. 
(F. 16, 17, 18.) 

Later, when convalescence is established, acids and bitters should be 
given. 

If the bowels keep confined, a small granule containing half a grain of 
aqueous extract of aloes may be taken at dinner-time daily ; in many cases a 
grain will be required to keep the bowels well open. This may be supple- 
mented, especially if the stools are pale, by an ounce or two of Hunjadi water, 
to which an equal quantity of warm water has been added, to be taken two 
or three times a week before breakfast. 

Rubinat or Friederichshall water, half a wineglass to a wineglassful in 
warm water, or a teaspoonful of effervescing Carlsbad salts, may be taken 
before breakfast two or three times a week, and decreased or increased 
according to the state of the bowels. 

Dilatation of stomach.— Dilatation of the stomach during infancy is 
commonly the result of a long-continued gastric catarrh ; in rare cases it is 
secondary to a congenital stenosis of the pylorus or duodenum, or upper 
part of the small intestine. In the minority of cases the dilatation takes 
place rapidly, as in acute gastric or gastro-intestinal catarrh, or in ' cholera 
infantum,' but it is far more frequently found in weakly infants or children 
who have suffered for months from chronic dyspepsia and who are probably 
anaemic and rickety. It is easy to understand that, if the digestive fluids 
are weak and insufficient to properly digest the food, the curd of milk and 
starches decompose in the stomach, and gases are given off in large quanti- 
ties. The constant distention of the stomach keeps the muscular walls on 
the stretch, the muscular fibres become thin and atrophic, and the distended 
condition tends to become permanent. The muscular mucous membrane, 
including the glandular elements, is wasted. The effect of a dilated 

H 



98 Diseases of the Digestive System 

stomach is to add to the dyspeptic troubles ; like a dilated and powerless 
bladder, its contents become stagnant and decompose ; it never thoroughly^ 
empties itself, but always contains much mucus and decomposing curd 
of milk. These dilated stomachs sometimes reach an enormous size. 
Henschel records a stomach of an infant two weeks old with a capacity of 
190 cc. (normal, 70 cc.) ; an infant of three months with a stomach of a 
capacity of 485 cc. (normal, 150 cc.) ; another of four months, of 500 cc. 
(normal, 180 cc.) ; and another of ten months of 650 cc. (normal, 300 cc.) 
The symptoms are not very definite, and we have on several occasions dis- 
covered post mortem a considerably dilated ^stomach, which we had not 
detected during life. There is chronic dyspepsia, discomfort after food, 
distention of the stomach with gases, coated tongue, and in some cases 
chronic vomiting. The diagnosis may be difficult ; in some cases the limits 
of the dilated stomach may be mapped out by percussion, but this can only 
be done if the colon and small intestines are not distended. If the colon is 
much distended, it will probably be impossible to distinguish between the. 




Fig. 11. — Hour-glass constriction of stomach, from an infant of five months. (Natural size.) 

tympanitic note produced by percussing the stomach and that produced by 
percussing the colon. A splashing sound may sometimes be produced by 
shaking the child, in cases of dilated stomach, if there is much fluid in the 
stomach. The prognosis is not necessarily bad, as there can be little doubt 
that under favourable conditions the stomach may recover itself. The 
treatment is that of chronic dyspepsia ; washing out is especially useful. 

In rare cases there is a congenital stenosis of the pylorus with a secondary 
dilatation and hypertrophy of the walls of the stomach. Two cases are 
recorded by Hirschprung ; l one of these cases lived a month, the other six 
months ; the prominent symptoms were vomiting, constipation, and progres- 
sive wasting. At the post-mortem in each case the pylorus was thickened,, 
the opening stenosed so as only to admit a medium-sized sound, and the 
stomach dilated and the walls hypertrophied. Henschel relates two some- 
what similar cases. 2 

1 Jalirbuch fiir Kinderkr., Band xxviii. Heft 1. 

2 Archiv f. Kinderh., Band xiii. Heft 1. 



Intestinal Worms 99 

Dilatation of the stomach, sometimes extreme in degree, is present in 
congenital obstruction of the duodenum and ileum. (See p. 129.) 

Malformations of the Stomach. — These are certainly uncommon, but 
a slight degree of hour-glass constriction which had been unsuspected during 
life may at times be found at post-mortems. In a case of our own in 
which we made the section, but did not see the infant during life, there was 
a well-marked contraction in the central portion of the stomach. (See 
fig. 11.) There was a history of constant vomiting during life. 

Carcinoma of the Stomach. — New growths in the alimentary canal 
are exceedingly rare in early life. The best-known case is that recorded by 
Dr. Cullingworth. In this case a columnar epithelioma was found in the 
stomach of an infant of five weeks old. We have met with one case, 
but the new growth was more duodenal than gastric. The case was shortly 
as follows : — 

Oliver G. , aged 8 years, was admitted to hospital Sept. i, 1890. He was a thin boy, 
with distended abdomen and symptoms of cystitis. There had been no vomiting, pain, 
or diarrhoea. The abdominal distension was considerable : the coils of intestines could 
be distinctly seen through the abdominal walls. There was no tenderness, and no tumour 
could be felt. He was discharged February 21, 1891, somewhat improved, having made 
flesh during his stay. He was re-admitted April 23, 1891. The abdomen was distended 
and tender, and a tumour could be felt below the edge of the liver to the right of, and 
about the same level as, the umbilicus. There were frequent attacks of severe colicky 
pains. He gradually emaciated, and died May 15. The post-mortem showed that the 
transverse colon near the hepatic flexure, the duodenum and omentum, were matted 
together ; the stomach was dilated, and its walls thickened. The pyloric opening just, 
admitted the fore-finger ; on the cardiac side of the pylorus were two small growths, the 
size of peas ; on the duodenal side there was an irregular cavity, the walls of the first part 
of the duodenum having been destroyed by a new growth ; lower down were some polypoid- 
looking growths ; below these the mucous membrane was normal. Microscopical exami- 
nation showed the growth to be a columnar epithelioma. 

Intestinal Worms. — The worms which most commonly infest children 
are the thread-worms, round worms, and tape worms, of which the former 
are the more common. 

Thread-worms (Oxyuris). — These troublesome pests inhabit the lower 
bowel, namely caecum, colon, sigmoid flexure and rectum, and also the vagina, 
an unhealthy state of the mucous membrane with sluggish bowels appear- 
ing to favour their development. To the naked eye they appear like short 



Fig. 12. — Oxyuris vermicularis, female. Highly magnified. (Quain's 'Dictionary of Medicine.') 

pieces of white thread ; under a low power the females, which are the most 
numerous, are seen to taper at each end, and their uterine ducts will be seen 
to contain numerous oval-shaped ova, some of the latter containing embryos. 
These parasites gain entrance into the system by the ova being taken in the 
food, or perhaps more frequently by means of the ova adhering to the fingers 
of those already affected ; they are thus conveyed directly or indirectly to 
others. The extreme fertility of these worms makes it certain that anyone 
who is affected with thread-worms and is not of scrupulously cleanly habits 

h 2 




loo Diseases of the Digestive System 

will have ova adhering to the neighbourhood of the anus which may be 
transferred by the fingers to the individual's own mouth or to others. The 
symptoms are very uncertain, the diagnosis being usually made by the 
patient's friends detecting the parasites in the chamber vessel used by the 
child. The most common symptom to call attention to 
the presence of thread-worms is the irritation and itching 
which they are apt to give rise to at the anus or entrance 
to the vagina. Girls will suffer from excessive discharge 
of mucus from the vagina, sometimes containing blood, 
from the presence of oxyurides in the vagina or the result 
of scratching. In many cases the presence of thread- 
worms seems to give rise to no symptoms whatever. 
Fig. 13.— Eggs of oxy- Weakly anaemic children with sluggish bowels are most 
cioLg^mbTyosx^o often affected. The treatment consists in expelling the 
diam. ( Quain's ' Die- worms, preventing their re-entrance, and in improving the 

tionaryof Medicine.') ^^ Qf ^ chiM ^ ^^ ^ . g ^ Hkdy tQ ^ mv[de a f avour . 

able cultivation ground for these unwelcome guests. The first indication is best 
fulfilled by a sharp purge to expel or else to drive them into the lower bowel, 
to be followed by enemata to destroy those present in the colon and rectum 
and wash away any excess of mucus present ; a grain to two grains of calomel, 
jn combination with two or three grains of resin of scammony, may be given to 
children of three to eight years of age overnight, and the following evening, 
if the bowels have been well acted upon, an enema of infusion of quassia as 
large as can be given should be used. It will be well to repeat the enemata 
every other evening for a week or two. Great care should be exercised to 
see that the child is washed about the genitals with soap and water after 
each stool to prevent re-infection. Injections should be used repeatedly to 
free the vagina from any of these worms, if there is any vaginitis or irritation. 
Weak carbolic acid lotions will answer very well, and some dilute red oxide 
of mercury ointment (1-3) may be smeared at the entrance to the vagina. 
The general health of the child must also be thought of and a careful diet 
prescribed, excess of sweets and starches being avoided. If constipation 
exist, Rubinat or Hunjadi water should be given every other morning before 
breakfast, in sufficient quantity to produce a soft stool without purging ; sul- 
phate of iron, gr. £-j, with spirits of chloroform and orange-flower water, 
twice a day, is often very useful. Cod-liver oil in selected cases is of great 
service. 

Round worms (Asearis lumbricoides). — The common round worm 
measures from four to twelve inches in length, the females being somewhat 
longer than the males ; they are reddish white and have more or less resem- 
blance to common earth-worms. They mostly inhabit the small intestines, 
but are apt to wander into the stomach, large intestines, or even into the 
gall-bladder. Several may exist in the intestine at the same time, in ex- 
ceptional instances many hundreds may be present. They gain entrance 
into the system by means of their ova, which are swallowed with the food ; 
the shells surrounding the ova are dissolved by the gastric juice, setting free 
the embryos. The symptoms produced by the presence of round worms 
cannot be certainly distinguished from those of dyspepsia or intestinal catarrh, 
with which the ascarides are so commonly associated. The passage of a 



Ascites 101 

round worm per rectum is often the first thing to call attention to the subject ; 
on the other hand, mothers often dogmatically assert that their child has 
worms because he ' picks his nose ' and his ' food appears to do him no good.' 
The latter symptoms, it is needless to say, are not diagnostic of the presence 
of worms, but of an unhealthy state of the alimentary canal. The presence 
of one or two round worms rarely produces any symptom per se, unless they 
pass into the stomach or bile-duct. In larger numbers they may give rise to 
colicky pains, especially at night ; diarrhoea, vomiting, and symptoms of ob- 
struction of the bowels have occasionally resulted. In rare instances worms 
have found their way into the peritoneal cavity and been discharged with 
the contents of an abscess through the abdominal wall. The treatment is not 
as difficult as the diagnosis. Santonin combined with calomel or castor oil 
should be given, and is almost certainly successful after a dose or two has 
been given. Santonin, gr. j-iij, calomel, gr. |-j, may be given overnight, and 
some fluid magnesia or other saline next morning before breakfast. Or the 
santonin dissolved in two or three teaspoonfuls of castor oil may be given 
before breakfast. The santonin may be repeated once or twice, but not oftener, 
until the physiological effects (if any have been produced) have passed off. If 
the santonin cause vomiting, smaller doses should be tried or compound 
scammony powder substituted. 

Tape-worms are as common in children as in adults, both the taenia 
solium and mediocanellata being found. Infants and young children less 
often act as hosts for tape-worms, but they have been found in infants under 
a year old. Attention is first called to the fact by the passage of the joints 
or proglottides in the stools. Older children will often complain of pain in 
the epigastrium, and peculiar movements are felt inside ; they are apt also to 
lose flesh and to suffer from various dyspeptic symptoms. The difficulty 
of dislodging the greater part of the creature is not great, but the head is not 
so easily expelled, especially that of the taenia solium. The success of the 
treatment by means of the administration of male fern depends upon the in- 
testine containing as little food as possible. A dose of castor oil should be 
given overnight sufficiently large to act freely before morning ; twenty to 
thirty drops of etherial extract of male fern (freshly prepared) should be given 
in half an ounce of mucilage and water before breakfast : breakfast should 
consist of some light refreshment such as beef-tea ; at noon another dose of 
castor oil should be given, which will act in the course of the day, bringing 
away the intruder. Careful search should be made for the head, bearing in 
mind that the joints are likely to break about an inch from the head, that the 
latter is about the size of a large pin's head, and the thickness of the worm 
itself near the head is only that of stout thread. 

If, after careful search by a competent observer, the head is not discovered 
in the stools, after a few days the treatment may be repeated, but it is not 
wise to continue to repeat the male fern, as toxic symptoms are apt to arise. 
Decoction of pomegranate root may be substituted if it is necessary to con- 
tinue the treatment. 

Ascites. — Fluid is sometimes present in the peritoneal cavity of the child 
without dropsy elsewhere, and it may be difficult to decide as to its cause. 
The diagnosis of ascites when it forms part of a general dropsy, as in cardiac 
disease or renal disease, is easy and does not call for special comment. 



102 Diseases of the Digestive System 

An ascites which is primary in a child is usually the result of some lesion of 
the peritoneum, as chronic peritonitis, or the result of portal obstruction such 
as cirrhosis or perihepatitis. The detection of a large or moderate quantity 
of fluid in the peritoneal cavity is not difficult, the percussion-note being 
dull in the flanks, while the region round the umbilicus is tympanitic 
in consequence of the distended intestines floating upwards when the patient 
is lying on his back ; change of position on to the side will float the intes- 
tines to the highest point, and the flank which is uppermost will now be 
resonant. While change of the patient's position will thus cause the fluid to 
gravitate to the lowest point if the fluid is free in the peritoneal cavity, it 
must be borne in mind that in chronic peritonitis there may be a matting 
together of the intestines which prevents them from floating upwards, and 
consequently there may be no alteration in the percussion note after change 
of position. The amount of dulness to percussion may vary from day to day 
according to the varying distention of the intestines. In ascites the super- 
ficial veins of the abdomen are usually enlarged, the skin becomes shiny 
and stretched if the fluid is excessive, and often the umbilicus is protruded 
and pouched out, containing fluid which can be pressed back into the 
abdominal cavity. The detection of a small quantity of fluid in the abdo- 
men is difficult, especially when the intestines are much distended with 
gas and the large bowel is loaded with faeces, the latter giving a more 
or less dull percussion-note in the flanks. Fluctuation may be detected 
by passing the finger into the rectum ; fluid may thus be detected in 
the pelvis. A careful observer is hardly likely to mistake simple dis- 
tention of the intestines with gas for ascites ; the thrill imparted to the 
contained fluid by gently tapping the flank is absent in the flatulent dis- 
tention, and on percussion the abdomen is universally tympanitic. The 
diagnosis of the cause of the ascites is often difficult, as a large accumulation 
of fluid may be due to chronic peritonitis and closely resembles an ascites due 
to portal obstruction. Chronic peritonitis may be quite unaccompanied by 
pain or tenderness from first to last, and the fluid may be excessive. Any 
matting or induration of the omentum or intestines to be felt through the 
abdominal walls, or slight evening rise in the temperature or signs of tuber- 
culosis elsewhere (as in the testis), or chronic diarrhoea, would be in favour 
of chronic peritoneal tuberculosis. A normal temperature, the ascitic fluid 
freely movable, the general health good, slight jaundice or bile-pigment in 
the urine would be in favour of portal obstruction, as cirrhosis or medias- 
tinitis. If the fluid is localised by the presence of adhesions, and does 
not occupy the whole peritoneal cavity, it is probably due to tuberculosis. 
The possibility of hydatids of the peritoneum must be borne in mind. 



103 



CHAPTER VII. 

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM— (continued). 

Acute Peritonitis. — Acute general peritonitis is not an uncommon dis- 
-ease during infancy and childhood, occurring as a primary disease, and also 
spreading from some other part or originating in consequence of the leakage 
of the intestinal contents into the peritoneal cavity, or it may follow a blow 
or kick on the abdomen. The fcetus also suffers from peritonitis perhaps 
more subacute than acute, and the adhesions which are left surrounding and 
matting the intestines are apt to interfere with the growth and development 
of the gut, and lead to stenosis or obstruction by narrowing the bowel or 
tying it up in coils. Acute peritonitis occurs in the newly born, secondary to 
arteritis or septicaemia ; but such cases are rare in private practice. Apart 
from these cases, peritonitis is not common in infants and young children. 
Dr. West mentions a case of idiopathic peritonitis occurring in an infant of 
seven months, which proved fatal in six days ; the attack was sudden, ac- 
companied by vomiting and abdominal distention ; after death, lymph and 
serous fluid were found in the abdominal cavity. It has been known in 
infants to spread from a suppurating mesenteric gland. Acute peritonitis 
occurs in older children by no means infrequently, often supervening, with- 
out known cause, in the midst of apparent health. Sometimes cold or a 
more or less severe blow appears to be the starting point. At the post-moi'tem 
there is nothing to indicate where the inflammation commenced. Not in- 
frequently the peritonitis is the result of some lesion in the caecum, vermi- 
form appendix, or mesenteric glands. It sometimes occurs in tubercular 
subjects : thus a phthisical boy of nine years old was suddenly seized with 
pain in the abdomen and vomiting, and died in ten days ; at the post-vwrtem 
an acute general peritonitis was present, and also adhesions from old perito- 
nitis and some calcified mesenteric glands. Acute peritonitis may be caused 
by the spread of inflammation from other parts, as from the pleura, an em- 
pyema bursting through the diaphragm, from the pericardium, ulcers in the 
stomach, ileum, or caecum, or from an intussusception. It may occur in the 
course of typhoid fever from perforation of the intestine and extravasation of 
faeces. It is rare in the course of scarlet fever, but it is not uncommon in the 
last stages of the succeeding nephritis, when uraemic phenomena have set in ; 
it is then mostly of a purulent character. We have seen peritonitis post 
mortem, which appeared to have succeeded to or been associated with an 
acute intestinal catarrh, with symptoms of an inflammatory diarrhoea or an 
intestinal ulcer ; and it seems probable that, in some cases, the peritonitis 
may be secondary to an intestinal lesion. 



104 Diseases of the Digestive System 

Sympto7iis and Course.— The symptoms of acute peritonitis in the infant 
and child are by no means always as characteristic as they are in the adult, 
and cases will sometimes occur where extensive peritonitis is found at the 
post-mortem which was not suspected during life, especially when super- 
vening in the course of some other disease. 

The attack usually begins with vomiting, sometimes diarrhoea, great pain 
and tenderness in the abdomen referred to the region of the umbilicus ; the 
amount of tenderness on pressure varies even in cases where no opium has 
been given, and where the patient is under the influence of this drug pain 
may be entirely absent. Constipation after the onset is a marked feature 
when the attack is established, no feces and often no wind passing by the 
bowel ; the vomiting is constant, the distention of the bowels very great, so 
that the coils of distended small intestines may be seen through the abdo- 
minal walls, and the case may readily be assumed to be obstruction of the 
bowels from some mechanical cause. Though no complete obstruction 
exists, yet the coils of intestine are seen post mortem to make sharp turns 
on one another, ' kinks ' being formed, which, with the layers of lymph on 
their surface, must seriously impede the passage of their contents. The 
paralysis of the muscular coat of the bowel, by diminishing or arresting the 
normal peristaltic movements, prevents the onward movement of the intes- 
tinal contents. The vomiting is mostly constant as long as food is given :. 
undigested food, bile, and sour-smelling intestinal contents may be brought 
up, but the vomited matters are never faecal as they are in hernia or intus- 
susception. There is usually moderate fever, the temperature being ioi° to 
io2° F., but a normal or subnormal temperature may persist throughout the 
case, and distention is not always present. 

In the later stages the abdominal distention is often extreme, the coils of 
distended intestine are prominently discernible through the walls of the abdo- 
men, the face becomes pinched, the pulse quick and thready, and the patient 
dies collapsed, often suddenly at the last. While this is the all but universal 
ending of a case of general peritonitis, when the symptoms have fully de- 
clared themselves, cases undoubtedly occur in which the diagnosis of perito- 
nitis is made, on account of the distention and pain in the abdomen, which 
gradually improve under treatment, and finally recover. There is reason to 
suppose that cases of acute peritonitis will occasionally get well, even when 
the attack has been a general one. In other cases the symptoms of a local 
suppuration, hectic, local tenderness, and swelling, succeed to those of a 
general peritonitis. In such cases, however, there may have been a local 
peritonitis from the first. 

The following cases will illustrate some of the above remarks : — 

Acute Suppurative Peritonitis. — John C, aged 7 years. The family history was good. 
He had been a strong boy up to the time of his fatal illness. No cause could be assigned 
for his sickness. Four days before admission to hospital he complained of pain in the 
' stomach ; ' there was vomiting and constipation. On admission to hospital on the fifth 
day of his illness, the face wore an anxious expression, as if he was in pain ; the abdomen 
was distended and tense, and tympanitic and tender to the least touch ; his legs were 
drawn up ; he constantly vomited dark, sour-smelling, almost faecal stuff. The urine, 
drawn off by a catheter, contained albumen. All food and drink by the mouth were 
stopped, and he was given ten-minim doses of tinct. opii every second hour till three doses 
had been given. He passed a restless night, yet was drowsy from the effects of the opium. 



Acute Perito?iitis 105 

He gradually sank, dying on the evening of the sixth day of his illness. At the post- 
mortem, on opening the abdomen, a few ounces of offensive pus escaped ; the surface of 
the intestines was injected ; the bowels were matted together with lymph ; there was no 
strangulation. The caecum and vermiform appendix were normal ; there were patches of 
intense congestion on the mucous surface of the ileum, and a sharply cut ulcer (not 
perforating), half an inch in diameter, some two feet above the caecum. No certain cause 
for the acute peritonitis was found, unless it be assumed — which is indeed not improbable 
— that an enteritis existed in the first instance, and that the peritonitis was secondary. 

In the following case the symptoms closely resembled acute obstruction 
of the bowels from strangulation : — 

John C. , aged 9 years, was healthy up to February 9, when he was injured by a blow 
in the abdomen ; but the injury does not seem to have been very severe. He complained 
of pain in the belly, and vomited the same evening. He continued to vomit five or 
six times a day till his admission to hospital (under Dr. Hutton) on the fifth day of his 
illness. He had passed nothing per rectum except a small stool after an enema, and it 
was supposed he was suffering from an intussusception. On admission, his face was 
Hushed, the eyes sunken ; the abdomen was tensely distended ; the coils of intestines being 
plainly seen. He complained of paroxysms of pain in the abdomen. He vomited faecal 
matter shortly after admission ; there was pain on deep palpation in the right iliac fossa, 
but no marked tenderness. Full doses of opium were given. The next day (the sixth of 
his illness), it was thought advisable to make an exploratory opening into the abdomen 
(which was done by Mr. Wright) ; the intestines were deeply coloured, and matted 
together with lymph ; no constricting band or invagination was detected ; the wound was 
closed and a drainage tube inserted. The boy gradually sank, and died suddenly the next 
day. At the post-mortem a general acute peritonitis was found ; no cause for it was made 
out after a careful search. 

In the following case, related by Sanne,' 3 acute peritonitis was accompanied 
by diarrhoea : — 

A boy of 14 years, who had always enjoyed good health, was seized with shivering and 
headache. On the third day he had diarrhoea and pain in the abdomen, followed by 
vomiting, distention of the abdomen, and great tenderness ; the vomiting continued, so 
that not only bile but also the contents of the small intestines were ejected. Death took 
place on the fourth day. At the autopsy a general sero-purulent peritonitis was found, 
without any other lesion. 

In the following case the peritonitis was secondary, occurring in the 
course of scarlatinal nephritis : — . 

Sarah W. , aged 8 years, was attacked with scarlet fever, the initial symptoms being 
vomiting, high fever, and rash. She was admitted to hospital on the third day. The 
tonsils were sloughy ; there was much glandular enlargement and high fever. The tem- 
perature varied from ioo° to ioi'6°F. till the twelfth day, when it reached 102 '6° F. , and 
a trace of albumen appeared in the urine. On the thirteenth day the temperature was 
104 F. , and only two hundred and fifty cubic centimetres of urine were passed. From 
the fourteenth to the sixteenth day the urine passed was only from seventy to one hundred 
cubic centimetres daily ; urine contained fibrinous and epithelial casts. Eighteenth day, 
vomiting, temperature 103 F. ; only seventy cubic centimetres of urine. Nineteenth day, 
no urine passed ; severe abdominal pain, respirations shallow and thoracic, abdomen dis- 
tended and tense. Twentieth day, temperature 98° to 99 F. , patient collapsed. Twenty- 
first day, death. At the autopsy a general sero-purulent peritonitis was found ; pleurisy 
of left lung ; acute glomerular nephritis. 

Acute Peritonitis. — Boy, 13 years, said to be delicate, but never ailed anything. He 
played with his brothers on Wednesday afternoon, tumbling about on the floor — no definite 
history of a blow. Thursday he did not eat his breakfast, and said he felt sick ; vomited 

1 Barthez et Sanne\ Traitd des Maladies des En f ants, vol. ii. p. 621. . 



106 Diseases of the Digestive System 

several times during the day, and was thought to be upset from a disordered stomach. 
Friday morning, vomited, and in much pain ', bowels acted slightly ; not much distention ; 
child died same evening, 6 P.M. 

Post-mortem, Monday, July 29, 1889. — Some decomposition; omentum normal; 
surface of small intestines intensely injected, most marked below umbilicus ; some lymph, 
not excessive quantity ; bloody serum between intestines, a few ounces in pelvis. Vermi- 
form appendix : external surfaces injected ; no evidence of past inflammation. Slitting 
up of intestines showed them to be normal, except the lips of the ilio-caecal valves, which 
were injected ; the appendix seemed thickened and cedematous, and contained some 
mucus only. Lungs were normal ; heart also normal ; the blood dark and fluid, and 
there were small extravasations of blood on the surface of the heart. In this case the boy 
died in two days from acute peritonitis. No cause could be assigned, unless it resulted 
from a blow when playing with his brothers the day before he was taken ill. There was 
•no bruising of the abdominal wall. 

Diagnosis. — A pleurisy of the base of one or other of the lungs is often 
mistaken for peritonitis, as the sharp stabbing pam is apt to be referred to the 
abdomen where the intercostal nerves terminate. In such cases, especially 
if the pleurisy involve the diaphragm, the similarity to peritonitis may be 
great, and it is common to find that hot fomentations or mustard poultices 
have been placed upon the abdomen by the friends under the idea that there is 
peritonitis. Where pleurisy exists there is no real tenderness of the abdomen 
on pressure, and the physical signs of pleurisy or pleuro-pneumonia will be 
detected in the chest. An attack of colic is not often likely to be mistaken 
for peritonitis ; in the former there is pain and distention of the abdomen, but 
no tenderness or elevated temperature. An intussusception may be mistaken 
for peritonitis ; but the attack of pain is more sudden in the former, and 
there is not often much tenderness ; the detection of an elongated tumour 
would decide the diagnosis. Acute peritonitis is apt to be mistaken for acute 
obstruction of the bowels, such as results from the constriction of a knuckle of 
bowel by a band. The distention of the intestines with flatus, the vomiting 
of sour-smelling intestinal contents, as well as complete obstruction to the 
passage of wind, may be present in both ; there may be little tenderness, and 
but slight or no fever. The diagnosis may be very difficult or impossible, 
though the history of the case, the absence of faecal vomiting, and the less com- 
plete obstruction to the passage of both flatus and faeces in the case of perito- 
nitis, will usually help the decision. It is hardly necessary to add that it is only 
in some cases of acute peritonitis that the difficulty exists, as usually the pain, 
tenderness, and distention of the intestines are diagnostic of peritonitis. 

Morbid Ajiatomy. — The tendency to pus formation, which all inflamma- 
tions in children exhibit, is noticeable in peritonitis, as in acute cases the 
fluid found in the peritoneum is thick and turbid, or it may rank as pure pus. 
The amount of lymph and fluid varies in different cases ; pus or turbid 
serum will often be found in meshes of lymph between the coils of intestines, 
a larger collection being present in the pelvis. In all cases of apparent idio- 
pathic peritonitis, a careful search should be made for a local starting point ; 
the caecum, mesenteric, and retro-peritoneal glands being carefully examined. 

Prognosis. — This is always grave ; the more acute the symptoms, the 
more rapidly the fatal result occurs. The prognosis in any case mostly 
depends on the diagnosis, for, if acute general peritonitis is present, a fatal 
result is almost certain. 



Perityphlitis 107 

Perityphlitis. — Instead of a general peritonitis taking" place, a local 
inflammatory action may be set up, which results in simple inflammatory in- 
duration going on in many cases to the formation of an abscess, or a general 
peritonitis may supervene. The commonest local peritonitis is a typhlo- 
peritonitis or perityphlitis, as it is generally called. The caecum is especi- 
ally apt to be the seat of irritation, a peculiarity which it doubtless owes to 
its being a cul-de-sac, in which foreign bodies or impacted faeces are apt to 
lodge, and give rise to various forms of trouble. Pins, fish-bones, cherry- 
stones, are apt to lodge in the caecum, and gravitate into the caecal appendix, 
and though the latter is not normally traversed by the intestinal contents as 
they pass downwards, concretions are likely to form from the deposition of 
faecal particles, phosphates of lime, and other salts. As a result, ulceration 
of the caecum or appendix is very apt to take place, and a perforation to be 
followed by a local or general peritonitis. The symptoms presented by peri- 
typhlitis in the child resemble those present in the adult. The attack may 
begin with diarrhoea and perhaps vomiting, with more or less obscure pain 
and tenderness in the abdomen, and feverishness. It is often extremely 
•difficult to localise the pain and tenderness in a small child, and it may be 
quite impossible at first to refer the tenderness to any one spot, especially as 
the abdominal muscles are apt to be rigidly contracted, and the child cry 
directly it is touched. The state of the bowels varies, sometimes being 
relaxed, at other times obstinately constipated. In the course of a few days, 
during which time the pyrexia continues, if a satisfactory examination can be 
made, more or less resistance may be detected by palpation in the iliac or 
lumbar region, and a dulness on gentle percussion, though this may be 
masked by the distention of the small intestines. The patient may now, 
especially if he has been judiciously treated, gradually improve, and all pain 
and tenderness disappear in the course of a week or two. On the other hand, 
the tenderness may increase, a distinct hardness and induration may be felt 
in the right iliac region, the right leg is drawn up, and the child cries with 
pain if it is moved. The subsequent course of the attack is uncertain : there 
may be a gradual subsidence of all the symptoms, or if the abscess is not 
opened, the hectic fever may continue, the child gradually emaciate, while 
the pus which has been formed is making its way to the surface, and the 
abscess may point in the iliac region, may discharge into the bowel, or, in 
rare cases, into the bladder or vagina. Faeces may be found in the pus dis- 
charging from the iliac abscess, and a faecal fistula result, or all the signs of 
general peritonitis, abdominal distention, extreme tenderness, and collapse, 
may come on. 

The diagnosis of perityphlitis is often by no means easy, and yet of 
much importance, inasmuch as a mistake in diagnosis may readily cost a 
life. In the early stages, the diseases most likely to be confounded with it, 
especially in small children, are coprostasis or accumulation of hardened 
faeces in the caecum, and invagination of the intestines ; in a later stage, 
when the patient is seen for the first time after an abscess has formed, there 
may be uncertainty as to the source of the pus. Children who have just begun 
to run alone, and are able to make frequent excursions into the kitchen, or 
who are fed on all sorts of indigestible food, are especially liable to suffer 
from an accumulation of hardened faeces in the caecum, which may set up 



io8 Diseases of the Digestive System 

more or less irritation, and give rise to symptoms exceedingly like those of 
a perityphlitis. There are distention of the abdomen, colicky pains, vomiting", 
slight feverishness, constipation, or, on the other hand, diarrhoea ; and it 
must be borne in mind that looseness of the bowels is quite compatible with 
a loaded caecum or large intestine. It may be possible to detect a faecal 
tumour in the right lumbar region. The diagnosis in a fretful, spoilt child 
may be exceedingly difficult, but the symptoms of impacted faeces in the 
caecum will be rather those of colic, the pain coming on spasmodically, with 
no pain or tenderness in the intervals ; while in perityphlitis the pain will 
be constant, and the tenderness on deep pressure unmistakable. In any 
given case it is far better to err on the safe side, and to mistake colic for 
typhlo-peritonitis, than to fall into the far more serious error of dosing a child 
suffering from a local peritonitis with purgatives and enemas. An ileo-caecal 
invagination with its symptoms of sudden obstruction of the bowel is probably 
not very likely to be mistaken for perityphlitis ; the sudden attack in an 
infant in perfect health, the colicky pains, the straining, and passage of blood 
and mucus, and the presence of a painless tumour, would in most cases 
prevent a mistaken diagnosis. To make a diagnosis, an examination under 
chloroform may be necessary with the finger in the rectum. 

Peritoneal Abscesses. Intestinal Fistula. — Apart from the suppura- 
tion which is liable to take place as the result of a typhlo-peritonitis, other 
abscesses are liable to occur in the abdomen, due in the majority of cases to 
glandular inflammation and originating in the mesenteric, retro-peritoneal, or 
rectal glands. Local abscesses may also occur as the result of a blow or 
following a perforation of the intestine in typhoid fever or tubercular ulcera- 
tion. As an instance of a glandular abscess in the abdomen the following 
case may be taken as an example : — 

A girl of 7 years of age was admitted to hospital, having suffered for thirteen days 
with pain in the abdomen, fever, and vomiting. On admission there was some dulness 
below the umbilicus and great tenderness ; the temperature varied from ioo° to 102 . The 
day after the umbilicus became prominent and the skin red ; it gave way and pure pus was 
discharged. The wound continued to discharge for some time— on one occasion a cheesy 
mass was removed from the sinus, followed by a fresh discharge of pus ; the sinus finally 
closed on the forty-eighth day. At the end of ten weeks the girl was fat and strong ; 
there was some induration, but no pain or tenderness below the umbilicus. On one occa- 
sion there was some pus in a stool. 

In another case, that of an infant, seen with Dr. Noble, of Kendal, it was 
noticed a week or two after birth that the abdomen was more rounded and 
distended than usual. When five weeks old the abdomen was intensely dis- 
tended, shiny, with enlarged veins on the surface, and with redness and 
protrusion of the umbilicus ; the abdomen was resonant all over, and nothing* 
could be felt on palpation. A few days later the skin at the umbilicus gave 
way, and pus discharged freely. The infant a few days after died in con- 
vulsions. A large abscess cavity was found at the autopsy, and caseous 
mesenteric glands. 

In several cases which have come under our notice, with somewhat 
similar but more chronic symptoms, there has been evidence that an abscess 
had formed, probably in a mesenteric gland, and had opened into the bowel, 
pus being discharged with diarrhceal stools. Other cases occur which are 



Peritonitis 1 09 

by no means so satisfactory in their terminations as the above, being in 
many instances associated with a chronic tubercular peritonitis or mesen- 
teric disease. There are symptoms of abdominal trouble, attacks of vomiting 
and diarrhoea, hectic fever and wasting, an induration and at length an in- 
flammatory blush around the umbilicus ; the latter becomes perforated and 
pus discharges. Frequently, sooner or later, the discharge becomes faecal 
from the presence of intestinal contents, a fistulous opening having become 
established. In the majority of such cases the abscess apparently originates 
in a mesenteric gland, an abscess cavity is formed which is surrounded by 
coils of small intestine matted together, and the abscess opens both at the 
umbilicus and into the bowel in some part of its course ; but as such cases 
are mostly chronic, opportunities for post-mortem examinations are not 
frequent, and when an opportunity presents itself there is so much matting of 
parts that it is difficult to make out the origin of the abscess. 

The following case illustrates this difficulty : — 

A girl of 4 years of age was in hospital, June 1879, with obscure abdominal sym- 
ptoms, hectic and wasting ; in the following December she was admitted with a sinus at 
the umbilicus, discharging pus and intestinal contents, an abscess having broken ten weeks 
before. The fistulous opening continued to discharge pus and liquid yellow gaseous 
faeces till her death in October 1880. At the post-mortem the liver and spleen were larda- 
ceous. The umbilical sinus was connected with an abscess cavity containing one or two 
ounces of pus and faeces, and surrounded on all sides by intestines matted together ; this 
cavity communicated with the ileum a foot and a half above the caecum by two openings 
large enough to admit a little finger. On the peritoneal surface of the small intestines 
were cretaceous nodules, apparently the remains of a past tubercular peritonitis. In the 
ileum were many cicatrices and calcareous remains of old ulcers and cheesy solitary glands. 

In this case the perforation of tubercular ulcers or the suppuration of 
mesenteric glands had been the cause of the abscess and fistulous openings. 
In several cases coming under notice the fistulous openings have closed up 
permanently, one after discharging for seven months, and in some others 
the fistulous opening has closed but the patient died of general tuberculosis. 

Treatment.— As soon as the diagnosis of acute peritonitis is established 
no time must be lost in administering opium in some form or other, the dose 
being repeated so that not only is the pain relieved but the child is rendered 
drowsy. The narcotic may be given by the mouth or by subcutaneous injec- 
tion. For a child of from one to two years, two or three minims of the 
tincture may be given and repeated every three hours ; for a child of from 
five to ten years, five to eight drops, its effects being carefully watched. 
Hot fomentations should be applied to the abdomen ; some, however, prefer 
the application of ice — the former is much more comforting to the patient. 
If the vomiting is severe, all food by the mouth must be stopped and only 
small quantities of ice allowed ; in many cases the vomiting and conse- 
quent distress of the patient is maintained by giving large quantities of 
fluids, such as milk and beef-tea. Small enemata of beef-tea and brandy- 
may be given by the bowel, but it must be borne in mind that large 
•enemata of any sort are liable to do harm by setting up peristalsis of the 
bowel. Free stimulation with brandy, champagne, or ether, must be resorted 
to in the last stages. In typhlitis and other local forms of peritonitis, the 
same treatment must be carried out — all fonns of laxatives and enemas must 
be condemned as likely to aggravate the inflammation : rest in bed, opium 



1 1 o Diseases of the Digestive System 

fomentations, small doses of opium and belladonna by the mouth, the most 
restricted diet, the food being given in the most digestible form and in small 
quantities. As long as the slightest pain or tenderness is present, the most 
complete rest must be maintained and all purgatives and enemata avoided. 
The formation of an abscess must be carefully watched for, and surgical pro- 
ceedings taken without delay if there is any indication of suppuration. 

Since acute purulent peritonitis is practically certainly fatal if it becomes 
generalised, it is of the utmost importance to provide an outlet for a localised 
abscess rather than allow it to go on and rupture into the general peritoneal 
cavity. Hence, as soon as it is clear that a local form of inflammation is not 
subsiding under medical treatment, the safest course is to carefully cut down 
upon and let out the matter. In perityphlitic abscess (' appendicular perito- 
nitis'), when with fever, local pain, tenderness and induration and drawing up 
of the leg no improvement takes place, an incision should be made just- 
internal to the anterior superior spine of the ilium and the successive mus- 
cular layers divided until the neighbourhood of the abscess is made clear- 
either by the sense of fluctuation or by the cedematous condition of the 
tissues : a director is then thrust in the direction of the suspected cavity r 
and if pus appears the opening is enlarged with dressing forceps and the 
"cavity drained and treated on ordinary principles (antiseptics being used 
unless the pus is foul). There is little danger in such an operation ; even if 
no abscess is met with and the peritoneal cavity is opened, no ill result is. 
likely to follow, while the danger of rupture of an abscess into the general 
peritoneal cavity is very great. Local peritoneal abscess elsewhere is much 
more uncommon, though it may be met with on the left side (perisigmoid 
abscess), and this can be made out at times by rectal examination. The 
treatment is that of the perityphlitic condition. It is of little importance in 
such cases to make out whether the abscess is really a local peritonitis or a 
collection of matter in the cellular tissue outside the peritoneum, since, if 
peritoneal, it is usually completely shut off by adhesions from the general 
cavity, and there is no fear of pus flowing from the wound into the peritoneum. 
Local abscesses elsewhere must be treated on similar principles. Should a 
general purulent peritonitis already exist, the question of treatment is more 
uncertain and the prospect far less hopeful ; there is, however, little doubt 
that the right course is to open the abdomen, wash it out with some unirritating 
antiseptic such as boracic lotion, and drain the peritoneum. Should there 
be general faecal extravasation from perforation of the caecal appendix or 
from a typhoid ulcer, the case must be looked upon as wellnigh desperate ;. 
the attempt, however, may be made to expose the perforation, suture the in- 
testine, and in the case of the appendix remove it and close the end. We 
have five or six times performed abdominal section in children for acute 
peritonitis, once for local abscess among coils of intestine in the left ileo- 
pelvic region, once for localised abscess in general tubercular peritonitis, and 
once for general peritonitis with symptoms so closely resembling obstruction 
that it was thought probable that such condition did exist. In another case, 
abscess was suspected, but the dulness and local resistance were found to be 
due to matting together of coils of bowel. In many cases of iliac abscess 
we have also operated, and almost always successfully, and though it may be 
said that these are a different class altogether from the local peritonitis- 



C J ironic Peritonitis 1 1 r 

group, it is difficult to distinguish between the two, and there is certainly a 
risk of perforation into the peritoneum. In appendicular abscess nothing 
more should be done than simple incision and drainage ; no attempt should 
be made to remove the appendix or look for a cause of the suppuration 
except that the finger may be gently passed into the abscess and any foreign 
body removed. We recently found a faecal concretion lying loose in one of 
these cavities. The greatest care must be taken not to break down the wall 
of adhesions round the abscess. The opening of a local appendicular abscess- 
is in our experience almost, if not quite, always a successful operation, but it is 
of course far otherwise if the suppuration has been from the first, or has been 
allowed to become general ; in such a case, too, a full search must be made 
for the source of the trouble and an attempt made to remove it, whether by 
ligature and excision of a perforated appendix or such other means as the 
particular case may require. 

In cases of recurrent ' appendicular peritonitis ' the question of removal 
of the appendix is to be seriously considered, since life is in constant danger 
as long as the source of the mischief remains. 

Chronic Peritonitis. — Chronic peritonitis is a comparatively common 
affection during childhood, and in the vast majority of cases is tuberculaiv 
A few cases of chronic non-tubercular peritonitis in which the diagnosis has 
been confirmed by a post-mortem have been recorded, notably one by Henoch 
which ran a course of six weeks ; at the post-mortem cloudy fluid and organis- 
ing lymph was found in the peritoneal cavity. This case seems to have 
originated in a blow. Cases also not infrequently occur in practice of chronic 
peritonitis with ascites, in which there is no evidence of tubercle in any organ 
and which completely recover ; this, however, is no bar to the acceptance of the 
belief that such are tubercular, as there is ample post-mortem evidence to 
show that tubercles and lymph on the surface of the peritoneum may be- 
come cretaceous or be converted into fibrous tissue. Two forms of chronic- 
tubercular peritonitis are met with in practice, in which for the most part a 
well-marked clinical difference exists, one distinguished by the large amount 
of ascitic fluid and in which probably ascites is the only symptom present,, 
and the chronic cicatrising form in which there is induration and thicken- 
ing of the great omentum and a matting together of all the abdominal organs 
with little or perhaps no fluid. The same tubercular process is going on in 
both cases, but produces in one a large amount of effusion, in the other less 
or perhaps no fluid, but the effusion of lymph and its gradual organisation 
and cicatrisation. 

Ascitic Form. — Chronic peritonitis is by far the most common cause of 
ascites, or rather dropsy commencing in the peritoneal cavity during child- 
hood, while, as well known, some form of portal obstruction is the commonest 
cause in adults. Ascites due to chronic peritonitis is not common during 
the first year of life, not that it does not occur, but the infant dies before the 
chronic stage is reached. It is not uncommon during the second year of 
life and occurs with some frequency up to and beyond puberty. There is 
generally a history of pain in the abdomen of a more or less obscure kind 
which has been regarded as due to indigestion, probably also both feverish- 
ness and diarrhoea, and then the belly begins to swell. In some cases the 
enlargement of the abdomen is the first symptom which leads the friends to- 



H2 Diseases of tlie Digestive System 

think anything is wrong with the child. On examination a rounded and dis- 
tended abdomen is found, there is dulness and fluctuation to be felt in the 
flanks if the patient is lying on his back ; while there is a more or less ex- 
tended region of resonance around the umbilicus where the distended small 
intestines are buoyed up to the surface. The fluid may, however, be localised 
by adhesions. The abdomen is often intensely distended, the skin tense and 
shining, the abdominal veins enlarged and tortuous, and in young children 
the skin at the umbilicus is protruded and contains fluid which can be pressed 
back into the abdomen. There is mostly complete absence of pain and ten- 
derness, the disease is frequently feverless during the greater part of its 
course, and the patient looks rather as if he were suffering from ascites due 
to some obstruction in the portal system. The course of the disease is essen- 
tially chronic, and recovery by no means hopeless, as there are not a few 
recorded instances of complete and permanent improvement taking place. 

Thus in one case a girl, aged 13 years, who was in hospital for some 
five months, and from whom eight to nine pints of ascitic fluid were re- 
moved through one of Southey's canulas, completely recovered, and was 
four years after a strong girl, supporting her mother and family by her work. 
In several similar cases we have seen recovery take place ; one suffered from 
a tubercular testis which discharged through the scrotum and healed. On 
the other hand, such children are apt to be carried off by a tubercular menin- 
gitis, or the mesenteric glands become cheesy, or a tuberculosis of the lungs 
takes place. In any case it will, of course, be necessary to carefully examine 
the lungs, and a long-continued hectic and wasting would suggest a more 
extended area of tuberculosis. In cases which end in recovery there is 
probably a matting together of the intestines, and frequently more or less 
induration may be felt about the great omentum or caecum. In cases which 
are of long standing it occasionally happens that a perihepatitis with more 
or less cirrhosis of the liver takes place. This was the case in a boy of 3^ 
years who was admitted to hospital under the care of Dr. Hutton, with ascites, 
cedema of feet and ankles, jaundice and enlarged liver ; at the post-mortem, 
the liver weighed 15 oz., the capsule was thickened and the surface was 
irregular and granular; on section there was a great excess of fibrous tissue, 
and old and recent peritonitis and tuberculosis of the lungs. 

Cicatrising Form. — In many cases of tubercular peritonitis there is little 
or no ascites from first to last, but lymph is effused on the surface of the 
peritoneal covering of various organs, and if the patient live long enough, 
fibrous adhesions are formed. On the post-mortem table, local or general 
peritonitis is frequently found in children dying of tuberculosis ; thus, out of 
105 post-mortems of tubercular children made during the four years 1882-85, 
there was peritonitis in 38, though in a comparatively few of these was the 
peritonitis an early and important lesion. While this form of peritonitis is 
mostly chronic, yet some cases run a more active or subacute course. The 
early symptoms are pain in the abdomen, mostly referred to the umbilicus, 
often attacks of sickness and diarrhoea, hectic, and the presence of indurated 
or irregular-shaped masses felt through the abdominal walls. The amount 
of tenderness on pressure differs greatly, being most marked in the acuter 
cases, and being absent in the chronic ones. But in cases wasted and ex- 
hausted by acute disease, even a purulent peritonitis may be present without 
.any pain or tenderness. The state of the abdomen varies, it being sometimes 



Tubercular Peritonitis 1 1 3 

distended with wind, at other times more or less retracted ; often no distinct 
tumour can be felt, but on very gentle percussion a distinct loss of resonance, 
or a muffled resonance, may be detected over the umbilical region in conse- 
quence of the thickening and induration of the great omentum, or a resist- 
ance may be felt on palpation, or hard irregular tumours can be detected, 
the result of matting together of the omentum or intestines. Hectic fever is 
mostly present, the temperature rising to 102 or 103 at night, and falling to 
normal in the morning, and more or less general wasting of the body ensues ; 
but the amount of fever and wasting present will depend upon the extent to 
which the mesenteric glands and thoracic viscera are affected. Diarrhoea is 
not usually a marked symptom unless tubercular ulceration has taken place. 
The subsequent course of these cases differs much ; in the minority, after 
several months of hectic, improvement slowly sets in and the patient improves, 
for a time at least appearing fairly well. In the majority the fever continues, 
the wasting becomes more apparent, diarrhoea, and perhaps cough, comes on, 
and the child sinks. In others, the lungs remain free to the end, but mesen- 
teric disease ensues, ulceration of the bowels takes place, perhaps local abdo- 
minal abscesses form, and the liver, spleen, and kidneys become lardaceous- 
In only four of the thirty-eight cases of fatal tubercular peritonitis mentioned 
Avere the lungs and mediastinal glands found entirely free from tubercle. 

Prognosis. — The course of chronic tubercular peritonitis is usually long, 
unless some intercurrent disease, as tubercular meningitis, supervenes. 
Children may be under observation for many months, with either ascites or 
induration of the omentum, with more or less hectic, and with no evidence 
of any active disease in the lungs, and finally to all appearance completely 
recover. On the other hand, the onset of diarrhoea, hectic, progressive 
emaciation, and cough, with evidence of lung mischief, points to the exist- 
ence of more or less generalised tuberculosis, which necessarily shortens 
the duration of the illness. Albuminuria, as pointing to lardaceous disease, 
would be of bad omen. 

Diagnosis. — When a child is presented with an ascites which has made 
its appearance gradually without pain or fever, it is perhaps not unnatural to 
attribute the collection of fluid in the abdomen to obstructed portal circu- 
lation. In an adult the commonest cause of ascites is cirrhosis of the liver, 
in a child by far the most frequent cause is chronic tubercular peritonitis. 
In a given case it may be quite impossible to make a certain diagnosis, inas- 
much as for a while the ascites may be the only symptom present ; there may 
be a complete absence of pain or tenderness, the most careful palpation may 
fail to detect any induration of the omentum. The bowels may float up and 
cause a resonant note on percussion at the umbilicus when the patient is on 
his back, the resonance shifting to the flank which is uppermost when he lies 
on his side. It may be impossible to feel the edge of the liver, or map it out 
by percussion. In other cases, however, there will be less difficulty, for 
there may be hectic fever, or diarrhoea, or abdominal pain and tender- 
ness, or after paracentesis lumps or masses of indurations may be felt. A 
family history of tuberculosis would naturally favour the view of tubercular 
peritonitis ; and occasionally the presence of a cheesy deposit in a testis will 
decide the diagnosis. The fact that the fluid is encysted is in favour of 
tuberculosis. 

I 



114 Diseases of the Digestive System 

Morbid Anatomy. — Fluid varying in quantity will be found in a few- 
cases ; it may be clear or cloudy serum or pus, in which latter case it is 
usually localised ; it is not uncommon, on separating the intestines, to find 
small local collections of pus. Tubercles and lymph are usually present on 
the great omentum and mesentery, matting the intestines together, also 
between the liver and diaphragm and around the spleen ; where there is no- 
large collection of fluid, the adhesions are frequently very extensive ; the in- 
testines and stomach may be adherent to the abdominal wall, so that on 
opening the abdomen, the intestines are frequently cut into. The intes- 
tines, mesentery, great omentum, liver and spleen maybe so matted together,, 
partly by lymph, partly by fibroid adhesions, that it may be impossible to> 
separate them. The intestines may be so adherent and bound down as 
to form bends and kinks that it is impossible to unravel. Cheesy mesenteric 
glands and tubercular ulcers will very likely be present. 

Treatment. — Any pain and tenderness in the abdomen in a child with 
tubercular tendencies should excite apprehension and never be neglected- 
Rest in bed should be enjoined, and a diet consisting of beef-tea and milk 
should be given. The pain may be relieved by applications of belladonna 
and glycerine covered with cotton wool, or by fomentations. The bowels 
should be relieved by enemata and laxatives rather than purgatives. In 
the chronic stages, when the abdomen contains fluid or there is evidence of 
thickened and indurated omentum or cheesy masses, mercurial applications 
may be used. An ointment of yellow oxide of mercury (20 grains to the 
oz.), with an equal quantity of ung. belladonnas, may be used, with cotton 
wool to cover it. Tonics and cod-liver oil emulsion should be given. 
Chronic purulent peritonitis, whether tubercular or not, should be treated 
by incision and drainage, if the child's health is failing ; and there is good- 
evidence to show that not only may temporary relief be thus given, but 
long lasting, if not permanent, recovery may take place as the result of in- 
cision. Even where the fluid is not purulent in obstinate cases drainage is 
of service ; it appears to cause adhesions and thus to prevent the re-collection 
of fluid, while at the same time cicatrisation takes place. We have little 
doubt that, in all cases of tubercular peritonitis in which there is any con- 
siderable collection of fluid, whether purulent, or as it may be, quite clear, 
the abdomen should be opened and drained as soon as it is evident that in. 
spite of treatment no improvement is taking place. We have successfully 
employed this method, and are impressed with its value. 

Iliac Abscess. — The occurrence of iliac abscess, right or left, is fre- 
quent in children, and the various causes of such mischief should be borne in 
mind ; the principal ones, some of which have been already mentioned, are 
caries of the spine, tubercular disease of the mesenteric glands — in this case 
the abscess is more often umbilical — disease of the hip, innominate bones, or 
sacro-iliac joint, perinephritic abscess, rare in children, and the still rarer 
cases of hydatid cysts. Empyemata, superficial abscesses and abscesses 
the result of injury, ' simple psoitis,' &c, are to be thought of in addition to 
those already described as resulting from irritation of the caecum or appendix. 
But besides all these, it is common to find iliac abscesses the cause of which 
remains obscure, and we are satisfied that in many of these cases the suppu- 
ration is simply due to inflammation of lumbar, iliac, or pelvic lymphatic 



Intussusception 1 1 5 

glands, just as cervical abscesses occur from irritation of the glands of the 
neck. The source of irritation is often doubtful, but is sometimes due to the 
presence of worms or other irritating matters in the bowels ; sometimes to ex- 
tension from the more superficial lymph glands. The diagnosis can usually 
be made by careful exclusion and by the history ; rectal examination is often 
of much value, by enabling the extent and position of the abscess to be 
made out, as well as sometimes by revealing a source of irritation. These 
abscesses should be opened antiseptically and drained in the usual way : it 
will often be found that they extend for long distances upwards or down- 
wards into the pelvis. The limb on the affected side should be steadied by 
a splint or by extension. The prognosis is good provided no permanent 
source of suppuration be present. Every case that we have seen has re- 
covered, and we believe this is largely due to early opening of the abscesses. 1 

Acute Obstruction to the Bowels. — Children occasionally suffer from 
acute obstruction caused by twists in the bowel, constricting bands, impac- 
tion of foreign bodies, and internal hernia ; by far the most frequent cause: 
is, however, an intussusception. 

Intussusception. — The commonest cause of obstruction of the bowels in 
infants is the presence of an invagination of the bowel. Many reasons have 
been given for this somewhat frequent accident. There is no doubt that 
one cause is to be found in the great reflex irritability of the muscular coat 
of the infant's bowel ; vigorous peristalsis is easily set up, and moreover, the 
intestinal walls being thinner during infancy then in later life, an invagina- 
tion of one portion of the gut into a lower portion more readily takes place. 
This is seen in the post-mortem invaginations so often found : the act of 
dying seems to stimulate the peristalsis of the bowels, and it is no uncommon 
thing to find on the post-mortem table many invaginations in the ileum an 
inch or two in length. In some cases an accident, such as falling out of bed, or 
some rapid movement up and down in the parent's or nurse's arms, has pre- 
ceded symptoms of an intussusception, and it is possible that a sudden, 
movement might cause a toneless piece of gut to become invaginated. It 
must also not be forgotten that the infant's intestines, especially the caecum and. 
colon, are more movable than those of an adult, having a wider mesentery, and 
consequently one piece of bowel is more easily dragged into another portion. 

The exciting cause of intussusception is occasionally found to be a 
polypus, or an inflammatory thickening of the caecum, or some hardened 
nodule of faecal matter which adheres to the wall of the gut and sets up- 
local peristalsis. We have met with a case related below in which possibly 
a local peritonitis causing thickening of the bowel was the immediate cause: 
of the invagination. 

With regard to the frequency of intussusceptions at different ages, it 
has been stated by Pilz that, out of 293 cases, 153 were in their first year, and> 
of these 98 were from 4 to 6 months of age. According to Leichenstern, out 
of 122 cases, 73 were under a year old, and 49 from one to five years of age. 
It is certainly the common experience that the majority of cases occur in 
infants under a year, andthat from 4 to 6 months of age is a very common time. 

1 For details of some of these cases we may refer to a paper in the Arch, of Pediatrics* 
vol. i. 1884, and to the Children's Hospital Abstracts ; also Lancet, February 1891. 



1 1 6 Diseases of the Digestive System 

In at least three-fourths of the cases in infants the invagination is ileo- 
cecal, in the minority of cases it is ileum into ileum or colon into colon. In 
the ileo-csecal variety the ileum enters the caecum, not through the ileo-caecal 
valve, but the caecal valves are pushed before it, so that the valves them- 
selves occupy the lowest part, and as it travels downwards, more and more 
of the ileum enters, dragging its mesentery along with it and forming the 
inner tube, while the middle layer is formed by the inverted caecum and 
colon, the colon also forming the outer layer. The layers of an intussus- 
ception therefore consist of (i) an outer layer of intestine into which the 
invagination takes place, the peritoneal coat being external and the mucous 
membrane internal ; (2) a middle layer continuous with the outer layer at its 
upper end, but turned inside out so that the mucous membrane is external 

and the peritoneum internal ; (3) an 
internal layer formed by the intestine 
entering the outer layer with its me- 
sentery and vessels, and which becom- 
ing nipped as it travels downwards 
forms the stoppage. In consequence 
of the mesentery becoming dragged in, 
the included intestine does not lie in 
the centre of the containing gut, but is 
more or less tilted to one side. As a 
result of the invagination, the inner 
and middle layers become congested 
and cedematous and of a dark-red 
colour ; blood is extravasated from the 
FiK.i4.-Ueo-c*cai intussusception, a, ileum conD - es ted mucous membrane and is 

(the Intussusceptum) ; b, cut edge of window & 

in colon made to show the middle layer ; passed per rectum. In Some Cases, 

c, colon (the Intussuscipiens.) ^^ . g thrQwn ^ by ^ ^^ gur _ 

faces and a local or general peritonitis takes place. In a few cases, more 
particularly in the ileum into ileum variety, sloughing may take place and 
the invaginated bowel be separated and passed per rectum, while faeces may 
be extravasated or recovery take place by a process of cicatrisation. The 
extent to which life is threatened depends very largely upon the tightness 
with which the bowel is nipped and the circulation of blood obstructed, and 
this appears to vary to a considerable extent, so that death may ensue in a 
few hours with the symptoms of collapse, or, especially in elder children, 
where the bowel is only partially obstructed and the circulation of blood 
through it but slightly interfered with, the course may be chronic, going on 
for weeks or even months. 

Symptoms. — An infant of a few months, who may very probably have 
suffered for a few days from symptoms of bowel irritation, suddenly begins 
to kick and scream as if in violent pain which nothing appears to relieve. It 
soon begins to vomit continuously, and strain as if it wanted to pass a stool, 
but nothing escapes but a little blood and mucus. In the intervals between 
the attacks of vomiting and colic, the infant may be tolerably quiet, but it is 
usually restless and moaning as if in pain. An examination of the abdomen 
shows it to be moderately distended and resistent, though in some cases we 
have noticed it to be flaccid, and on careful palpation in the course of the 




Intussusception 1 1 7 

transverse colon, an inch or so above the umbilicus and towards the left 
hypochondriac region, an elongated tumour may be felt, which is movable, 
and, as a rule, not acutely tender. There may be also a feeling of want of 
resistance in the right lumbar region from the absence of the caecum and 
ascending colon. In very fat infants it may be impossible to detect such a 
tumour. We must not, however, forget that if an early examination be made 
no tumour may be felt, inasmuch as the invaginated portion of ileum may 
only have passed two or three inches into the caecum and lie too deeply to 
be felt. If it travels as far as the splenic flexure of the colon, it is tolerably 
certain to be felt. In some cases, as in one related below, no tumour was 
felt after forty-eight hours. The rectum should be next carefully explored 
with the finger, and the presence of a tumour there, which is pressed down 
when the child strains, while the withdrawn finger is covered with blood, would 
establish the diagnosis. The position of the tumour necessarily varies ac- 
cording to the length of the included gut ; but inasmuch as the colon is 
nearest the abdominal wall where it crosses the upper part of the umbilical 
region, if this part is involved, as it usually is, the tumour will be most readily 
felt here. The temperature is mostly normal or subnormal, unless there is 
peritonitis, when it may be raised a degree or two. The tumour is usually 
not acutely tender, but if the case be an acute one, or in other words, if the 
included gut be tightly jammed and its vessels strangulated, the child may 
scream on its being pressed. If the case continues unrelieved, the vomiting, 
straining, and distress continue, the child wears an anxious, pinched expres- 
sion, with sunken eyes, and dies with the symptoms of collapse. The period 
at which death takes place varies ; in infants it may be within twenty-four 
hours, more often from the third to the fifth day. 

While the above description applies to the majority of cases, it must be 
borne in mind that the symptoms are at times far less well marked, so that 
the presence of an intussusception may be overlooked ; there may be perhaps 
vomiting, colicky pains, and mucoid stools, the infant dying in convulsions. On 
the other hand, it is possible that an invagination may occur, and fortunately 
right itself before it becomes tightly impacted. 

In older children, when the ileum into ileum variety occurs, the obstruc- 
tion is mostly complete and the symptoms are those of strangulated hernia, 
or constriction of a knuckle of bowel by a fibrous band. The onset is sudden, 
the contents of the stomach being first vomited, then the intestinal contents, 
and finally, the vomit has a distinctly fecal odour ; neither wind nor feces 
are passed per rectum, but in some instances small quantities of mucus 
and blood. The abdominal pain is usually of an intermittent and colicky 
character : the abdomen is rounded but not tender, at least in the early stages. 
In this case a tumour is not likely to be felt through the abdominal wall, in- 
asmuch as the lower end of the ileum, which is usually involved, lies deeply 
and is probably covered by distended intestine ; though in one case re- 
ported by Hertzka, where the tumour was supposed to be due to an ileum 
invagination, a swelling was felt in the region of the navel which was three 
inches long, movable and tender ; the child recovered. In these cases no 
rectal tumour is present. 

When an ileo-caecal intussusception occurs in older children, the course 
is usually more chronic, and the symptoms less acute. There are attacks of 



-1 1 8 Diseases of the Digestive System 

colic and vomiting with obstruction of the bowels, though the latter is not 
always complete, as there may be slimy stools passed with or without blood. 
An elongated tumour is mostly felt in the usual position, lying across the ab- 
domen immediately above the umbilicus. If strangulation does not occur, the 
case may go on for weeks or months. The cause of the obstruction in such 
cases is apt to be overlooked, as the obstruction to the passage of fasces is 
not complete, and the symptoms not acute, and the tumour felt closely re- 
sembles distention of the large bowel with hard faeces. 

Morbid Anatomy.— On making a post-mortem examination, care must 
be taken to distinguish between an intussusception which has taken place 
during life and given rise to the symptoms noted, and an intussusception 
which is post mortem and caused by the irregular yet vigorous peristalsis 
of the bowels which may take place during the act of dying or after death. 
In the latter case the invagination involves the ileum, or, at any rate, the 
small gut, and there are often several of them. They are rarely more than 
an inch or two in length, are readily pulled out by gentle traction, and while 
a ring of congestion may be seen near the seat of constriction, or where the 
gut has been doubled on itself, there is no oedema or marked congestion or 
effused lymph. A post-mortem invagination does not completely occlude 
the passage of the gut. In the examination in a case of the ileo-caecal 
variety which has become strangulated, an elongated mass, dark red in 
colour, is seen lying in the course of the transverse colon, continuous with it 
at its lower end, while the ileum with its mesentery is seen to enter at its 
upper end ; the ascending colon and caecum will have disappeared. In 
most cases the contained gut cannot be withdrawn without tearing, as it has 
become rotten from gangrene. Its passage will, in an acute case, be com- 
pletely occluded, partly on account of the cedematous and congested two 
inner layers, partly by reason of the tilting on one side of the inner gut 
through the dragging in of its mesentery. Lymph may be found effused 
between the two peritoneal surfaces, gluing them together, and there may be 
evidence of a more general peritonitis. 

In chronic cases less congestion is seen, the bowel probably is not entirely 
obstructed, and the bowel above is generally hypertrophied and its mucous 
membrane in a condition of ulceration. 

Diagnosis. — The diagnosis in an acute case in an infant is not likely to 
give rise to difficulty, inasmuch as the sudden attack of vomiting, with pain, 
straining, and the passage of blood and mucus from the bowel, and the dis- 
covery of an elongated tumour through the abdominal wall or per rectum, 
make the case tolerably clear. We may be more in doubt if with the above 
symptoms no tumour can be felt ; but we must bear in mind that a short 
ileo-caecal invagination may be present and lie too deeply in the right lumbar 
region to be felt. But the question of the presence of an intussusception 
sometimes arises in infants who are suffering from symptoms of obstruction 
to the bowels of an uncertain origin, possibly with a certain amount of 
thickening or resistance in the right iliac fossa, which may be due to the 
impaction of faeces in the caecum or to an invagination. In all such cases, as 
long as any doubt exists purgatives should be avoided, and small doses of 
.opium given to allay the pain and straining. If there is pain on deep pres- 
sure, it is better to avoid enemata, trusting rather to narcotics. In older 



hitussusception \\ty 

-children the error may be made of mistaking an ileo-colitis for an invagina- 
tion of the bowel and vice versa (see Ileo-colitis), or obstruction of the bowels 
from other causes may be taken for intussusception. 

Treatment. — The treatment which is to be adopted must necessarily 
vary according to the acuteness of the case and the time the symptoms have 
lasted, for if the bowel has passed into a gangrenous condition it is obvious 
that only harm can be done by mechanical treatment, which might have been 
of the greatest service in an earlier stage. The question to ask oneself before 
•commencing treatment is, what is the state of the invagination ? is the gut 
tightly jammed ? is it gangrenous ? Unfortunately these questions are very 
difficult to answer, inasmuch as in some cases the inner layer of bowel 
becomes tightly impacted from the first, and no amount of force applied by 
distending the bowel per rectum will replace it, while in other cases 
success has attended inflation of the lower bowel with air several days or 
even a week after the onset of symptoms. Thus in a child ] aged 7 months, 
under the care of Dr. J. S. Bury, injections of oil and afterwards of air were 
employed fourteen hours from the commencement, but failed to reduce the 
invagination, the infant dying twelve hours later, within twenty-six hours of 
the onset ; at the post-mortem ' reduction was quite impossible without 
tearing the gut ; '. there was some lymph effused locally. In this case, by the 
-end of twenty-four hours, the bowel was tightly strangulated and neither in- 
jections nor abdominal section could have been of any use. Such a case is no 
doubt exceptional, and it would probably have ended fatally under any cir- 
cumstances unless mechanical replacement could have been undertaken, or 
laparotomy performed within a very short time of the seizure. By the time 
the invaginated portion of bowel has travelled along the colon as far as the 
rectum, the collapse produced, especially in a small infant, is very great, and 
the difficulties in the way of replacement are necessarily much greater than 
if only a few inches of bowel are involved. But cases appear to differ very 
much in the amount of oedema and congestion taking place in the nipped 
bowel, and consequently in the difficulty of replacement. While some cases, 
such as the one just referred to, are acute and irreducible almost from the 
first, others are reported in which the intussusception was reducible some days 
.after the onset of symptoms ; in one case, reported by Dr. W. B. Cheadle, 2 in 
a boy aged 5^ years, the invagination was successfully reduced by massage and 
the injection of air on the seventh day from the onset. In another case, re- 
ported by F. H. Elliott, 3 in an infant of 8 months, attempts at intervals to reduce 
the invagination were at first only partially successful, but finally succeeded. 

As soon, then, as the existence of acute intussusception has been ascer- 
tained, it becomes necessary to decide without delay whether the patient 
shall be left to nature, or whether mechanical means shall be employed to 
•overcome a mechanical obstruction. 

Recoveries after spontaneous reduction and after sloughing have been 
recorded, but they are so rare that waiting for a natural cure means practically 
-abandoning the child to almost certain death.- It is then clear that some 

1 Medical Times, Feb. 19, 1881. 

2 Lancet, Oct. 23, 1886. 5 La?icet, Jan. 8, 1887. 

4 Even if recovery by sloughing takes place, the risk of subsequent stricture has to be 
considered. 



1,20 Diseases of the Digestive System 

attempt at reduction should be made, and we have the following plans at 
our disposal for this purpose, (i.) Inversion of the child, combined with 
external taxis or succussion. The child is held up by the legs with the head- 
downwards, and an attempt made to draw the contents of the abdomen to 
the upper part of the abdominal cavity by kneading and stroking with the 
hands through the abdominal wall, or by sudden shaking movements of the 
child an attempt is made to dislodge the intussusception. It is clear that this 
plan can only be expected to succeed when the intussusception is small in 
extent and recent in formation ; it is in such cases worth a trial since it is- 
unattended with danger. Chloroform should be given during the manipu- 
lations. 

(2.) Distention of the bowel with fluid or air in the hope of pushing back 
the invagination. 1 If fluid injections are employed an enema tube fitted with 
an anal shield should be passed into the rectum and warm water or oil 
allowed to flow into the bowel from a vessel raised above the level of the 
patient's body. The amount thus injected must vary with the age of the 
child and the position of the intussusception ; from one to two pints is about 
the usual quantity, and a fall of from three to six feet is required. 

Inflation by air is best managed by passing the nozzle of an ordinary pair 
of bellows, fitted with a shield which may be readily extemporised, 2 into the 
rectum, and blowing air in till the tumour is felt to give way, or it is not safe 
to distend any further. In both these methods the abdomen should be care- 
fully watched and a hand kept on the intussusception tumour to feel for any 
change in its size or position. 

The following cases illustrate the success of these methods of treat- 
ment : — 

A fine healthy infant, 6 months old, was suddenly seized, on the evening of January 2 r 
with griping pains and tenesmus. It had been brought up on the breast, with a bottle 
or two a day of cow's milk. The mother was menstruating for the first time, and the 
infant was cutting two lower teeth. His mother gave him an enema with a small ball 
syringe, which brought away a large curdy stool. During the night he was very restless,, 
vomiting frequently, and straining constantly, and at 7 A.M. passed a bloody stool with 
mucus sufficient to saturate an ordinary napkin. We saw him, with Dr. E. H. Smith, 
of Knutsford, next morning, January 3, fifteen hours after the seizure. His face was 
placid, not drawn or distressed ; there was no fever ; the abdomen was flaccid and not 
distended, and could be easily palpated in every part. On deep pressure an elongated 
tumour was felt ; the left end was most distinct, and was situated in the left lumbar 
region, just below the ribs and near the tip of the spleen ; it could be traced from left to> 
right across the abdomen for two or three inches, its outline being gradually lost. It was- 
movable and not tender. No tumour could be felt in the right lumbar region or per 
rectum, but the finger, on being withdrawn, was covered with blood. We at once decided 
to reduce the invagination, which we believed to exist, by distending the colon by water 
pressure. The attempt proved a failure, as the water returned by the side of the catheter 
in the rectum without distending the colon to any great extent. We next tried the inflation 
of air, by means of an ordinary Higginson's syringe, the bone nozzle being inserted into- 
the rectum ; the pelvis was raised, and the tumour gently kneaded, while air was forced 
into the bowel by squeezing the ball of the syringe. After four or five squeezes the 
tension in the colon was felt to be considerable, then followed a gurgling noise, and the 

1 Vide Mortimer, Lancet, May 23, 1891, p. 1144, for an account of experiments upon* 
distension. 

- The nozzle of a Higginson's syringe is all that is required. 



Intussusception . 121 

tumour disappeared. We continued to pump more air in, in the hope that we might 
effect the complete reduction of the invagination. The infant seemed relieved, and went 
to sleep for some hours ; but towards evening the straining returned, and he spent a rest- 
less night. There was no vomiting ; he passed per rectum some flatus, blood-stained 
mucus, and a little curd. We saw him again next day, January 4. There was some dis- 
tress noticeable now on his face ; he had colicky pains at times ; there w r as no tumour to 
be felt. A minim of tr. opii was given, and the infant was placed in a warm bath for ten 
minutes. The colon was slowly distended with warm water by means of a Higginson's 
syringe, the infant being in an inverted position ; no immediate effect appeared to be 
produced. Three hours later another minim of tr. opii was given. An hour later, after 
another warm bath, he passed a copious yellow liquid stool. From this time he continued 
to improve, though for a few days he was griped at times and passed small quantities of 
blood and mucus in his stools. Small doses of opium were given for a few days. 

A healthy infant of 5 months, who was nursed at the breast for three months, and 
latterly fed on milk and water, was seized, in the evening of February 7, with vomiting 
and abdominal pain. He had been constipated for some time previously, and, for a day 
or two, more restless than usual. During the night he passed some blood per rectum. 
He continued much in the same state during February 8 and 9. We saw him with Dr. 
Massiah, of Didsbury, on the evening of the 9th. There was no distress visible on his 
face, but he was pale and weaker than usual. The abdomen was semi-distended and 
flaccid ; no tumour could be felt, though we were able to press deeply into the abdomen. 
He strained at times ; and the finger, introduced into the rectum, returned covered with 
dark decomposing blood. A minim of tr. opii was given, and he was put into a warm 
bath ; chloroform was given, and warm water injected per rectum by means of a Higgin- 
son's syringe. There was much straining and resistance at first, but this was gradually 
overcome. It was evident, on percussion, that the water reached the ascending colon and 
caecum. Having distended the bowel three times with the water, we resolved to wait and 
see the effect. After the last injection he vomited some stercoraceous fluid. Four hours 
afterwards he passed a liquid stool and made a good recovery. 

These plans are open to the objections, first, that there is distinct danger 
of over-distention and rupture of the bowel, as shown by the experiments of 
Bryant and others ; secondly, that they can only succeed where no adhesions 
have formed between the adjacent peritoneal surfaces ; and thirdly, that 
even if reduction does apparently take place it may be incomplete or invagi- 
nation may recur. A case of our own well illustrates this last fact. 

Harold T. , aged 7 months, was admitted into the Children's Hospital, May 30, 1887, 
with symptoms of acute intussusception of three days' duration. The invagination could 
be felt externally in the left iliac region, and internally per rectum. Under chloroform 
inflation was employed without success ; ten ounces of water were then injected through 
an india-rubber tube three feet long, with the result of causing disappearance of the tumour 
and increase of resistance previously deficient in the right iliac area. He slept quietly for 
some hours, and then began to scream again, and the intussusception reappeared. In- 
jection was again apparently successful, and the child spent a quiet night. The next 
afternoon the symptoms reappeared, but were once more relieved by injection. The next 
day the general condition was worse, and, as it was clear that no complete reduction had 
taken place, abdominal section was performed, the intussusception found and reduced ; 
the bowel was inflamed but not gangrenous, there were no adhesions, and the invagination 
was ileo-caecal. The child sank and died an hour later. 

(3.) Abdominal section may be performed and the obstruction relieved by 
more direct means. The section is best made in the median line below the 
umbilicus, the bladder having been previously emptied. As soon as the 
abdomen is opened the intussusception should be drawn to the surface and 
carefully examined. If the bowel is in good condition a careful attempt 



122 Diseases of the Digestive System 

should be made by gentle traction to withdraw the ' intussusceptum ;' 1 if this 
can be done and the bowel is not too much injured for recovery, it should be 
left to itself and the wound closed. 

In a case which we saw with Dr. Cox, of Eccles, his patient, a child of 8 weeks old, 
had symptoms of twelve hours' duration. With the help of Drs. J. J. and F. Cox and 
Hutton, an attempt was made to reduce the invagination by injection ; this partially suc- 
ceeded, f but a nodule could still be felt in the right hypochondrium. We therefore opened 
the abdomen and drew up this nodule, which consisted of the caecum with the small 
intestine entering it. At this point there had been evidently a previous local inflammation, 
•since the parts were much thickened and indurated, and the adjacent glands were enlarged. 
The intussusception had been reduced, and nothing more appeared necessary. The 
abdomen was closed, and the child got quite well. It, however, unfortunately died of 
pneumonia three or four weeks later. 

If the bowel, however, is too much injured to have a reasonable chance 
of recovery, or if the intussusception is irreducible, one of three courses must 
be followed — either the bowel must be opened above the tumour and an 
artificial anus made, the invagination being left to itself, or the intussus- 
ception must be resected and the two ends of the gut stitched together, or 
finally, after resection the two ends may be brought out of the wound and 
fixed to its edges, an artificial anus being made. The plan of leaving the 
-intussusception alone has no advantages, inasmuch as the injured bowel will 
almost certainly act as an irritant and set up peritonitis. The plan of resec- 
tion and suturing together the ends of the bowel, if successful, gives, of 
course, the most perfect result ; but it is open to the objection that it is long 
and tedious and the child is likely to die of exhaustion, and, further, there is 
great danger of leakage even after the most careful suturing. If this plan is 
adopted, it is probably wise to use Senn's method of lateral anastomosis, or 
Barker's plan of resection of the intussusceptum from within the gut. The 
TDest course then is to resect the tumour and fix both ends of the gut to the 
abdominal wound. Subsequently, i.e. after several weeks, should the child 
Tecover, an attempt may be made to restore the natural channel and close 
the artificial anus by the usual method. The ends of the bowel may either 
be dissected away from the edges of the wound and united to one another 
by sutures, or the ' spur' ('eperon') between them may be removed by the 
-enterotome and so the aperture closed, or the two ends may be united by 
Senn's or other method. This, though a less showy plan and one requiring 
more prolonged treatment, is far safer than the other method of immediate 
"anion after resection, though in a case where the child appeared well able to 
TDear the more severe operation, Senn's or Barker's plan would be quite justi- 
fiable. The utmost care in all cases must be taken to prevent escape of the 
intestinal contents into the peritoneal cavity ; this is managed by empty- 
ing the segment of gut dealt with before opening it and keeping it empty by 
pressure of an assistant's fingers or a clamp, such as a pair of forceps shielded 
with soft rubber and fixed very lightly on the bowel so as not to bruise it. 
All bloOd, &c, must be carefully cleaned out of the peritoneum, and most 
surgeons will prefer to use antiseptic measures. 

1 Reduction is sometimes best managed by squeezing the tumour and drawing the 
* intussuscipiens ' off the ' intussusceptum,' rather than by directly pulling out the invaginated 
gut. 



Chronic Obstruction of the Bozvels 123 

Given, then, a case of acute intussusception, inversion and injection 
should first be gently tried ; * should these means be successful as shown by 
the bowels acting, well and good ; if after injection the tumour disappears, it is 
well to wait for a few hours to see whether the bowels are relieved. If, however, 
the tumour does not disappear, or if, in spite of its disappearance, or of 
course in its absence from the first, the symptoms persist, immediate laparo- 
tomy with reduction of the invagination, if possible, should be performed, 
and if not reducible the tumour should be resected and dealt with by one of 
the methods mentioned. For further details, we must refer to the general 
text books or to Mr. Treves' work on Intestinal Obstruction. 

Chronic intussusception is exceedingly rare in children, except, perhaps, 
.as one form of so-called prolapse of the rectum, which is really intussusception 
•of the upper into the lower part of the bowel. A chronic invagination may, 
however, occur elsewhere ; its duration may be weeks or months ; Treves 
records a case of a year's standing and a doubtful one of many years' duration. 
We have had a child under the joint care of our colleague Dr. Hutton and 
ourselves in which a chronic intussusception of the ileo-caecal variety existed 
for a year, and which ultimately died of faecal extravasation from gangrene 
found at the time of abdominal section. The whole tumour was soft and 
pulpy, there was intermittent constipation, no vomiting, tenesmus, or bleed- 
ing, much distention with visible peristalsis at times, at others a flaccid 
abdomen ; no definite tumour was to be felt in the rectum or abdomen, and, 
in fact, the symptoms in this case, as in most of those on record, were very 
uncertain, and not at all characteristic of intussusception. Enterotomy or 
resection was the only thing that could have relieved this case, and if the 
symptoms were at all urgent we should recommend it in another case, reduc- 
tion of the invagination being quite impossible. The bowel in these cases 
sometimes sloughs away as in the acute form. In the simple rectal form 
the prolapse is usually reducible, and can be cured by rest, avoidance of 
straining, and, if necessary, the use of the cautery as in other cases. It is 
of the utmost importance that the motions should be passed in the recumbent 
position, and should be kept soft by doses of cod-liver oil or by olive-oil 
<enemata.' 2 Vide Rectal Prolapse. 

Chronic Obstruction of the Bowels. — Reference has already been made 
to the constipation of infants and older children, due to an atonic condition 
of the colon or a chronic intestinal catarrh ; but other causes of inactive bowels 
•exist which are attended with serious inconvenience, and even fatal results. 
There is reason to believe that occasionally fibrous bands, due to old, perhaps 
a fcetal peritonitis, mat together the coils of intestine, more especially the 
lower part of the ileum, and consequently check or interfere with the peri- 
staltic action of the bowels. It appears also that occasionally the sigmoid 
meso-colon and meso-rectum are shorter than usual, fixing the lower bowel, 
and perhaps more or less forming a kink at its natural curves, where hardened 
faeces may lodge and a temporary obstruction take place. A fatal case, 

1 If injection proves successful, the child should be kept under the influence of opium, 
and the pelvis raised above the level of the head. 

2 For further information Mr. Hutchinson's paper in the Med.-Chir. Trans. 1874 may 
t>e referred to, also Herz, Arch. f. Kinderheilk. , B. v. H. 9 and 10 ; the latter records six 
recoveries out of twenty cases of laparotomy at ages ranging from 14 days to 14 years. 



124 Diseases of the Digestive System 

which seems to have been due to this cause, is recorded by Dr. Eustace 
Smith, the patient being a boy of 8 years who died shortly after coming 
into hospital. Whatever may be the cause, cases not infrequently come 
under observation where the child has suffered from constipation all its life,. 
large accumulations of faeces taking place in the colon which have to be re- 
moved by enemata, and where the bowels, if left to themselves, only act once 
or twice a week. In some of such cases an enormously dilated colon has 
been found after death with superficial ulceration of its mucous membrane,, 
the cause of such dilatation being by no means clear. It must not be for- 
gotten also that a chronic intussusception may exist for many months, and 
give rise to the symptoms of chronic obstruction. A careful examination of 
the abdomen should be practised in order to ascertain the presence of a 
tumour, and to determine if possible its nature, whether due to collections of 
hardened faeces, matting of the omentum and intestines, as in chronic peri- 
tonitis, or to the presence of an invaginated bowel. An examination of the 
rectum should always be made. (See p. 117.) 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM — [continued). 

Tubercular Ulceration of Bowel and Mesenteric Disease. — In the 

majority of cases of children dying of tubercular disease, tubercular ulcers 
are present in the intestines, and the mesenteric glands are enlarged and 
* cheesy' on section. This association of ulceration of the intestines with 
cheesy mesenteric glands is so much the rule that it is impossible to separate 
the two clinically, and it must also be remembered that anatomically the 
solitary glands and Peyer's patches are lymphatic structures. The frequency 
with which these lesions complicate phthisis or general tuberculosis is shown 
by the fact that in 103 consecutive ftost-morte7ns made at the General 
Hospital for Sick Children, Manchester, on children of all ages dying of 
tuberculosis, in 62 there was tubercular ulceration of the intestines, in 71 
cheesy mesenteric glands, in 55 both ulcers and cheesy glands existed 
together, in 7 tubercular ulcers without cheesy glands, in 16 cheesy glands 
without ulcers. These numbers, as far as the frequency of tubercular ulcera- 
tion is concerned, do not overstate the fact, as it is far more likely that the 
presence of ulcers in the intestines, especially if they are small, should 
be overlooked, than their frequency overrated. These statistics also show 
the frequent association of ulceration of the intestines and disease of the 
mesenteric glands, though this association is not constant, and one may be 
found occasionally without the other. Ulceration may exist without the 
mesenteric glands joining in the process ; but there is a strong probability, 
amounting almost to certainty, that if extensive ulceration be present the 
glands will be found to be affected. On the other hand, it is certain that ulcera- 
tion is not the necessary precursor of mesenteric disease ; for just as a chronic 
catarrh of the nasal mucous membrane may in an unhealthy subject set up 
glandular enlargement and abscess, so a catarrh of the intestine, if long con- 
tinued, is exceedingly apt to give rise to mesenteric disease. Although" 
mesenteric disease is so commonly found in children dying with a wide- 
spread distribution of tubercle, it is by no means so common to find tuber- 
cular disease beginning with symptoms of tabes mesenterica, as is commonly 
believed, for in practice it is constantly found that infants and children who 
have habitually distended abdomens, with more or less wasting, are put down 
as suffering from ' consumption of bowels.' In the greater number of these 
cases there is no mesenteric disease, but a chronic and obstinate catarrh of 
the intestines which is perfectly remediable. Besides the very frequent 
association of ulceration and mesenteric disease, chronic tubercular perito- 
nitis is a frequent complication. 



126 Diseases of the Digestive System 

Infants and children of all ages suffer from tuberculosis of the intestines 
and glands, but it is perhaps less common before the age of one year than 
afterwards. The common cause of marasmus in infants is a gastro-intestinal 
atrophy rather than tubercular disease, such infants succumbing before the 
tubercular process is set up, though in some cases cheesy glands may be 
found. It has just been noted that in at least 70 per cent, of cases dying of 
tuberculosis, disease of the mesenteric glands was present, and in rather 
more than 55 per cent, tubercular ulceration was associated with it ; it is of 
some interest and importance to inquire in how many of these cases was the- 
tuberculosis of the intestine and glands primary, and the tubercular lesions, 
elsewhere secondary ; and in how many instances the tubercular disease began, 
with abdominal symptoms. A primary tuberculosis of the intestine is sug- 
gestive of infection by means of tubercular bacilli taken in food, as, for 
instance, in the mother's milk or that of a foster-nurse, or the milk from a 
tuberculous cow. Direct experiments in feeding young animals with tuber- 
culous material, or milk from consumptive cows, have demonstrated the 
possibility of a direct infection taking place, though there have been many 
experiments with negative results. 

Of the 103 fatal cases of tuberculosis referred to above, in 13 or about 
12 per cent, the early symptoms were referable to the abdomen ; in a few of 
the cases, symptoms of lung mischief were absent during life, and the lungs 
were found free from tubercle, or only slightly affected ; in the majority of 
cases the physical signs and symptoms pointed during life to lung compli- 
cations, which supervened sooner or later, and at the post-mortem more or 
less extensive pulmonary lesions were found, though in some instances these 
only supervened during the last few weeks or months of life. Tubercular 
ulcers are most frequently found in the ileum, and in the large bowel, especi- 
ally in the caecum. In chronic cases they may be very extensive, with muck 
matting together of different- coils of intestine, and of the omentum by peri- 
tonitis. The walls of the caecum are often much thickened. The ulcers, if 
recent, are sharply punched out ; if chronic, their edges are thickened and 
irregular, mostly running across the gut. The mesenteric glands when 
affected are enlarged and cheesy ; sometimes a few, at other times nearly all 
the glands seem to have undergone cheesy changes ; occasionally suppura- 
tion takes place. The ulcers may cicatrise, and by puckering the gut give 
rise to some obstruction to the passage of the intestinal contents, especially 
in the large bowel or at the caecum. 

Symptoms. — If a child of over two years of age suffers from a chronic 
looseness of the bowels, with wasting and hectic, there is a strong probability 
that it suffers from abdominal tuberculosis. This probability passes more or 
less into a certainty if it comes of a tubercular stock and presents the usual 
tubercular aspect, such as marked pallor, long curved eyelashes, and excessive 
growth of fine downy hair upon the skin. The abdomen is usually more or 
less distended with gas, the superficial veins are enlarged, there may be 
tenderness on deep pressure, and perhaps some thickening may be felt over 
the caecum, or some matting of the omentum. The symptoms are often 
varied according as ulceration of the bowels, mesenteric disease, or chronic 
peritonitis is extensively present. In most cases of tubercular ulceration 
there is troublesome diarrhoea, though it must be borne in mind that this 



Tubercular Ulceration of Bowels 127 

diarrhoea in many cases completely stops for a while, or, indeed, may be 
absent from first to last. There is no special feature about the diarrhoea of 
tubercular disease ; there is a general tendency to looseness, and colic may- 
come on after errors in diet, or directly after food is taken, or may appear tO' 
be the result of cold. The stools are mostly liquid brown or yellow with an 
excessive quantity of mucus and perhaps streaks of blood, but too much 
stress must not be laid upon the character of the stools. The tongue is 
usually clean and red, with enlarged and congested fungiform papillae. It is 
of course necessary to carefully examine the lungs in all such cases, as any 
confirmatory evidence of tuberculosis there would be of great importance 
from a diagnostic point of view. The course of such cases is often chronic, 
and they often greatly improve for a while, probably on account of the intes- 
tinal catarrh which is present undergoing improvement, or the ulcers may 
slowly cicatrise and heal. On the other hand, there is a constant risk of a 
tubercular meningitis supervening, or some acute lung trouble carrying them 
off. Sooner or later, however, the diarrhoea, wasting, and hectic reappear,, 
the child becomes more and more pallid, the abdomen more distended, the 
feet swollen, and the face puffy. The diarrhoea at the last is often constant,, 
and the desire to go to stool, only a little mucus or liquid faeces passing, 
is very distressing and not easily relieved. The emaciation at the last is 
often extreme. When symptoms of abdominal tuberculosis follow on those 
of chronic tuberculosis of the lungs, the diagnosis is not difficult, and a more 
rapid course may be predicted. When the tuberculosis of the intestines 
is primary and uncomplicated with other trouble, the course may be very 
chronic, extending over several years, improvement taking place from time 
to time. 

In those cases where the mesenteric glands are chiefly affected the 
symptoms are still less definite, though this, as has been pointed out, is not 
often the case, as varying degrees of tubercular ulceration of the intestines 
and chronic cicatrising peritonitis are apt to be present. The symptoms are 
usually those of chronic intestinal catarrh, perhaps without marked diarrhoea, 
with wasting and hectic. It must be remembered that a distended abdomen 
which is chronically in this condition, with some wasting and an evening- 
exacerbation of temperature, does not necessarily mean mesenteric disease,, 
any more than the signs of a chronic pneumonia are necessarily to be inter- 
preted as the signs of tubercle ; we only infer in both cases that tuber- 
culosis exists if we get confirmatory evidence elsewhere. A history of 
tubercle in the family, the steady progress of the disease, wasting, great 
pallor and hectic, would help the diagnosis. The supposed large glands 
should be carefully felt for, taking care not to mistake faeces in the large 
bowel or indurations of the mesentery or caecum for enlarged glands. The 
fingers should be laid on the abdomen below the umbilicus and pushed well 
in, and gently moved about ; the mesenteric glands lie deeply, can rarely be 
distinctly felt, they are movable, and of size varying from hazel nuts to 
walnuts. If the abdomen is distended with gas, even large groups of glands 
may exist, and yet not be felt. An early diagnosis is rarely possible by dis- 
covery of enlarged glands ; it is only towards the close that they can usually 
be felt, when the tonus of the abdominal muscles is diminished and the 
intestines more or less collapsed. 



128 Diseases of the Digestive System 

Diag7iosis. — A child with a temperature raised a few degrees at night, 
with distended abdomen, chronic diarrhoea, and which resists treatment, and 
which has produced wasting and marked pallor, is probably the subject of 
tubercular ulceration of the intestines. If, at the same time, local indura- 
tions can be felt in the region of the caecum or in other places, or if there are 
signs of tubercular disease in the lungs, the diagnosis becomes still more 
probable. Moreover, the diarrhoea probably persists in spite of liquid diet, 
rest in bed, and astringents, and is only temporarily kept in check by opium. 
Mesenteric disease is much more frequently diagnosed than discovered/^/ 
mortem. A progressive wasting due to chronic intestinal catarrh or gastro- 
intestinal atrophy is frequently attributed to caseous degeneration of the 
mesenteric glands, and a fatal termination is looked upon as inevitable. It 
is well, however, to bear in mind that mesenteric disease is uncommon before 
eighteen months or two years of age, and, moreover, great wasting may be 
due to intestinal catarrh without mesenteric disease. It is but seldom that 
enlarged glands can be felt ; the diagnosis mainly depends upon the signs 
of tubercle elsewhere in the body and upon the family history. If there has 
been much diarrhoea, hectic, and symptoms of chronic peritonitis, followed 
by extreme wasting, there is good reason to suspect mesenteric disease. 

Treatment. — The treatment of tubercular ulceration and mesenteric disease 
is the treatment of tuberculosis in general. Fresh air and careful dieting 
are all-important. The special treatment consists in keeping the diarrhoea 
in check, while nourishing food easy of assimilation is being supplied to 
the patient. The class of foods must be selected from those which contain 
much nutriment in little bulk, such as eggs, fish, meat, fats, milk, rather 
than foods containing large quantities of starch and sugar. If there is but 
little diarrhoea, milk may be allowed in moderate quantities, but the amount 
taken must not be excessive if much looseness of the bowels exists, as too 
much fluid taken is apt to aggravate the diarrhoea. In all stages of the 
disease minced underdone meat, whether chicken, beef, or mutton chop, is 
of great value. The child's portion may be taken from red juicy meat found 
close to the bone in a large joint of roast beef. It should be finely minced, 
being cut as fine as it is possible to cut it, and gravy being poured over 
it before it is taken. Of this, large quantities will be taken readily by the 
children, some crumbs of stale bread being given with it ; but even small 
quantities of starch are apt to disagree and give rise to flatulence. An egg or 
part of an egg beaten up in milk may be given once or twice a day. The 
diarrhoea is best kept in check by careful dieting, avoidance of more food 
than the child can digest, and if excessive, the food for a while must consist 
almost entirely of pounded underdone meat or meat juice. Small doses of 
opium combined with mercury and chalk may be given. (F. 19, 20.) 

In the later stages small enemata of laudanum and starch may be required, 
but too often the diarrhoea is quite uncontrollable. Opium fomentations are 
useful. If the diarrhoea is due to the presence of indigestible food, laxatives 
such as a powder containing rhubarb and soda should be given. Cod-liver 
oil, either as an emulsion or in combination with other tonics, is useful in all 
stages except when the diarrhoea is excessive. (F. 21.) 

Congenital Obstruction of the Bowels. — It is not an uncommon cir- 
cumstance for a newly born infant to suffer from complete obstruction of 



Obstruction of the Bowels 129 

the bowels ; passing no meconium may be normal through the rectum, and 
shortly after being put to the breast commencing to vomit, first milk, then bile, 
and finally meconium. In the meantime the abdomen becomes distended, 
the face pinched, and the infant dies in a few hours, or perhaps lingers for 
a few days. At the post-mortem various obstructive lesions may be found. 
There may be a stenosis of the duodenum, jejunum, or more frequently the 
ileum, the gut perhaps being narrowed or even reduced to a mere band of 
fibroid tissue which runs along the free edge of the mesentery for perhaps 
several inches, and opens out again into normal bowel lower down ; this 
•cicatrisation of a portion of bowel may have been produced by a fcetal peri- 
tonitis, or it is the result of a mal-development. In the following case it was 
.apparently the latter : — 

Congenital Occlusion of the Duodenum (Dr. T. B. Grimsdale's Case). — The mother 
was a healthy woman who had had five children previously. The first was stillborn ; the 
four others all suffered from symptoms of obstruction and died on the third day after 
birth. The sixth child appeared healthy and well nourished at birth, and for the first two 
days seemed quite well. For the last two days it was a peculiar colour — a sort of orange 
purple tint. It only vomited once shortly before death ; it was convulsed before death. 
At the autopsy the stomach and upper part of the duodenum were distended with fluid ; 
the duodenum was found to terminate in a cul-de-sac about two inches from the pylorus. 
The rest of the intestines were well formed though small ; the bile duct opened into the 
duodenum below the obstruction. 

In the following singular case there was an obstruction of the jejunum, 
presumably due to a fcetal peritonitis and possibly some chronic inflammatory 
lesions after birth : — 

Congenital Obstruction of the Jejunum. Dilated Stomach and Duodenum. — W. M. , 
aged 15 years, seen with Mr. C. R. Graham, of Wigan. His mother gave the following 
history : He was nursed at the breast for some months, and during this time he was sub- 
ject to periodical attacks of severe vomiting ; these attacks were much more severe than 
infants are usually subject to. The vomiting began immediately after birth ; the vomited 
matters consisted of curd and bile. These attacks of vomiting have occurred at intervals 
of a week or two all his life. On more than one occasion the attacks have been so severe 
and long continued that his life was despaired of. He has vomited as much as six to 
eight pints in one night. He went, on one occasion, a voyage to the Mediterranean, but 
had to be landed on the first opportunity, as the constant vomiting had so exhausted him 
that his life was in danger. Sometimes he would suffer from colic and nausea but did not 
vomit. Errors of diet, excitement, or worry, all seemed to excite an attack. A physical 
examination showed a dilated stomach ; the abdomen was also more or less distended. 
The symptoms and physical examination pointed to a dilated stomach, secondary to some 
congenital obstruction in the upper part of the bowels. The vomiting attacks continued 
during the next four years, up to the time of his death, when he was nineteen years old. 
We are indebted for details of his last illness to Dr. Sutcliffe, of Jersey, where he died. 
He seemed in his usual health on December 6, 1890, and joined in a game of football. 
The same evening he had one of his usual vomiting attacks, which was more severe 
than usual, and Dr. Sutcliffe was sent for. When seen on December 8, he was evidently 
suffering from acute obstruction of the bowels : the vomiting was continuous, and nothing 
was passed per rectum. There was intense collapse. Death took place on the fourth day 
of his illness. Post-morte7n made by Mr. Graham and ourselves : — The body was that of 
a well-grown youth, but thin. On opening the abdomen the small intestines were seen to 
be intensely congested and of a dark purple colour ; there was some lymph on the surface ; 
the parietal layer of the peritoneum was much injected. The whole of the small intestines 
were evidently strangulated, there being a complete volvulus ; the last foot or so of the 
ileum was wound two or three times round the upper part of the jejunum, the latter being 

K 



1 30 Diseases of the Digestive System 

twisted on itself, so that the jejunum, mesentery, and blood-vessels were strangulated ; the 
caecum was dragged upwards out of its place. The immediate cause of death was the 
volvulus, probably the result of severe vomiting. A further examination showed the cause 
of his vomiting attacks. The stomach and duodenum were immensely dilated and hyper- 
trophied, the duodenum looking like a second stomach ; at the junction of the duodenum 
with the jejunum, the gut was bound down and surrounded by fibroid adhesions for some 
six inches, and one spot was contracted so as only to admit the fore-finger. The fibroid 
mattings were presumably the result of some inflammatory lesion taking place before 
birth. 

In a few cases a twist in the lower end of the ileum has been found. In 
rare instances, a new growth or hernia has occurred, or a knuckle of bowel 
has been found tied up by some band or persistent omphalo-mesenteric duct 

Obstruction of the bowels in infants a few weeks or months old may be 
due to a congenital lesion which has caused a partial obstruction which is 
rendered complete by the impaction of hard curdy feculent matters. 

In all cases of vomiting with signs of obstruction of the bowels, a care- 
ful examination of the anus and rectum should be made. 

Imperforate Anus. — The lower segment of the large intestine, including 
the sigmoid flexure and rectum, is very liable to important malformations. 

In the first place there may be mere malposition, the sigmoid flexure de- 
scending on the right side or in the middle line instead of on the left ; this 
would not necessarily give rise to any inconvenience during health, and 
would be mainly of importance should there be any disease of the bowel in 
later life. 

The more immediately important conditions are the various forms of 
obstruction of the lower bowel from want of development of some part of it, 
or the presence of abnormal openings from imperfect differentiation of the 
digestive and genito-urinary segments of the cloaca. 

Several varieties of malformation are found. There may be a well-formed 
anus, but communication between this and the rectum may be cut off by the 
presence merely of a membrane which has persisted from the time when the 
epiblastic involution dipped in to meet the intestine. {Imperforate rectum.} 
Sometimes the rectum itself is deficient altogether or for a varying distance, 
the anus also being undeveloped. In other instances the rectum is well 
formed, but the anus is absent. {Imperforate anus.) In these varieties there 
is no external opening at all, and the meconium is retained. Sometimes 
the anus is undeveloped, and the rectum, instead of ending blindly, opens 
into the anterior or genito-urinary segment, i.e. into the urethra or bladder,, 
or much more commonly in the female, into the vestibule ; l this last is the 
most common variety of abnormal orifice in those children that survive 
infancy. 

Occasionally a 'tablike fold of skin' passing from the scrotum to the 
coccyx obstructs but does not close the anus (Cripps). Edge has recorded a 
more complete case where the anus was double and the rectum imperforate. 

1 Not into the vagina, as is commonly stated ; the vaginal orifice in these cases is nearly 
always in our experience seen in front of the rectal outlet. We have only once met with a 
case of the rectum opening into the vagina itself; this was in a child kindly sent us by Dr. 
Cullingworth, who thinks it not an uncommon condition. Bodenhamer, out of 287 cases, 
found 85 opening into the vulva or urinary tract, while in 53 there was no anus and the 
rectum ended blindly ; these are the two most common types. 



Imperforate Anus 131 

"We have met with a case where a single anus led up to a double gut above. 
Rarely there is an unnatural anus in the groin or in communication with the 
bladder, or, as in a case of Erichsen's, a fistula below the umbilicus : scrotal,, 
penile, and perineal fistulas have also been met with as well as congenital- 
stricture of the rectum which was not actually imperforate. (Vide Prolapsus 
Recti.) As a less important condition mere tightness of the anus may also- 
occur. 

When the anus is present, but there is no communication with the bowel, 
the malformation is often overlooked at first, and it is thought that the infant is 
simply constipated ; in such cases purgatives are often given and the child's 
distress much increased. Constant crying, distention of the abdomen with 
visible intestinal coils, and subsequently vomiting and collapse come on, and. 
unless an examination with the finger is made and the obstruction discovered 
the child dies exhausted. On examination it will be found that the finger 
can only be passed a very short distance ; if the rectum is developed and 
there is only a membranous septum, the bulging of the gut as the child 
strains will be plainly felt, but should the bowel end higher up this sensation 
may not be distinguishable. 

Where the anus is absent and the rectum ends just above it, as according 
to Cripps it usually does, the bulging will often be readily made out, 1 but if 
the rectum ends higher up there may be no impulse ; in such cases the peri- 
neum is narrow and the pelvic outlet smaller than it should be.'- 

When the rectum ends in the urethra there is passage of fluid faeces and 
flatus by the urethra, together with absence of the natural orifice. Subse- 
quently, if the child survives, there is much trouble from obstruction of the 
urethra by faecal matter and from irritation set up by the decomposed urine.. 
Kelsey 3 points out that if the opening is into the bladder the meconium is 
mixed with the urine, while if it is urethral the bowel contents may escape 
independently of the urine. When the rectal outlet is within the vestibule the 
bowels may be sufficiently relieved for the deformity to escape notice and 
there may be no impairment of health ; indeed, the presence of such malforma- 
tion may remain unknown until adult life. In many cases, however, though 
the opening is sufficient for the escape of the fluid or soft faeces of child- 
hood, it is not large enough to allow the passage of solid motions, and 
obstruction arises later on. There is no incontinence of faeces in these 
patients, the internal sphincter preventing involuntary escape. 

As in so many other congenital malformations, a large number of chil- 
dren the subject of these deformities do not survive birth. Where, however,, 
a living child is found to have no outlet at all for its intestinal contents,, 
immediate treatment is of course necessary, although it is said that patients- 
have grown up and relieved the bowels by periodical vomiting of faeces. 
As soon then as the deformity is recognised a decision must be come te- 
as to what is the best mode of relief. 

1 When there is no anus the rectum is generally nearer the surface than where an anus- 
is developed but the rectum ends blindly. 

2 Where the rectum ends high up in the pelvis a fibrous cord may be prolonged 
downwards in the position of the natural bowel ; this cord was thought by Mr. Curling 
to represent the rectum obliterated by intra-uterine ulceration ; its presence, however, is 
not constant. — Vide Parker, Path. Soc. Trails., 1884, 5 Archives of Pediatrics. 

K 2 



132 Diseases of the Digestive System 

Treatment. — Where a thin septum alone closes the gut a single crucial 
incision, using a speculum if necessary, and subsequent dilatation with a 
bougie or the finger, is all that is required. The child, if it survives, may in 
no way suffer afterwards, though we have seen a case of a girl of 10 or 12 
years old who had been operated on in infancy and had not got perfect 
control over the bowels. 1 

Where the separation between the rectum and the surface is greater, 
bulging of the distended gut should be carefully felt for and an incision made 
just in front of the coccyx and carried down to the bowel, which should then 
be freely opened and brought down and stitched to the skin. 2 

If no bulging can be felt an attempt to reach the bowel should still be 
made by a similar incision and the dissection should be carefully carried up- 
wards, keeping well back in the hollow of the sacrum and feeling from time to 
time for the bowel. As it is most important that the child should strain, chloro- 
form should only be given during the first steps of the operation, and fortu- 
nately this is the most painful part of it. 3 If the gut is found, it should be 
treated as in other cases, or if it cannot readily be brought down, it must be 
left but kept patent in a similar way, or a tube may be kept in through 
which fasces can pass. Amussat and Verneuil resected the coccyx and lower 
part of the sacrum in order to bring the gut to the surface. 

Should it be impossible to reach the bowel from below by dissection, 4 in 
no case must any blind puncturing with a trocar in hopes of finding the gut 
be employed ; by such means there is much more likelihood of puncturing 
the peritoneum, especially as it usually descends lower than in normal 
anatomy. Either Littre's operation of opening the bowel in the groin or 
Amussat's (Callisen's) lumbar operation must be performed. As there is 
some uncertainty in all these cases as to the course of the bowel, and as in a 
certain proportion the colon lies in the middle line or to the right side, it is wiser 
on the whole to do Littre's operation ; 5 the anus is much more conveniently 
placed for self-management in after life, and there is little choice in the matter 
of danger between the two ; Littre's operation then should be selected. The 
operation consists in making a vertical 6 or oblique incision about two inches 
in length in the left groin above and a little external to the middle of Poupart's 
ligament ; the abdominal wall having been cut through and the peritoneum 
opened, the distended bowel will present at the opening and should be picked 
up with forceps, transfixed, and treated as in the ordinary colotomy operation. 7 
If the child can bear the delay in opening the bowel, the operation should be 

1 Holmes thinks the sphincter power is not lost, and Cripps records eleven cases of 
practically perfect results. 

2 Cripps and Thorn, of Toledo (America), disapprove of stitching the rectum to the skin ; 
it is certainly useless if there is much tension, if not we prefer to do so. 

5 With a similar object it has been advised to delay operation until the bowels are dis- 
tended. This we cannot endorse. 

4 Curling considers an inch and a half should be the limit to the depth of dissection — 
the rectum is usually within this distance. 

5 The danger of opening the peritoneum is not so unequal in the two plans as might 
be thought, since there is often a mesentery in these cases. 

6 A vertical incision is probably the best, since, if the sigmoid flexure does cross to the 
right, a slight upward prolongation of the incision will enable the surgeon to reach it. 

7 For a description of the operation we must refer to the general text-books. 



Imperforate Anus 133 

done in two stages as in gastrostomy ; to avoid leakage Cripps suggests the 
use of a coarse thread in stitching the gut to the edge of the wound ; the use 
of a round sewing needle answers better. 

Edmund Owen has six times performed Littre's operation, twice success- 
fully ; three of his cases died from the operation being too late, peritonitis 
existing at the time. In both the instances in which we have done inguinal 
colotomy the result was perfectly satisfactory ; the children got quite well, but 
one died some months after of bronchitis. It has been suggested that after 
opening the sigmoid flexure in the groin, a probe should be passed down- 
wards and an anus made in the natural position with the guidance of the 
probe. Owen's two successful cases of Littre's operation died after the 
performance of this second operation, but Byrd and Kronlein have been 
successful. 1 

Curling's statistics and opinion are much in favour of the inguinal 
operation, Cripps' figures are inconclusive.- Huguier's operation of opening 
the gut in the right groin on the ground of the more frequent position of the 
colon on the right side than the left is not supported by Giraldes' statistics, 
quoted by Holmes, where in 431 autopsies the colon was in its normal position 
in 396 instances ; in eighty of these Littre's operation had been performed, 
and in every case the sigmoid flexure was on the left side. Atkin, of Sheffield, 
records a case in which the small intestine was opened by the inguinal ope- 
ration, the whole colon being rudimentary ; 3 and our colleague, Mr. White- 
head, tells us he operated in the left loin on one occasion and found at the 
post-mortem that the caecum had been opened. 4 

We have opened a coil of large intestine by right inguinal colotomy in 
an adult, and found that it was the sigmoid flexure and not the ascending- 
colon that had been secured. 

Cripps' table gives the following results : — ■ 

Of 16 cases of inguinal colotomy .... 1 1 died 

» 3 » lumbar „ 2 „ 

,,17 „ puncture 14 „ 

„ 8 „ resection of the coccyx . . . 5 „ 

„ 39 „ perineal incision 14 „ 

„ 14 „ operation for vaginal (i.e. vulvar) anus 1 „ 

„ 3 miscellaneous cases 3 „ 

Bodenhamer records eight recoveries out of twenty-five Littre's operations. 

The deaths are mainly due to peritonitis, or failure of relief. 

Where there is a fistulous opening between the rectum and the bladder 
or urethra, Littre's operation should be performed, unless the gut can be 
reached from the perineum, when possibly the communication with the urinary 
tract may close spontaneously. When the unnatural anus opens in the 
vulva, in the cases we have seen it has usually been by an orifice in the side 
of the distended rectum and not by a terminal opening, that is, the rectum has 
been pouched and projecting below the vulvar aperture. In such conditions 

1 Vide Kelsey, Arch, of Pediatrics, February, 1885 ; also Goede vide Cripps. 

2 Vide also Erckelen, Arch. f. klin. Chir., Langenbeck, 1879. 
5 Laficet, January 31, 1884. 

4 Pillore advised opening the caecum. 



1 34 Diseases of the Digestive System 

a bent probe should be passed through the orifice into the gut and made to 
press against the perineum just in front of the coccyx. An incision is then 
made upon the probe, the rectum freely opened and treated in the usual 
way. Great care must be taken to keep the new aperture patent, otherwise 
it is prone to contract and the fasces continue to pass both ways. In some 
cases it is said that the vulvar orifice will contract and close of itself 
(Holmes). In our own cases we have not found this to occur, and in one of 
them we pared the edges of the vestibular opening and sutured them ; no 
union however resulted, and we afterwards laid open the perineum, dissected 
away the gut from the vestibular wall, stitched it carefully to the skin, and then 
sewed up the perineum, with a successful result ; the patient was about 6 
years old. In another instance we performed the same operation in a child 
of 9 months, but it died some weeks later of inanition. We have had 
a third successful case recently in which power of retention seems well 
preserved. DiefTenbach appears to have been the first to adopt this plan, 
which, however, is often called Rizzoli's operation. It is, we think, well to 
wait until the child is two or three years old before doing the second opera- 
tion. 

One of the difficulties we have met with in these cases is that of keeping 
the bowels regular even when there is quite a free opening ; this we believe 
to be due to imperfect muscular development of the rectum. Enemata, 
castor-oil emulsion, and occasional more active purges are required under 
these circumstances. Sometimes when the case is one of vulvar anus a collec- 
tion of hard fasces is found in the intestine above at the time of operation ; 
this requires removal, as the child is often unable to void it even when a good- 
sized aperture has been made. 

Deformities of the Umbilicus. — In some cases of extroversion of the 
bladder there is no trace of an umbilicus to be seen in after life, the scar 
being lost in the malformed abdominal wall. In other cases the umbilicus 
is abnormally large — that is, a considerable part of the abdominal wall 
is formed by the structures of the cord, and sloughs away when the cord 
shrivels up so that an actual deficiency of the abdominal wall results. In 
two cases of this condition we have seen that were operated upon, one by 
Mr. Howse and one by ourselves, a portion of the liver protruded through the 
opening and was covered only by the sloughing tissue. In our own case we 
dissected away the dead part and closed the abdominal opening by sutures, 
but without success ; in a third case, under our care, the part was simply pro- 
tected from irritation and left, but this child also soon died. 1 The frequent 
presence of the liver in the hernia has given rise to the name of Hepatom- 
phalos, but the stomach and other viscera are often included in the protrusion. 

At the third month of intra-uterine life there is still a coil of intestine 
lying in the umbilical cord outside the abdominal cavity ; should this condition 
persist, a true congenital umbilical hernia is found. The importance of this 
fact is that in ligaturing the cord the gut might be included in the ligature and 
.strangulated, a mishap that has actually occurred. In slighter cases there is 

. x Underwood records a case of recovery in which the treatment consisted in poulticing, 
and Tanner and others have had successful cases. In a case of Brodie's, Path. Soc. 
Trans., vol. xv., besides the hepatomphalos, there was diaphragmatic hernia with defi- 
ciency of the pericardium, and a coil of bowel lay in contact with the heart. 



Umbilical Hernia 135 

only a small protrusion standing out from the abdominal wall much like the 
end of a glove finger ; the bowel is reducible and the treatment is that of an 
ordinary umbilical hernia. In other instances, owing to persistence of the 
vitello-intestinal duct, Meckel's diverticulum remains open, and passing up 
to the umbilicus may open there, giving rise to faecal fistula, as in a case of 
our own where a ligature round the protrusion, followed by the application of 
strapping to draw together the sides of the orifice, procured closure of the 
fistula. 1 Edmund Owen advises emptying the bowel by free purging and sub- 
sequent administration of opium, thus giving time for the fistula to close ; he 
applies a dry pad over the fistula and leaves it undisturbed. Success has 
followed this treatment, but it appears to be applicable to older children 
rather than to infants. For patent urachus, &*c, vide SURGERY OF THE 
Urinary Organs. 

Congenital hiatus of the abdominal wall may occur in other parts besides 
the umbilicus from simple failure of closure of the ventral laminae. Of this 
•extroversion of the bladder is an instance. In some cases the recti fail to 
meet one another in the middle line, and ventral hernia may result with great 
weakness of the abdominal wall. 

Well-arranged pads applied by means of a belt must be employed to 
■prevent protrusion, or possibly in some cases it might be justifiable to cut 
down upon and stitch together the margins of the aperture, an operation 
not of a very serious nature and not of course necessitating any injury to 
the peritoneum. 

Umbilical Hernia. — Umbilical hernia then in children may be con- 
genital or acquired ; in the congenital form it is due to persistence of the foetal 
■condition where a coil of bowel lies outside the abdomen ; in other cases, 
as already pointed out, it is the result of failure of closure of the ventral 
laminae. 

The acquired form usually appears within the first few months of life ; in 
this case the rupture protrudes not through the centre of the scar which is 
•occupied by the fibrous remains of the vessels, but usually above it or even 
through an independent opening in the linea alba. Astley, however, believes 
that the protrusion is generally through the ring. Both forms of hernia 
are readily reducible and usually consist of small intestine ; the amount of 
protrusion varies from a mere convexity of the navel to a prominent glove- 
tfinger-like outgrowth. 

The treatment consists in applying a flat pad of wood or poroplastic felt 
about the size of a penny and two or three times as thick ; this pad should be 
covered with flannel and fixed over the umbilicus by a broad band of strap- 
ping encircling the body or by a soft webbing belt ; we prefer the former as 
more efficient and less likely to slip, though it is not so comfortable as the 
belt. If the pad is worn constantly for from one to three months, according 
to the age of the child, the hernia is usually ' radically cured.' In cases 
Avhich obstinately resist treatment the orifice might be cut down upon* and 
sutured, 2 but it is clear that most cases of umbilical hernia in children are 
cured, since the condition is hardly ever seen in young adults. We have 

1 Vide Diseases of the Navel — Umbilical Polypus. 

2 A case of irreducible umbilical hernia containing omentum was successfully operated 
on by Roocroft in a girl of 14 years. Lancet, August 2, 1884. 



136 Diseases of the Digestive System 

had occasion to close by operation a median ventral hernia in a child. The 
result was successful. 

Inguinal Hernia. — Inguinal hernia is met with in childhood in the fol-=« 
lowing varieties :— 

1. The funicular process of peritoneum remains widely open and in free 
communication with the cavity both of the peritoneum and tunica vaginalis ;. 
a hernia descending into this cavity is a true congenital hernia, or hernia of 
the tunica vaginalis (Teale). 

2. The tunica vaginalis may be shut off from the funicular process at the 
upper part of the testicle ; a hernia coming down into the patent process is 
called a funicular hernia, or hernia into the funicular process. 

3. When the same condition as in (2) exists, but the hernia instead of de- 
scending along the canal of the funicular process pushes down a separate 
pouch of peritoneum behind the process, the hernia is called infantile or 
encysted. The same name is given to cases where the funicular process is 
obliterated at the internal ring or just above the testicle, and the septum, 
is pushed down and invaginated into the lower part of the process. In 
the former case, in cutting down upon the bowel from the front three layers- 
of peritoneum, viz. two funicular and one sac proper, will be found in front 
of the gut ; in the second case two layers will overlie the bowel. 

4. An ordinary acquired hernia may be met with. Hernia may, of course,, 
be complete or incomplete — that is, it may descend into the scrotum or only 
distend the canal or bulge at the internal ring. 

The first and second forms are much the commonest, and it is usually 
impossible to be certain which is present unless the parts are exposed by- 
operation. Where the testicle is completely wrapped round by the hernia, 
it is probably congenital ; where the testicle remains a distinct boss upon the: 
surface of the hernia it may be fimicular, though it is not by any means- 
always so. We believe the funicular variety is the more frequent. Infantile 
or encysted hernia can only be recognised by operation, but it may be sus- 
pected if, after reduction of a hernia, an unusual amount of thickening along 
the cord remains, or if there is a hydrocele of the cord or an infantile hydro- 
cele in conjunction with a reducible hernia. Fortunately, an exact diagnosis 
of these conditions from one another is not of much importance. 

Hernia may develop at any age ; it is sometimes noticed immediately after 
birth ; in other instances it comes down later when, from failure of health, or 
bronchitis, or whooping cough, the muscular walls of the abdomen become 
relaxed, and are in addition overstrained by coughing, violent crying, straining 
in defalcation, micturition, &c. So common is it for straining in micturition 
to bring down a hernia, that it is quite certain that phimosis is a most fertile- 
cause of rupture. The presence of a calculus or worms acts in the same way^ 
Hernia very commonly accompanies ectopia vesicae. 

As is well known, inguinal hernia is sometimes met with in female chil- 
dren, though not nearly so commonly as in boys. 1 

1 Of 112 unselected cases of hernia seen in our out-patient department, there were — 

In males . 57 right inguinal, 12 left inguinal, 16 double, and 9 umbilical. 
In females . 4 ,, ,, 5 ,, ,, no ,, ,, 9 (? 10) ,, 

Mr. Leader Williams tells us that in his experience in the Maternity department of Su 



Inguinal Hernia 137 

Most commonly an inguinal rupture in a child contains small intestine 
with or without omentum, perhaps most commonly without. Other parts of 
the intestinal canal are, however, not rarely found. We have many times 
during operation found the caecum and vermiform appendix in a hernia, and 
not rarely the appendix can be very distinctly felt through the coverings 
without an operation. 1 The ovaries in girls and the bladder in either sex are 
sometimes protruded. 

Generally a rupture is easily reducible, but often it is necessary to make 
the child lie down before it readily goes back ; it then often does so sponta- 
neously. Violent crying will sometimes make it quite impossible to safely 
reduce a hernia, and the child must be quieted or anaesthetised before 
reduction. 

It must be remembered that, though as a rule herniae are opaque, a 
tightly distended rupture consisting only of bowel, and that full of flatus, in 
a thin-skinned child will be distinctly translucent ; this fact was, we believe,, 
first pointed out by Mr. Howse, and we have several times seen it. 

Various abnormal conditions may complicate hernia ; thus the testis may 
be entirely retained or imperfectly descended on the same side. A vaginal 
hydrocele or hydrocele of the cord may coexist with a hernia, or fluid as in a 
congenital hydrocele may distend the sac of a congenital hernia. The rupture, 
of course, may be single or double, and sometimes of a different species on 
the two sides. We have seen a ' funicular ' and a ' congenital ' hernia on 
opposite sides in the same child. Children the subject of hernia are un- 
doubtedly often affected with intestinal disturbance which appears to be 
sometimes at least due to the hernia. 

Ruptures in children are occasionally irreducible ; when this is due simply 
to straining, as already pointed out, the difficulty is easily got over, in other 
cases the hernia may be obstructed by its contents as in adults ; again,, 
adhesions to the sac or to the testicle or matting together of bowel to 
bowel, or bowel to omentum, may prevent reduction. In one of our cases a 
large hernia was made irreducible by the presence of tuberculous mesenteric 
glands which had evidently enlarged after their descent, and it was only 
after removal of some of these and enlargement of the rings that the rupture 
could be reduced ; the child recovered, but evidence of tuberculosis, of course,, 
remained. 

It is somewhat rare for a hernia to become strangulated in childhood. We 
have, however, met with several such cases ; they differ in no respect from the 
similar condition in the adult, but considering the extreme tenderness of the 
tissues in children immediate operation is the wisest course in preference to- 
treatment by ice, &c. Elevation of the pelvis and abdomen, as well as direct 
taxis, should, of course, be first tried, but very gently ; we have known a 
child die of the injury done to a coil of intestine which was reduced before 
the child was seen by us and could only have been strangulated for a few 
hours. The youngest cases with which we are acquainted were one of three 

Mary's Hospital, Manchester, umbilical hernia is by far the commonest variety, and this 
is no doubt true of the first few weeks of life. 

1 Vide papers in the Brit. Med. Jour., vol. i. 1887, by Mr. F.. Treves, and also by one 
of the present writers. 



138 Diseases of the Digestive System 

weeks by Halsewood x and one of four weeks by Maunder. The sac always 
requires opening, since the neck itself forms the constricting part. 2 

The treatment of hernia in children resolves itself into three questions- 
first, the removal of all causes tending to produce rupture, such as cough, 
phimosis, &c. ; secondly, treatment by apparatus ; and lastly, operations. 

Ruptures in children sometimes get well of themselves without treatment 
or simply by keeping the child lying down and avoiding disturbance of its 
temper and bowels. In other instances circumcision will prevent further 
descent of a hernia by removing the source of straining. 

Failing these means, the wisest plan is at once to provide a well-fitting 
truss, a matter which should be seen to by the surgeon himself and not left 
to an instrument maker. The truss must be worn night and day without any 
intermission, never being removed on any account for washing or any other 
purpose except to put another on ; this is necessary, because the truss is in 
children used to cure rupture, and not merely to palliate it as in adults. When 
it is absolutely necessary to change a truss, the new one must be got ready, 
the finger slipped beneath the old one to keep pressure upon the canal and 
then the truss changed, the child being kept on its back and soothed to pre- 
vent crying. During the treatment the skin must be carefully watched and 
kept dry and unirritated by the free use of boracic acid powder ; this can be 
•dusted beneath the truss without removing it ; a little judicious packing with 
absorbent wool will serve to take pressure off any tender part. Almost any 
hernia during the first year of life that can be kept up without once coming 
down for three months will be permanently cured; after the first year a 
longer time is required. 

The ordinary trusses do very well if the parents can afford to frequently 
renew them, but they get stiff and hard and the springs soon rust and rot 
with the frequent soakage of urine, so that they have to be frequently changed, 
.and a duplicate should always be at hand in case of sudden giving way. 
One descent of a hernia undoes all the preceding treatment ; this is the 
cardinal rule to impress upon the mother or nurse. The inflatable rubber 
trusses we have found useful and satisfactory when carefully managed, and 
they are not affected by urine nearly so rapidly as the common truss, but they 
require careful inspection from the first, as they are often imperfectly made 
and flaws or tears are soon fatal to them. The hard rubber truss is some- 
times spoken well of; we have not tried it. If from bad management a sore 
is produced by truss pressure, careful padding will often avoid the necessity 
■of leaving off the truss ; but with proper attention and care that the truss 
spring is not too strong, it seldom occurs. 

Hydrocele and orchitis we have more than once seen as the result of 
wearing a truss ; in such cases we may be sure that the spring is too strong 
and a different truss must be applied. The use of spica bandages, &c, is an 
inefficient substitute for a good truss. The pad of the truss should be flat 
and not convex, and peaked trusses are never required ; the obj,ect is to 
prevent the hernia from entering the canal, not merely to cover up the 
rupture. 

When a fair trial has been given to trusses, different ones being, if 

1 Lancet, Dec. 1884. 

2 Sometimes in an hour-glass sac the constriction may be in the scrotum. 



Hernia — Prolapsus Recti 139 

necessary, employed, and all sources of irritation have been removed and 
still the rupture cannot be kept up, an operation for its permanent cure should 
be performed. 

Of all the various plans the one we think simplest and best, and the only 
one we shall describe, consists in making a free incision over the canal and 
upper part of the scrotum, cutting down to the sac, reducing the hernia, closing 
the neck of the sac, and passing silver wire or catgut sutures through the walls 
■of the canal and twisting them up. To do this the sac must be opened and 
the finger passed into the abdomen to make sure that the canal is clear and to 
guide the needle. The needle, which must be in a handle, is passed through 
one side of the canal, and guided by the finger is brought out at the ring ; it is 
threaded with wire and withdrawn, then unthreaded and passed through the 
other side, then threaded with the other end of the same wire and again 
withdrawn ; two or three sutures are passed in this way till it is felt that there 
are enough to close the canal, the wires are then twisted up, cut short and 
their ends well turned down into the tissues. One edge of the sac close up 
to the wires is then picked up and threaded upon the needle, and successive 
portions of the surface of the sac are pinched up and transfixed (like threading 
them upon a skewer) until the other edge is reached ; the needle is then 
threaded with catgut and withdrawn, leaving the ligature, which when tied 
puckers up the sac into closely applied folds which soon adhere and the sac 
is thoroughly obliterated ; by this means all trouble and disturbance in sepa- 
rating the sac from the cord is avoided and the closure is quite firm and com- 
plete. Sometimes we ligature the sac before closing the canal ; this is not 
quite so easy, and it is not a matter of importance. The silver wires are 
left in permanently unless they set up irritation, when they are removed as 
soon as they are loose, but this seldom happens. The wound should be 
•closed, and will heal by primary union. There is sometimes a great deal of 
swelling after the operation, but this gradually subsides and should be looked 
upon as a good sign of firm consolidation. For the methods of managing 
complications ' of the operation we must refer to the ordinary text-books, for 
undescended testis to the chapter on that subject. It is better not to allow 
a truss to be worn after the operation unless there is some special reason 
for it. 

The operation is not free from risk and not always successful ; we have 
had one death from peritonitis coming on some time after the operation and 
have had to operate more than once in several cases. In the fatal case the 
-canal was perfectly closed and the peritoneal surface almost undimpled. 

Femoral hernia in children is very rare, we have never seen a case ; one 
recorded by Sabourin in a premature female infant was readily cured by a 
truss. E. Owen saw one in a boy of 10 years out of 748 cases of femoral 
"hernia.- Diaphragmatic hernia is occasionally met with. 

Prolapsus Recti.— Slight degrees of prolapse of the rectum are not rare 
in children and are often only transitory, occurring perhaps once or twice and 
not again ; the more severe forms are much rarer. 

1 An omental sac may be met with. We have seen a very perfect instance. The 
management of such cases and of adhesions differs in no way in the child from that of 
similar conditions in the adult. 

2 Lancet, June 6, 1884. 



140 Diseases of the Digestive System 

Prolapse of the rectum consists in protrusion of more or less of the 
rectal wall through the anus. The slight and most common form is simply 
a pushing out of a ring of mucous membrane which is readily reducible and 
often only comes down when the child strains. In other cases the whole of 
the rectal coats from mucous membrane to peritoneum may be protruded. 

The first variety of prolapse is usually about half an inch long and appears, 
as a red mucous ring with radiating folds diverging from the central orifice ; 
the mucous and cutaneous surfaces shade off into one another at the margin of 
the protrusion. The second form is larger, reaching from one to two inches, 
in length, and is often conical in shape, its base being at the anus ; the folds, 
are not radial but annular, running round the prolapsed part ; the orifice is. 
central, and on passing the finger into it, it is evident that the whole thickness, 
of the bowel, and not merely mucous membrane, is involved in the prolapse.. 
Sometimes this form of protrusion reaches much larger dimensions, even six 
inches in length, and in such cases necessarily a large pouch of peritoneum 
is carried down, and this is more extensive on the anterior than the posterior- 
aspect of the bowel. In one case that we examined post mortem there was. 
a definite diverticular pouch with a sharp lunated edge projecting from the 
recto-vesical hollow down the anterior wall of the rectum ; it seemed to 
us probable that the presence of a coil of bowel in this pouch would have- 
much to do with keeping down the prolapse. 1 Not only small intestine but the 
ovaries even may be found in this peritoneal pouch, which then becomes the-, 
sac of a rectal hernia ; the characteristic gurgling or the presence of a solid 
body felt on manipulating the wall of the protrusion may give a clue to the- 
extent of the disease. 2 In this form of prolapse also the mucous and cutaneous 
surfaces shade off into one another, though the transverse folds of mucous 
membrane on the surface of the prolapse may somewhat obscure the line of 
junction. 

A so-called third form of prolapsus recti, where the upper part of the 
rectum or the sigmoid flexure is invaginated into the bowel below and pro- 
trudes from the anus, is recognised by its size and by the presence of a sulcus 
between the prolapse and the anal margin. This condition, however, is more^ 
naturally considered as an intussusception than as a prolapse. 

The mucous surface of the protruded gut may be nearly natural, but more- 
often is excoriated and coated over with a thick slimy mucus ; it sometimes- 
becomes congested and may even slough from irritation or constriction by 
the sphincter, though in most cases the anus is so lax and patulous that the 
existence of a sphincter at all is hardly felt by a finger passed within the 
opening. Bleeding to small amounts often occurs, and there is much mucous, 
discharge. 

The motions come away freely, but the irritation and discharge weaken, 
the child and he loses flesh and health. In most cases the prolapse is re- 
ducible with more or less difficulty, but often it returns immediately pressure 

1 The specimen from this case is in the Owens College Museum; this definite pouching- 
is, so far as we know, undescribed hitherto. 

2 This variety of prolapse is sometimes curved as a result of traction by the mesocolic- 
fold of peritoneum or the attachment of the rectum to the vagina. (Van Buren. ) 

Rectal hernia sometimes comes down behind the bowel, or may even protrude through. 
a gap in the muscular coats. (Kelsey.) 



Prolapsus Recti 141 

Is taken off; in others it remains up until the child strains from any cause and 
then redescends ; in others again the protrusion after a time becomes irre- 
ducible from matting together of the parts and from congestion. 

Where a rectal hernia exists it is subject to all the conditions of an 
-ordinary inguinal hernia, i.e. it maybe reducible or strangulated, &C. 1 Occa- 
sionally the prolapse sloughs and fecal fistula results, or the wall may burst 
in attempts at reduction. 

The causes of prolapsus recti are many, though it is obvious that there 
must be some weakness of the sphincter and levator ani or relaxation of the 
rectal walls in these cases, or prolapse would be much more frequent than it is. 
Any condition that produces violent and constant straining in a child pre- 
disposed to it may bring on prolapse. The child is generally miserable and 
weakly when seen, but this is no doubt partly the result of the irritation. 
Phimosis, contracted meatus urinarius, stone in the bladder, cystitis, con- 
stipation, diarrhoea, worms, polypus recti, violent coughing, all may cause 
prolapse. Boeckel believes stricture of the rectum to be a cause, and in 
•one case we found a tight annular stricture of the rectum about one inch 
from the anus ; this only admitted the tip of the index finger in a child of 
about three years old ; the stricture apparently formed the apex of the 
prolapse and may possibly have been a result rather than a cause of the 
protrusion. 

The diagnosis of prolapsus recti is easy where the protrusion is large ; the 
only doubtful point is what extent of rectal wall is included in it. If small 
it can only be mistaken for piles or polypus ; the former are exceedingly rare 
in children and never form a complete ring, the latter is of course a single 
isolated, usually pedunculated swelling ; a mistake can only occur from lack 
of examination. Kelsey lays it down that any prolapse over i\ inches in 
length contains peritoneum, while the presence of a sulcus serves to dis- 
tinguish between the second form and the rectal intussusception. The 
direction of the folds and the size distinguish between the first and second 
varieties. 

The treatment of prolapse consists first in removing the cause of strain- 
ing, next the child should be kept rigidly lying down in bed ; the protrusion 
must be reduced each time it comes down, and if it constantly recurs an 
attempt should be made to keep it up by a pad and T-bandage, or by 
strapping the buttocks together with a broad piece of plaster. The bowels 
should be kept easily open so as to avoid straining, and it is sometimes 
useful to support the sides of the anus during defecation by pressure or by 
drawing the skin tightly to one side ; as advised by Van Buren, the 
motions should be passed into a napkin without the child being allowed 
to sit up. 

Enemata of cold water or astringents, tannin, quassia (2-4 oz. of the 
infusion), oak bark, sulphate of iron, &c, will do good in many cases, and it 
is only the more severe forms that are not cured by bed and the means 
above described ; indeed, simple confinement to bed cures the majority of 
these children. Should the prolapse be irreducible, an anaesthetic should 
be given ; if this fails and there are no urgent symptoms, a warm fomentation 

1 Vide Kelsey, in an elaborate paper in Archives of Pediatrics, 1885. 



142 Diseases of the Digestive System 

and putting the child, if old enough, upon his hands and knees with the 
pelvis raised, will sometimes succeed. 

If sloughing occurs the prolapse must be protected from irritation, and 
dusted over with boracic or salicylic acid, and kept clean. The sloughing 
will very likely cure the prolapse, but it may be at the expense of causing" 
a stricture, and this, if it is at the apex of a long prolapse, will be high up 
in the rectum when the protrusion is reduced. • 

Failing milder measures, the actual cautery should be employed, four or 
five narrow lines being drawn in the long axis of the gut from skin margin- 
to near the apex. 

Paquelin's cautery is the most useful instrument, and is better than 
nitric acid or nitrate of silver. 1 After the application the bowel should 
be reduced and a pad applied. Another useful plan is to excise Avedge- 
shaped strips from the margins of the anus, including a little of the mucous 
membrane, the base of the wedge being at the anus ; the edges of the 
wounds are then brought together, and the resulting contraction supports the 
bowel. We have found this successful in a very severe case. In severe 
and irreducible cases the prolapse has been clamped and removed, but this 
should only be done as a last resource and with the full knowledge that in a 
large prolapse the peritoneum will probably be opened, and the utmost care 
must be taken to reduce any rectal hernia that may exist. If the peritoneum, 
is wounded it must be carefully closed with catgut sutures. This operation 
can hardly ever be justifiable, and is not to be confounded with the method 
of treating prolapse by removal of strips of mucous membrane in the long- 
axis of the gut by means of the clamp, a method sometimes employed. 2 

The bowels should be open two days after operation, as delay makes the 
first action very painful. 

Fistula in Ano is an uncommon condition in children, though we have 
several times met with it. As in adults, it is apt to be associated with 
tuberculosis. As pointed out by Mr. Holmes, most of the fistulas are blind 
external ones ; this is also our experience. 3 There is nothing peculiar in 
either the pathology or treatment, which is the same in children as in adults. 

We have, however, recently introduced the plan of dividing the sphincter 
ani subcutaneously close to its attachment to the tip of the coccyx, and then 
scraping out the fistula. This is a less severe way of dealing with fistulae 
than the ordinary plan, and is probably sufficient for all cases likely to be 
met with in children 

Piles in children are usually described as unknown, or almost so, and 
their occurrence is no doubt very rare ; we have, however, seen two cases of 
external piles ; 4 in another instance a child was brought to us for bleeding 
from the bowel, and on examination a condition indistinguishable from that 

1 Only the mucous membrane of the prolapse should be burnt through, while at the 
skin margin the cautery should lay bare the sphincter ; sufficient irritation must be produced. 
to procure adhesions between the mucous and muscular coats. Bryant advises the appli- 
cation of nitrate of silver over the whole surface. 

2 Dr. Cullingworth related at the Pathological Society of Manchester, December 1887, . 
a successful case of complete excision of a large prolapse in a young lady in-which the 
peritoneum was opened. 

5 We have only once met with a complete fistula. 

4 Ogston, jun. , has recorded a case in a child 3 days old. 



Condylomata — Rectal Polypus 143 

of well-developed intero-external piles was found ; this had been giving- 
trouble since the child was about one and a half year old, but the affection 
was probably congenital. Light was thrown upon the case by the presence of 
a large partially degenerated nsevus on the buttock, quite distinct, and at a 
distance from the anus, and probably the case was really one of naevus of the 
anus. The disease was readily cured by applying ligatures just as for piles. 
There was no naevoid tissue higher up, though this is occasionally met with.' 
Ligature or the actual cautery is the best treatment. 

Condylomata frequently occur in children about the anus or its neigh- 
bourhood as flat, sessile, pink or pinkish-white elevations, or sometimes as 
large irregular masses. They are usually a manifestation of congenital syphi- 
lis, but sometimes, we believe, simply the result of dirt and irritation. When 
syphilitic the local treatment is. of course, subordinate to the general measures, 
but dusting over with calomel or the application of black wash usually speedily 
cures them. Sometimes, especially if non-syphilitic, they are more obstinate,, 
and may require to be scraped away or treated with the actual cautery, nitrate 
of silver, or chromic acid. 

Polypus of the Rectum is one of the diseases which, though not abso- 
lutely peculiar to children, are by far most commonly found in them. Most 
cases of rectal bleeding in children, apart from that due to mere tenesmus 
and diarrhoea, are due to polypus ; hence careful search should be made for 
a tumour in all cases where unaltered blood escapes from the bowel. 

Rectal polypi are usually pedunculated rounded bodies about the size of a 
hazel nut ; they are composed of myxo-fibromatous or soft fibro-cellular tissue, 
or in some cases are adenomata ; in the former form the surface is smooth, 
though sometimes superficially ulcerated or excoriated, and the pedicle is 
often long and thin, though the growth in its early stages may be sessile. 
Adenomata are granular or warty in appearance. The anterior wall of the 
rectum about an inch from the anus is the usual seat of these growths ; some- 
times, however, they are attached higher up in the bowel, and may be even 
beyond reach of the finger. 

Polypi, besides the loss of blood, give rise to irritation and tenesmus. 
together with a mucous discharge from the gut, and frequently to prolapse. 
The growth itself is often protruded from the anus during straining, and is 
sometimes mistaken for prolapse or piles ; examination, however, readily 
enables a diagnosis to be made, as the polypus is quite separate from the 
general mucous surface. The pedunculated form is best treated by simple- 
twisting off, or a ligature may be applied to the pedicle, which is then snipped 
through with scissors ; to do this conveniently the child should be anaesthe- 
tised, and the rectum well dilated and a speculum used ; often during an 
examination the pedicle is torn through and the polypus comes away without 
further trouble, and occasionally the mass is detached during defalcation and 
passed with the motion. The sessile form may be ligatured or snipped off, 
and its base cauterised. Recurrence of the growth is improbable. 

We have met with rectal polypus in two members of one family, and 
Cripps relates similar cases. 

Occasionally the whole mucous surface of the lower bowel is the seat of 

1 Howard Marsh and Earker have recorded instances : in one the patient, an adult, 
ultimately died of hfemorrhasre. 



144 Diseases of the Digestive System 

warty adenomatous growths, as in a remarkable case recorded by our col- 
league Mr. Whitehead. Dermoid cysts have also been found. 

Small superficial ulcers and fissures about the anus are common in dirty 
and in syphilitic children, but they are more common at a little distance from 
the orifice than actually at the anus. They give rise to pruritus, but seldom 
to the severe symptoms seen in adults ; sometimes there is reflex irritation 
of the urinary organs, frequent micturition, &c. In the non-syphilitic cases, 
cleanliness, the destruction of worms or other irritants, and the application of 
nitrate of silver are usually sufficient. Menthol has been recommended for 
the pruritus. Tuberculous ulcers may be met with. 

Rectal ulcers are due to either follicular inflammation, in which the 
rectum is involved in common with the rest of the lower gut, or to rectal 
catarrh or the presence of a polypus. The symptoms are seldom marked, 
and the condition is consequently not often seen ; vide also Prolapse and 
Dysentery. 

Removal of irritation and improvement of the general condition of the 
intestinal mucous membrane are the only treatment required. 






H5 



CHAPTER IX. 

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM — (continued). 

Malformations and Deformities of the Digestive System. Hare- 
lip. — The upper lip is developed from the fronto-nasal process and the 
maxillary processes which in the normal course of development fuse in 




Fig. 15. — Shows the lines of union of the face, and indicates the origin of the chief malforma- 
tions, af, af'. situations of congenital auricular fistulse. I., II., III., IV., indicate the 
external orifices of branchial fistulas. I. is the external auditory meatus ; of, the orbital 
fissure ; mf, the mandibular fissure; hh', the lines of lateral hare-lip; cf, cf', mark the 
situations of congenital ^;T'/(T«/fistul3e. (From Bland Sutton, Lancet, Feb. 1, 1888.) 

front of the mandibular fissure. Should this fusion fail to take place on 
either or both sides, a single or double hare-lip respectively results. If 
the inward growth of the palatine processes which should take place to 
separate the nasal and buccal cavities fails, cleft palate occurs. 

L 



146 



Diseases of the Digestive System 



The praemaxillae are formed from the globular processes forming the 
singles of the fronto-nasal process, hence, should the lateral process not fuse 
with the globular, a cleft between the praemaxilla and the maxilla will 
result on that side, while, if there is suppression of the two globular pro- 
cesses and septum, median hare-lip follows ; this, though exceedingly rare in 
man, is met with more or less constantly in some mammals in which the 
globular processes fail to unite with one another. 1 

As to the actual causes of such arrest of development much controversy 
exists. It is commonly asserted that frights and shocks of various kinds, as 
well as strong maternal impressions of other sorts occurring about the 
time of the development of these parts, may determine the arrest of growth 
which results in such malformations. Although many instances have been 
iDrought forward to show a causal relation between the two facts, it is not 
clearly established that anything more than a coincidence really exists. 

It is, however, certain that in many cases there is an hereditary tendency 
to such defects, and it is also certain that they are often associated with other 

congenital malformations. It is asserted 
that the hereditary tendency is commonly 
transmitted on the father's side. 2 

Various degrees of hare-lip are found ; 
in some instances there is merely a defi- 
ciency of the muscular fibres of the orbi- 
cularis, so that although the lip is not 
actually fissured there is a furrow from the 
absence of muscle and the consequent 
thinning of the lip which at the affected 
part consists only of skin and mucous 
membrane, often somewhat imperfect in 
structure, together with an intervening- 
layer of connective tissue. 

In other cases there is a shallow notch 
in the prolabium or at the anterior nasal 
orifice, the parts being otherwise well- 
formed. Between these conditions and 
the most severe forms of hare-lip all de- 
grees of deformity may exist (figs. 16 
and 17). 

As the superficial structures are developed more or less independently of 
the bony framework of the face, hare-lip may occur without any cleft of the 
palate, and without any separation of the praemaxilla from the maxilla. Most 
commonly, however, if the hare-lip is complete, i.e. if it extends into the 
nostril on one or both sides, there is also deformity of the bones, either non- 
union of the prasmaxilla or single or double cleft palate. Thus there may 
be a mere notch in the line of the gum, a cleft through the alveolar margin 
on one side, a cleft running backwards on one side of the nasal septum 
through the hard and soft palates, or a double cleft isolating the praemaxilla 

1 Vide Bland Sutton, Lancet, February 18, 1888. 

2 Mr. Lucas believes that congenital absence of an upper lateral incisor is sometimes 
the forerunner of hare-lip and cleft palate. 




Fig. 16. —A simple case of Double incom- 
plete Hare-lip. This is much rarer than 
the complete variety. 



Hare-lip — Cleft Palate 



H7 



from the maxillae and leaving it protruding from the end of the nasal septum 
while the two halves of the hard and soft palate are completely separated and 
the nasal septum is seen in the middle line as a prominent ridge not attached 
to either side of the palate— complete or double-cleft palate — the septum is 
often seen to taper off and end as a ridge upon the upper wall of the pharynx. 
It is usually said that cleft palate is always single, but the term may well be 
limited to those cases where the septum is attached to one palate process 
only. In other instances the failure of union may occur only in the soft 
palate, more often in the soft with just the posterior edge of the hard palate, 
or in slighter degrees of the deformity still the uvula alone may be bifid, or 
the palate perforated. In some recorded cases the uvula has been absent. 

Two other conditions associated with hare-lip and cleft palate respectively 
are of extreme importance as regards successful operation : the one is the 
flat, wide, distorted^ala of the nose found in complete hare-lip ; the other is 
the pitch of the palate arch, which may be either wide and flat or very high 
and narrow ; the latter 
condition is said to be 
often associated with men- 
tal deficiency. 

Sometimes the prae- 
maxilla carries the four 
incisor teeth, and these 
are therefore implanted in 
the projecting mass in 
cases of complete double 
hare-lip. In some in- 
stances, however, one in- 
cisor tooth is attached to 
the maxilla, most com- 
monly the outer tooth is 
suppressed altogether, its 
sac having apparently 
been lost in the cleft. 

Rotatioii of Prcemaxilla. — Very frequently there is some rotation of 
the praemaxilla upon a vertical axis, especially in unilateral cleft ; in such 
cases the teeth are also rotated and may be so directed that the outer border, 
or in some instances the cutting edge, looks directly forwards. This position 
of the teeth requires to be remedied after their complete eruption. As, how- 
ever, hare-lip is now usually operated upon before the teeth are cut, their 
exact position is in such cases of little importance at the time. 

Feeble Vitality. —The deformity of simple hare-lip unaccompanied by 
malformation of the palate is important almost solely on account of the 
disfigurement, though it must be borne in mind that many of these children 
have other deformities or are weakly and, though without any actual malforma- 
tion, do not seem to have sufficient vitality to make it possible to rear them. 

When, however, the failure of union affects the palate as well as the lip, 
other ill results follow ; the child is unable to suck from inability to produce 
a vacuum in the mouth : its nasal passages and pharynx are exposed to the 
air and become affected with chronic catarrh, its tongue is dry and the air 

L 2 




F« 



-Severe Double Harelip. Showing the projecting 
prstmaxilla. 



148 Diseases of the Digestive System 

entering its lungs is imperfectly warmed. Even when fed with a spoon the 
food often regurgitates through the nose. Hence to the already weakly con- 
dition of the child are added the dangers of insufficient nutrition and catarrh 
of the respiratory tract. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that only a 
small proportion of children so affected survive ; should they do so, they are 
subject to the further drawback of imperfect and indistinct speech. It is 
alleged that many of these children die from starvation, which might be 
prevented by operation ; we do not think this is true : we believe they would 
die in any case from simple lack of vitality. 

In those cases where the child is unable to suck it should be fed in an 
upright posture, when the milk is less likely to regurgitate through the nose, 
or one of the special obturator teats devised by Mr. Mason and others em- 
ployed ; probably the best of these is Oakley Coles' rubber teat. 

The treatment of hare-lip is necessarily purely operative ; several impor- 
tant questions have, however, to be considered in each individual case. First, 
it is clearly of no use to operate on an infant that is incapable of living from 
the presence of some other deformity incompatible with life, nor in cases 
where the general health of the child is feeble and it is losing weight, since 
union of the wound would not take place. No operation then should be 
done unless the child is in perfect health, and the time of actually cutting a 
tooth should be avoided. 

■Age for operation. — N ext comes the question of the best age for opera- 
tion. On the one hand it must be borne in mind that there is a certain 
amount of risk attending the necessary loss of blood and the shock in a very 
young infant, and on the other hand that, if the deformity is severe, the effect 
of closing the cleft in the lip as regards moulding the subjacent parts into 
their natural shape will be greater the younger the child and the softer the 
tissues. As has been well shown by Dr. Rawdon, of Liverpool, and others, 
a most remarkable modelling process in the outline of the upper jaw takes 
place after closure of a hare-lip, and more than this, the width of the cleft in 
a divided palate is much reduced after a time by uniting the lip. 

Increased facility in feeding and the removal of a hideous deformity are 
other reasons for early interference, while experience shows that early opera- 
tion is not attended with a specially high rate of mortality. 1 

The common practice now is to operate at any time after the first three 
weeks of life in the less severe cases and a month or two later in the more 
serious deformities, double hare-lip being dealt with later still ; operations 
are, however, often successfully done within the first few days of life. Our 
own preference is not to operate before a month in single hare-lip, nor before 
six months in severe deformity. 

Operation. — It is, in our opinion, much better in all cases to give chloro- 
form for the operation. The coronary arteries should then be controlled by 
bulldog forceps or finger pressure, and the lip very freely detached from the 
maxilla, the dissection being carried far outwards along the jaw, upwards 
nearly to the lower margin of the orbit, and inwards and upwards so as to 
freely detach the ala nasi from the subjacent bone. 

1 Many infants die shortly after the operation for hare-lip, but in most of these death is 
due to malnutrition, not to the operation. 



Hare-lip 1 49 

The extent of the separation will, of course, depend upon the severity of 
the case ; but, as a rule, failure is more often due to insufficient separation 
than to any other single cause. 

The bleeding during this part of the operation is often free, but is easily 
controlled by pressure, and stops immediately after the stitches are put in ; 
for this reason we sometimes pare the edges of the cleft before freeing the 
lip, though if the paring is done last it is easier to adjust the edges exactly. 
It is very important to slice away the sides of the cleft freely, and not merely 
to scrape them or take away a thin shaving ; too little is much more often 
taken away than too much. 

In adjusting the edges of the wound, the chief points to attend to are that 
the prolabial margin on one side exactly corresponds with that on the other ; 
secondly, that the highest suture is well within the nostril, so as to prevent a 
gap at the upper margin, and to remedy the tendency to flattening of the 
nostril ; thirdly, to insert a suture on the inner and under (mucous) surface of 
the lip ; this more than anything else prevents the appearance of an un- 
sightly notch at the lower end of the line of union. The main sutures should 
be made to include the whole thickness of the lip except the mucous mem- 
brane ; the intermediate ones may be only superficial. 

Silver wire sutures, usually about three in number, with intervening horse- 
hair stitches, will be found very successful, and are, we think, on the whole, 
the best. 

Hare-lip pins are hardly ever necessary, and should not be used if it is 
possible to avoid it. If the lip is freely separated from the upper jaw, there 
will be no tension. We sometimes put pins in temporarily to keep the parts 
in apposition while the rest of the stitches are being inserted, and then re- 
move them at the end of the operation. If the pins are left in it should be 
for not longer than forty-eight hours ; the rest of the stitches may be taken 
out a day or so later, according to the amount of irritation set up and 
the condition of the child. Where the power of repair is feeble, the sutures 
should be left in longer. Some surgeons prefer silk or gut sutures. The 
first stitch, if pins are not used, should be put in opposite the prolabial 
margin ; this answers the double purpose of controlling the coronary arteries 
and of fixing the level of adjustment of the two sides. If forceps have been 
used for controlling the bleeding, they should be removed just before putting 
in the stitches. 

Some surgeons apply a strip of strapping over the lip after the operation, 
or use a Hainsby's truss ; neither is necessary in most cases, and the former 
is objectionable in that it tends to collect blood and mucous discharge from 
the nostril, and so to irritate the wound. It is, however, sometimes wise to 
put plaster on for forty-eight hours after removing the sutures until the union 
is quite firm, and it is a good plan to lay a narrow strip of lint over the line 
of union beneath the plaster. 

If the child has not been weaned before the operation, it should be 
allowed to suck as soon as it recovers from the chloroform ; in such case 
care must be taken to prevent injury to the mother's breast from the hare-lip 
pins or wire sutures. In most cases, however, the child has been bottle or 
spoon fed. 

In any case the hands must be carefully secured by bandaging them to 



150 Diseases of the Digestive System 

the chest with a flannel bandage or by some similar means, and watch kept 
that no injury is done to the lip. 

The principal methods of operatmg for single hare-lip are as follows : 
each case must be managed according to its special needs, no one method 
answering in all cases : — 

1. The edges of the fissure are simply pared by a straight incision and 
brought together. This, though answering well in some cases, is apt to leave 
a notch at the prolabial margin unless there is abundance of material to work 
with. By making the line of incision slightly curved, with the concavity 
towards the cleft, the notching may often be avoided (fig. 18, e,f). 

2. The single flap method shown in fig. 18 (c, d) is often useful. 

3. Malgaigne's operation of turning down two opposed flaps may be em- 
ployed ; it is chiefly useful for cases where a notch remains after previous 
operation {a, b). 

4. Perhaps the most generally applicable methods are those shown in 
fig. 18 (c-d,e-fg). 





f 

Fig. 18. — Diagrams slightly altered from Lane (' Operative Surgery ') to show the modes of 
refreshing and uniting the edges in single hare-lip. In a, />, the angular incision allows two 
flaps to be turned downwards. In c, d, a single flap from the left side is fixed to the opposite 
side. lne,f, the edges are pared, making the lines of incision strongly concave inwards. 
g, shows Golding-Bird's 'rectangular operation ' (vide Brit. Med. Journ., October 1890). 

5. The more complicated operations of Giraldes and Collis are seldom 
employed, but it is occasionally very useful to carry the incision round the 
ala of the nose in severe cases ; by this means the depth of the lip can be 
greatly increased ; this plan was, we believe, first employed by Dr. Rawdon, 
of Liverpool. Many other methods are described. Owen's is very good. 

In double hare-lip two special difficulties have to be met, the management 
of the prselabium and of the praemaxilla. The praelabium may be 

1. Pared at its sides and free extremity so as to make a semicircular or 
tongue-shaped flap which is fitted between the upper parts of the two lateral 
flaps, these having been previously pared. 

2. If long enough, the prselabium may be brought down to make the 
central part of the lip, being pared only at its sides, and the lateral flaps are 
then fitted to it instead of to each other. 

3. The central flap may be removed'altogether, and the two sides brought 
together throughout their whole length. 



Cleft Palate 151 

4. The praelabium, having been dissected away from the praemaxilla, may 
be doubled upon its base and turned up to form a columna for the nose. 
The first and second of these plans are the most generally useful. 

The praemaxilla in some cases may be pushed gradually backwards by 
constant pressure with a pad before the hare-lip is operated on, or it may be 
forcibly pushed back at once ; this is open to the objection pointed out by 
F. Mason, that the wedging back of the praemaxilla may tend to keep open 
the cleft in the palate. Removal of a wedge-shaped piece from the septum 
nasi or of lateral pieces from the praemaxilla is a plan sometimes adopted. 
The method we prefer where the praemaxilla cannot be covered is to shell 
out the bone, leaving the muco-periosteum to preserve the outline of the lip, 
and then bring the lip together ; this, we think, is certainly better than entire 
removal of the praemaxilla, 1 which produces flattening of the lip. Where the 
praemaxilla is turned upon a vertical axis so that one edge looks forwards it 
may be forcibly rotated into position, but if the lip can be united over the 
projection the prominence will, as already pointed out, soon diminish. 

Any notch left at the free margin of the lip or at the nostril can usually 
be closed by a subsequent operation. Should primary union fail throughout, 
an attempt should be made at once to procure secondary adhesion by either 
putting in fresh sutures or, if the tissues are too soft and inflamed to hold 
them, by applying strapping to bring the sides together. If the child's health 
is good, this will probably succeed ; failure is, however, often due to malnutri- 
tion ; in such cases union cannot be expected to occur, and a second attempt 
should be put off until the health is improved. It is wiser not to operate too 
soon a second time ; many cases that look unsatisfactory after operation 
improve much in time. 

The particular mode of operating must be selected for each individual 
case, looking especially to the size of the central portion of the lip in double 
hare-lip and to the inequality of the two sides in the single deformity. 

Cleft Palate. — The varieties of cleft palate have already been mentioned. 
The severer forms are commonly associated with double hare-lip — indeed, it is 
said to be very rare for double hare-lip to occur without cleft palate, and no 
doubt this is true in the complete forms of hare-lip. 

Here a brief account of the modes of treating the deformity can alone be 
given. 

For choice the operation should be performed between the fifth and 
eighth years, but in the less severe cases it may be done as early as the third 
year ; before this it is not wise to attempt it,- unless in exceptional circum- 
stances. As in all plastic operations, care must be taken that the child is in 
good health. The other general rules to be observed are : the edges of the 
cleft must be freely pared, all tension must be carefully avoided, the muco- 
periosteum must be thoroughly loosened at the junction of the hard and soft 
palates in cases of cleft of the velum alone, no hard food must be given till 
union is complete, and if the operation is only partially successful or fails 
altogether, another attempt should be made at the end of three months. 

1 This method was introduced by Sir W. Fergusson. 

2 Mr. Clutton has operated successfully in two favourable cases of cleft of the soft 
palate at 12 months old. Lancet, June 6, 1887. 



152 Diseases of the Digestive System 

Staphyloraphy, or the operation for closure of a cleft of the soft palate, 
consists in freely paring the edges of the cleft throughout, then a sufficient 
number of sutures are passed, and next the attachment of the soft palate to 
the hard is carefully loosened, and finally, the palate muscles having been 
divided to relieve tension, the sutures are tightened up. The exact mode of 
operating that we prefer is as follows. The child is anaesthetised, a pillow- 
is placed beneath the shoulders, and the head allowed to fall right back so 
that the roof of the pharynx is almost horizontal ; in this position light 
enters the mouth well, and the blood and saliva collect in a pool in the 
pharynx instead of irritating the larynx. A gag is then inserted, the whole 
of the cleft carefully pared, and then from four to seven wire sutures are put 
in in the following way : — a slightly curved needle in a handle is passed 
through the edge on one side into the cleft, it is then threaded with wire and 
withdrawn, the wire is disengaged, the needle passed similarly through the 
other side and threaded with the end already passed ; this is then drawn 
through the second side by removing the needle, bringing the wire across 
the gap with the two ends projecting on the oral surface. 1 When all the 
sutures are passed an incision is made through the muco-periosteum of the 
hard palate down to the bone on each side of the front of the cleft and well 
away from it, the muco-periosteum is then carefully detached from the bone 
all round the anterior extremity of the cleft so that the soft parts are quite 
free and loose. Next, holding all the sutures together in the left hand, the 
palate knife is carried backwards and outwards from the incision already 
made until the levator and tensor palati are freely divided and the velum 
is quite lax. 2 If there is no tension it is a good plan to make the relaxation in- 
cisions after twisting up the wires. A minute or two is then given up to firm 
pressure with a sponge upon the palate so that all bleeding may be stopped. 
Finally, the wires are twisted up : we usually begin with the middle wires, as 
they bear tension best. The ends are then cut short, the cleft inspected to 
see that the lips are accurately adjusted and that there is no tension, and the 
gag is then removed. 

Various modifications of the operation are of course well known and will 
be found described in the general text-books. 

During the operation it is important to avoid the use of sponges as long 
as possible, since mopping out the pharynx much increases the amount of 
secretion poured out. 

The after treatment. — The hands must be carefully secured to avoid 
injury to the palate, and no solid food should be given for a week. Many 
surgeons give nothing by mouth at all for forty-eight hours and feed the 
patient by enemata. Others allow milk from the first, and sops after two or 
three days ; others again allow soft solids from the first ; probably it is better 
to restrict the diet to milk for two or three days and then allow soup and 
sops till the end of the week ; after this the ordinary diet may be gradually 
resumed, avoiding of course any hard or irritating material. The stitches 
we usually leave to take care of themselves, and nothing more is seen 

1 For knowledge of this most simple plan we are indebted to our colleague, 
Mr. Hardie. 

2 Sometimes it is well to divide the palato-glossus and pharyngeus by snipping through 
the pillars of the fauces. 



Cleft Palate 153 

of them, the child probably spits them out. If, however, they are setting up 
irritation, or if after a few weeks they have not come away, they should be 
removed. Any little granulating point or small perforation left at the anterior 
extremity of the cleft will usually heal up of itself ; if it does not do so the 
application of nitrate of silver will sometimes succeed, or in other cases a 
second little operation may be required. 

Only one mode of performing the operation of Uranoplasty, or closure 
of a cleft of the hard palate, will be described here ; in our experience it is 
much more successful than the other plans, and if it fails there is less difficulty 
in a second operation than after the so-called osteoplastic method. 

Operation by muco-periosteal flaps consists in paring the edges of the 
cleft throughout, then an incision is made midway between the alveolar margin 
of the palate and the cleft for its whole length down to the bone. The bridge 
of muco-periosteum between the incision and the cleft is then stripped off 
the bone with a blunt raspatory completely into the cleft throughout its 
whole length ; this must be done most thoroughly, so that there is no tension 
upon the flaps, which, however, must not be bruised more than can possibly be 
helped. The sutures are then passed as in the operation upon the soft 
palate and twisted up. 

In case of operation upon the soft palate alone we prefer the plan of 
paring the edges first, then passing the sutures, and then dividing the muscles 
before twisting the sutures ; while in uranoplasty the edges are first pared, 
then the flaps raised, and lastly the sutures are passed and twisted up. 

In quite young children it is an advantage, if there is a complete cleft of 
both hard and soft palates, to close the soft palate alone first and some months 
after to close the hard ; the union of the velum tends to draw together the 
sides of the hard palate during growth and makes subsequent closure of the 
cleft more easy. Operation on a complete cleft of both hard and soft palates 
should be reserved for older children, who can better bear the increased 
severity of the more extensive operation. 

The shape of the palate a?xh, already alluded to, is of importance ; the 
higher and narrower the arch the easier in most cases is the closure of the 
cleft, since there is proportionately more tissue to turn across the gap. 

In some children the cleft is so wide, that is, the failure of growth of 
the palate processes is so marked, that it is impossible to close the opening 
by a plastic operation ; in such cases an obturator should be fitted to the 
gap. 

In some instances the deficiency may be lessened by operation, even 
though complete closure is impossible ; a smaller obturator is then sufficient. 

Obturators are liable to increase the size of the opening by pressure 
unless carefully managed. 1 

The results of the operation are, in successful cases, that the power of 
swallowing is improved, the food no longer tending to pass into the nasal 
fossse, and the tendency to pharyngeal catarrh is lessened. The voice is not 
improved by the operation itself, but closure of the cleft renders it possible 
by subsequent training to greatly improve speech ; and if sufficient care is 

1 Coles' modification of Suersen's is probably the best obturator. Vide Brit. Med. 
Jour., November 4, i382. 



154 



Diseases of the Digestive System 



taken it may be rendered practically perfect ; this no training can do while 
the cleft remains. 

Mr. Mason's plan of completely dividing the soft palate backwards is 
devised to remedy the rigidity of the velum, sometimes resulting after opera- 
tion, which interferes with speech and deglutition. 

A high-pitched roof to the mouth sometimes produces exactly the same 
effect upon speech as a cleft palate ; this has been treated by Mr. Warrington 
Haward by loosening the muco-periosteum and excising a strip ; the edges 
of the wound are then brought together so as to lower the pitch of the arch. 
Much improvement followed in his case. 1 

Other Malformations. — The rarer forms of congenital malformation 
of the lips require little more than mention here. 

A median fissure of the upper lip is of extreme rarity, but does occur ; it 
results from complete suppression of the lower part of the prefrontal process 2 
{vide pp. 145-6). 

Cleft of the lower lip has occasionally been met with, as well as a 
peculiar mammillary projection on each side of the middle line. 3 

Macrostoma, or congenital enlargement of the mouth, is usually unilateral, 
occurs most commonly in females, and is not hereditary ; it may be associated 




Fie 



:g. — Macrostoma on the left side, with a faint scar-like mark leading up towards a depression 
at the base of a well-marked supernumerary auricle. (Mr. Southam's case.) 



with branchial fistulae and supernumerary auricles together with hare-lip, as 
in a case of our own. In Guersant's case, figured by Mason in ' Surgery of the 
Face,' the deformity was bilateral and clearly due to failure of union of the 
superior maxillary with the fronto-nasal and external nasal processes, i.e. per- 
sistence of the lachrymal fissure. 4 In the more usual form it is a persistence 
merely of the great buccal aperture from incomplete fusion of the superior 

1 Lancet, January 15, 1887. 

2 For a discussion on this subject and information on median hare-lip in animals, see 
Mr. Bland Sutton's admirable lectures, Lancet, February 18, 1888. 

5 In one instance the cleft ran downwards from the angle of the mouth. Murray is 
quoted by Mason as having seen a case where congenital sacculi existed in the lower lip 
in four members of one family. A similar case is recorded by Sympson in the Brit. Med. 
Jour. , December 9, 1882. 

4 Vide also figs, in Forster's Missbildung. des Mensch. 



Macrocheiiia — Microstoma — Macroglossia 155 

and inferior maxillary plates, i.e. of the maxillary process of the pterygo- 
palatine arch and the lower part of the mandibular arch from which Meckel's 
cartilage and the lower jaw arise. The condition is easily remedied by 
paring and uniting the edges of the fissure to the required extent. 

IVIacrocheilia, or enlargement of the lips, is occasionally met with as a 
congenital condition due to lymphatic overgrowth or enlarged mucous glands 
(cf. also N^EVUS). When the deformity is sufficiently serious to require treat- 
ment, a part of the lip may be removed either by taking out a wedge-shaped 
piece of the whole thickness of the lip or by splitting the lip and removing 
a part of its thickness and afterwards stitching together the skin and mucous 
membrane. 

Microstoma, or congenitally small mouth, is occasionally seen, and even 
complete closure — atresia. This is treated by enlarging the opening to the 
necessary extent, stitching together the mucous and cutaneous borders, and 
at the corners bringing a flap of mucous membrane across the angle to the 
skin. 1 Similar operations may be performed in cases of cicatricial contrac- 
tion after ulceration, burns, &c. 

In very rare cases the tongue is congenitally absent. 

A common deformity, though not nearly so common as it is popularly 
supposed to be, is tongue-tie or congenital shortness of the fenum. Where 
this really exists the tip of the tongue is so tied down to the floor of the 
mouth and inner surface of the jaw that it cannot be protruded, and sucking 
is materially interfered with ; slighter degrees of the deformity often exist, 
while in rare cases the tongue is so bound down to the floor of the mouth as 
to be practically immobile (anchyloglossus). Tongue-tie is easily recognised 
by pushing up the tip with the finger in the child's mouth ; its treatment 
consists in snipping through the edge of the fraenum with a pair of blunt- 
pointed scissors and then tearing the rest with the finger-nail while the 
tongue is pushed upwards. The division should be made near the jaw, and 
should not be too free, or possibly the ranine vessels might be injured, or even, 
it is said, 'tongue-swallowing' occur, from loosening of the tongue muscles 
in the child's subsequent efforts at sucking. A more probable danger is the 
occurrence of cellulitis. 

Sometimes the tongue is malformed, cleft in the middle line, or even 
trilobed,"- or the muscles of one side may be deficient, 3 e.g. as sometimes 
in facial hemiatrophy. 

Sublingual cysts may develop in the median line between the genio- 
hyo-glossi as a result of persistence of the lingual duct which runs from the 
foramen caecum towards the isthmus of the thyroid ; the cavity of these cysts 
is lined with epithelium and contains fatty material 4 {vide p. 158). 

JVXacrog-lossia is the term applied to a congenital affection of the tongue 
in which the normal lymph spaces are greatly enlarged and there is also an 
overgrowth of the connective tissue of the part ; there is, in fact, congenital 
lymphangiectasis. The result of this is great enlargement of the tongue, 
which may be kept protruded from the mouth to varying degrees, and by its 

1 Simple dilatation by plugs is advised by Holmes. 

- Barling, Brit. Med. Jour., December 5, 1885. 

5 Cholet in Billard's Maladies de I ' Enfance. 

4 Bland Sutton, Brit. Med. Jour., February 27, 1886. 



156 Diseases of the Digestive System 

bulk and unwieldiness interferes with sucking and breathing. We have also 
met with slighter degrees of the same condition affecting only the sublingual 
tissue and resembling ranula. Associated commonly with macroglossia is 
hygroma or one form of ' hydrocele of the neck.' This is simply a similar 
condition of the lymphatics of the floor of the mouth and upper part of the 
neck. It appears as a soft, doughy swelling in the submaxillary region and 
may reach a large size, occupying the greater part of the sides and front of 
the neck {vide chapter on Tumour Growth). 

In severe cases these conditions rarely admit of successful treatment, the 
children are generally marasmic and often otherwise malformed. Removal 
of part of the tongue with the ecraseur or excision of a wedge from it with 
subsequent closure of the gap may be attempted. Galvano-puncture, electro- 
lysis, setons, and injections are all worth thinking of, and pressure and astrin- 
gents are said to have done good in some instances. It must be remembered 
that hygroma sometimes spontaneously disappears. 

Slighter degrees of the deformity are occasionally met with in older patients ; 
in them the condition has a less obvious connection with the lymphatics and 
appears to be sometimes mere overgrowth of the mucous and connective tissues. 

Ranula is the result of occlusion of a mucous duct and the formation 
of a retention cyst, rarely it is due to obstruction of a sublingual salivary duct. 
It appears as a bluish-grey translucent swelling beneath the tongue ; it 
is soft, fluctuant, and painless, but produces deformity from pressure of the 
tongue upwards and the floor of the mouth downwards, and, if large, interferes 
with speech and deglutition. The swelling contains a clear glairy fluid like 
white of egg. Ranula may be treated by excision of a part of the cyst wall or 
by passage of a seton through it ; both methods are frequently successful, 
but sometimes fail ; if they do the greater part of the cyst wall should be 
clipped away with scissors and the surface remaining be well scraped or 
rubbed over with solid nitrate of silver. Relapse is believed to be sometimes 
due to the cyst being multilocular. Rarer forms of ranula are those due to 
enlargement of a bursa beneath the mucous membrane (bursa of Fleisch- 
mann), or of the one between the genio-hyo-glossi muscles — these may con- 
tain melon-seed bodies. Ranulae connected with the submaxillary duct have 
often been described, but their existence is more than doubtful ; the duct can 
always be made out lying on the surface of the cyst. Congenital dermoid 
cysts in connection with the branchial clefts are sometimes met with in the 
floor of the mouth ; they may attain a large size or remain stationary for years ; 
they contain the usual sebaceous matter, hair, &c. 

A form of cyst arising in connection with the lingual duct which runs from 
the foramen caecum towards the hyoid bone has already been mentioned. ' The 
dermoid and bursal cysts are to be treated by free incision, with scraping and 
subsequent drainage ; in some cases the cyst requires dissecting out through 
an incision below the jaw. 

Other Affections of the Tongue. — Papilloma and condyloma of the 
tongue are not rarely seen, as well as naevi and mucous retention cysts. 
Papillomata may be snipped off, condylomata require of course specific 
treatment, mucous cysts should be treated like ranula. 

1 It is clue to persistence of the pharyngeal diverticulum from which the thyroid gland 
is developed. Vide Median Fistidcs of Neck, p. 158. 



Branchial Fistula? 157 

Nsevus of the tongue is not rare {vide chapter on N.evi) ; puncture with 
the actual cautery is usually the best treatment, but excision of part of the 
tongue may be required. 

Mason has described congenital pendulous fibro-cellular tumours of the 
tongue. 

Hypertrophy and Atrophy of the Face. — In some cases one side of 
the face is congenitally hypertrophied, and continues to grow more rapidly 
than the other side. Nothing can be done for this deformity unless, perhaps, 
ligature of the external carotid was tried. 

Congenital Atrophy, or rather arrest of developme?it of the face, is also 
occasionally seen ; most often it is the result of either some cerebral deficiency 
or of some unilateral lesion, such, for instance, as torticollis ; it may occur as 
an acquired deformity resulting from injury. 

Congenital atresia of the mouth has been already mentioned, but in some 
cases the obstruction is not at the lips, but at the level of the pillars of the 
fauces, and is clearly due to non-absorption of the septum marking off the 
buccal involution from the pharynx. If this rare condition is met with, 
probably free incision and dilatation would relieve the obstruction. 

Actual absence of the mouth with deficient development of the facial 
bones, and instances of apertures below the natural position or on the cheek, 
have been met with. {Vide Billard, op. cit.) 

Ballard has recorded a case of deformity of the jaws produced by thumb- 
sucking, the upper jaw being drawn forwards, and the lower depressed so 
that the face is ' overhung.' ' 

Branchial Fistulae. — Small orifices large enough to permit the passage 
of a fine probe for distances varying from a quarter of an inch to two or three 
inches are sometimes met with in the neck on one side of the middle line. 
They may occur in the immediate neighbourhood of the external ear or lower 
down in the neck ; the most common position is said to be just above the 
sterno-clavicular joint. The fine channel continuous with these openings 
usually runs upwards and towards the middle line. A little watery mucous 
discharge is often secreted from glands lining the interior of the passag'e, and 
it is said that occasionally there is a distinct communication with the pharynx. 
These fistulae, which are often hereditary, may be single, or there may be two 
or three of them, and they may be symmetrical. Fragments of cartilage 2 
may be found in their neighbourhood, and it is possible that pharyngeal 
diverticula may result from patency of the internal orifice. 

The presence of these fistulae is due to imperfect obliteration of the 
branchial clefts of embryonic life. 

While the cervical branchial fistulae are rare, it is quite common to see 
children in whom there is a small pendulous body, like a molluscous growth, 
upon the cheek just in front of the external ear. Sometimes there is more 
than one of these, and very often at the base of the little body is a minute 
orifice leading a short distance inwards. We have most often seen these 
'supernumerary auricles,' as they are called, unassociated with any other 
deformity ; but in one instance the child, which had several of these auricles, 

1 Path. Soc, Trans., vol. xv. 

- Treves records a case in which a rod of cartilage existed but no fistula [Path. Soc, 
November i, 1887). 



58 



Diseases of the Digestive System 



had also macrostoma, double hare-lip, and cleft palate, and a small pendulous 
body exactly like one of the auricles upon the tip of the nose. Our friend 
Mr. Southam has recorded a somewhat similar case (fig. 19), and Mr. J. H. 
Morgan another. Cervical ' auricles ' are also met with {vide fig. 20). 

The cervical branchial fistulas represent the clefts between the hyoid and 
thyrohyoid arches, or between the thyrohyoid and subhyoid, or again, between 
the subhyoid arch and the upper boundary of the chest, while the presence of 
aural fistula occurring, as it sometimes does, in the helix or elsewhere, is due 
to persistence of one or more of the fissures between the 'tubercles' of which 
the pinna is built up, 1 the supernumerary auricles themselves representing" 
displaced or ununited ' tubercles.' 

The common ' supernumerary auricles, which may or may not have a little 
pit at their base,' are thought by Sir J. Paget to be ' probably growths of the 

same opercular skin-fold as the auricle, 
from which they look like bits detached, 
or they are auricles displaced, but still 
in the line or region of the mandibular 
arch.' 2 

The auricles, sometimes at least, con- 
tain cartilage, and the association of 
enchondroma of the parotid occurring in 
later life with disturbance of the develop- 
ment of these parts has been pointed out 
by Mr. Jacobson. 3 

In very rare instances an orifice is 
met with in the median line of the neck. 
Of this we have seen two cases : in one 
there was a seam in the skin closely 
resembling the scar of a tracheotomy 
wound, and in the centre of this, just 
above the sternum, was a small open- 
ing ; in the second case there was a dis- 
charging fistula over the lower part of the thyroid cartilage. These median 
apertures may be explained by failure of the branchial arches to close in the 
middle line, or possibly by a deficient closure of the ' sinus cervicalis.' It is, 
however, most probable that such a fistula, the ' thyro-glossal duct' or 
* canal of His,' is, in the words of Dr. C. F. Marshall, who has kindly sent 
us his paper on the subject, ' a remnant of the middle thyroid rudiment of 
His. It is not difficult to imagine,' he says, ' that this may gradually become 
dilated at its lower end into a sac by the secretion of mucus from the wall of 
the canal, and that this sac ultimately causes the skin to give way by its pres- 
sure till a sinus is formed.' Dr. Marshall, in his interesting" paper, points out 
that these fistulas are not present at birth, but appear later, a strong point in 
support of his view. 4 

1 Vide Mr. Bland Sutton's Lectures, Brit. Med. your., February 19, 1887, and 
Lancet, February, 1888. 

2 Sir J. Paget {Med.-Chir. Trans., 1878), from whose writings much of our information 
on the subject is taken. 

3 Vide Guy s Reports. 

4 Vide Sir J. Paget, loc. cit. ; alsoTillaux and others, Le Progres Mddic, February 21, 




Fig. 20.— Supernumerary auricle in the neck. 



Branchial Fis tulce &c. 1 59 

As these branchial fistulae give rise to very little inconvenience, it is usually 
best to leave them alone, especially as they are intractable to treatment from 
the difficulty of thoroughly destroying their secreting surface. The passage 
of a hot wire down them, or passing a probe in and then dissecting round it, 
or the use of the galvanic cautery, is the plan usually advised. In the 
second of our median fistulas, in which there was a ' pinching ' pain in the 
part, we with some trouble succeeded in obliterating it for a time by several 
applications of nitrate of silver fused upon a wire and passed well up the 
track ; subsequently, however, fresh secretion occurred, and even excision 
failed to entirely cure the condition. 

Supernumerary auricles should be simply snipped off. 

Instead of fistulae, congenital dermoid cysts may be found marking the 
sites of the various fissures, &c, of the embryo {vide chapter on TUMOUR 
Growth). Clutton has described a case of congenital papilloma in the line 
of the branchial fissures. 

In some of these patients the lower jaw is imperfectly developed. 

Any part of the digestive tract may be the seat of congenital malforma- 
tion in addition to those already described. Congenital strictures l and 
pouchings - of the oesophagus, tracheal fistula, 3 displacements of the stomach, 
obliteration of the pylorus, absence of portions of the intestinal canal, and 
displacements of its various segments, are all met with, and in certain cases 
may have some surgical importance ; they cannot, however, be discussed 
here. Enterotomy might possibly be of service in some cases of congenital 
intestinal deformity where the obstruction was low down {vide p. 130). 

1885; Dr. C. F. Marshall, Jour, of Anat. and Phys., vol. xxvi. ; also St. Thomas's 

Hospital Reports, 1890, and Brit. Med. Jour., May 1890. 

1 Charlewood Turner mentions seven cases in Ziemssen. Vide Path. Soc. Trans. , 
1885. 

2 Sir Morell Mackenzie states that congenital pouching is extremely rare. 

5 May be combined with oesophageal deficiency usually at the middle third of the 
gullet. The fistula is a persistence of the embryonic condition (Sir M. Mackenzie). 



i6o 



CHAPTER X. 

DISEASES OF THE LIVER. 

In examining the liver of an infant or young child, it must be borne in mind 
that this organ is proportionately larger in the child than in the adult ; it con- 
sequently occupies a greater space in the abdominal cavity, and thus to the 
inexperienced it may appear to be enlarged, when in reality it is only of 
normal size. The fact pointed out by Sahlf must not be forgotten, namely, 
that the angle made by the lower ribs with the tip of the sternum is wider in 
children than adults, so that more of the liver is left uncovered in the former 
than in the latter. This may lead to the liver appearing larger than it really 
is. The upper limit, as determined by percussion (superficial dulness), reaches 
to the fifth space at the right edge of the sternum, to the upper border of the 
sixth rib in the nipple line, the seventh in the axillary, and the ninth pos- 
teriorly, though the deep dulness reaches somewhat higher. While the edge 
of the right lobe does not in an adult extend below the costal arch in the 
recumbent position, in a child it always does. The size of the liver can be 
as readily estimated in a child as in an adult by percussion if the stomach is 
not over-distended ; the lower edge can, however, be much more readily felt 
in a child than in an adult by placing the warm hand on the abdomen and 
gently pressing backwards and upwards. In most cases it can be easily 
determined if the edge is round or sharp or irregular. 

The liver is not often smaller than natural during childhood ; it is so only 
in the rare instances of the occurrence of acute yellow atrophy or cirrhosis, 
and even in these cases it is by no means always diminished in size ; indeed, 
it is frequently enlarged, a result which is due partly to its vascular nature, 
its veins being very readily distended, and partly also to the ready way in 
which it appears to store away fat. 

The best instance of its enlargement from mechanical causes is afforded 
by the congestion which so frequently attends heart disease, where, in conse- 
quence of regurgitation through the mitral valves, there is an obstruction to 
the onward flow of the blood. It is enlarged also in mediastino-pericarditis 
for a similar reason. There appears also often to be a temporary enlargement 
and a sluggish circulation in many cases of chronic intestinal catarrh, where 
there is said to be a functional derangement of the liver, accompanied by loss 
of appetite and pasty constipated stools deficient in bile and an excess of 
pigment and perhaps uric acid in the urine. The liver is frequently enlarged 
from the presence of excess of fat ; more rarely it is amyloid, or the seat of 
new growths or of abscess. 



Congenital- Jaundice 161 

Jaundice. — The common form of jaundice occurring in newly born in- 
fants has already been discussed ; the rarer form in which jaundice is due to 
lesion of the bile-ducts may be here referred to. 

Congenital Stricture or Obliteration of the Bile-ducts. — In these 
curious cases an obliteration of the common hepatic ducts appears to take 
•place, which leads to a secondary or biliary cirrhosis of the liver if the infant 
survive for a few months. The child may die from haemorrhage from the 
•navel or gastro-intestinal canal during the first few days of life. Such cases, 
.though not common, are by no means rare. Among the more recently recorded 
cases are those of Wickham Legg and Glaister ; we have seen two cases in 
which autopsies were made. 

Symptoms. — The infant is jaundiced from birth, the yellow colour being 
intense, affecting the skin, conjunctivas, mucous membrane, and urine ; the 
stools are pale and completely devoid of bile. The infant frequently suffers 
from haemorrhages, the stools then being black and the skin covered with 
ecchymoses. In one of our cases the motions were stated by the mother to be 
black immediately after birth. The liver may be enlarged. Such children 
may live for a few months ; both of our cases lived to be 4^ months old. 
.The following case illustrates some of these points. 

Congenital Absence of Hepatic Ducts. Biliary Cirrhosis. — John H., aged 6 weeks, 
was brought to the out-patient department on October 4, 1883, with the following his- 
tory : — Mother states he was an eight-months child, born after a tedious labour. About a 
week after birth it was noticed he was jaundiced (midwife states he was yellow when 
born) ; his urine was dark and stained the linen ; the stools were loose and pale grey in 
colour; he did not 'snuffle,' and there never was any rash. On examination, when 
6 weeks old, he was deeply jaundiced ; fairly well nourished ; the edge of the liver was 
felt immediately below the ribs. October 8. — Much the same; diarrhoea troublesome, 
pale white milky stools. October 25. — The liver is enlarged, the edge being felt nearly on 
a. level with the umbilicus ; it has been increasing in size the past week or two. Novem- 
ber 1. — Liver still enlarged; stools loose, resembling milk; still intensely jaundiced ; is 
becoming very thin. December 6. — Liver decidedly less ; diarrhoea not so troublesome ; 
continues to waste. December 30. — Diarrhoea has been very troublesome ; convulsions. 
Death when 4 months old. He had not at any time suffered from purpura or haemor- 
rhages. 

Post-mortem. — Body extremely emaciated and deeply jaundiced ; all internal tissues 
bile-stained. Heart, muscular walls pale yellow ; kidneys ditto. Liver, 7 oz. ; does not 
appear enlarged ; is of a dirty dark green colour, surface finely granular ; no adhesions or 
peri-hepatitis or matting of parts in the fissure ; it has a tough feel, and creaks under the 
knife as it is cut ; the section shows a dark green colour with strands of fibrous tissue, much 
in excess of the normal state, accompanying the portal vessels ; the strands are best marked 
near the entrance of the vessels at the fissure, and the larger bile channels are more or 
less dilated and contain thick green bile. On examining the inferior surface of the liver, 
the gall-bladder is seen distended with a non-biliary mucoid fluid ; its ducts can be traced 
downwards, though smaller than normal, to the ductus choledochus ; the latter joining the 
duodenum in the normal position is pervious and contains mucus only. No trace of a 
right or left hepatic duct can be found. The portal vein and hepatic artery are apparently 
quite normal. Microscopical examination of liver shows excess of fibrous tissue sur- 
rounding portal vessels and lobules ; many small biliary ducts are seen choked with 
inspissated bile. 

Diagnosis. — The obstructive jaundice of the newly born can be readily 
distinguished from functional jaundice, the only form likely to be confounded 
with it, by the stools in the former being colourless while the latter contain bile. 

M 



1 62 Diseases of the Liver 

Morbid Aiiatomy. — There is much emaciation, the internal organs are 
intensely bile-stained, with minute haemorrhages on their surfaces. The 
liver is mostly enlarged and of a dirty green colour ; the surface is granular, the 
granulations varying in size from a millet seed to a hemp seed ; it has a tough 
feel, and on section an excess of fibrous strands is seen accompanying the 
portal vessels — this is most marked at the great fissure ; the larger biliary 
channels contain green inspissated bile. On examining the vessels in the 
transverse fissure, the vein and artery are intact, but the gall-bladder is usually 
small and contains no bile, and the common and hepatic ducts are either shri- 
velled up and nearly obliterated or greatly diminished in size. Microscopical 
examination of such livers shows biliary cirrhosis. The etiology of these 
cases is obscure ; in some cases apparently the ducts are never formed. In 
one of our cases the mother had suffered from syphilis, but neither of the 
infants showed any symptoms. It is possible that a catarrh of the bile-ducts, 
occurrring during fcetal life or a blockage from inspissated bile might lead to> 
a permanent obstruction and obliteration. The cirrhosis follows as a result. 

Prognosis. —Such cases are necessarily fatal in a few months and hardly 
admit of any treatment. 

Catarrhal Jaundice. — Children of all ages are apt to suffer from a tem- 
porary jaundice, associated with gastro-intestinal catarrh, attributable to a 
swollen condition of the mucous membrane of the duodenum and common 
bile-duct. 

Symptoms. — After a few days, in which there are symptoms of dyspepsia,, 
the conjunctivas and skin become yellow, the urine contains much pigment, . 
and the stools are pale. A few days later the liver may be felt to be en- 
larged. There are rarely the nausea, low temperature, and slow pulse so often 
seen in the catarrhal jaundice of adults. We have, however, seen one or 
two cases in which there were jaundice, delirium, drowsiness, and slight fever, , 
in which we suspected acute yellow atrophy, yet they finally recovered, and 
we were left in doubt as to their nature. As a rule, in the course of a few 
days or a week all the symptoms disappear. 

The diagnosis of catarrhal jaundice does not usually give rise to difficulty 
when it occurs in children. The possibility of the jaundice being due to 
acute yellow atrophy must be borne in mind, and any ecchymoses or brain 
symptoms would be very suggestive of the latter. Jaundice due to cirrhosis, 
or new growth, or syphilitic disease, could hardly be mistaken, as jaundice 
under these circumstances would not be an early symptom. It is possible 
that jaundice may be due to round worms finding their way into the duode- 
num, and entering the common duct. 

Treatment. — The treatment of catarrh of the bile-ducts should be similar 
to that of gastric catarrh ; the diet consisting of beef-tea, bread-sops, light 
puddings, and- milk. Sulphate or phosphate of soda may be given with infu- 
sion of rhubarb two or three times a day. Carlsbad salts or Friedrichshall 
water is useful in keeping the bowels open. 

.Acute Yellow Atrophy of the Idver. — This curious and interesting 
disease appears to occur at all periods of life, infancy and childhood not 
excepted. Several Continental writers have described cases occurring in 
infants a few days old, but whether these were in reality true cases of yellow 
atrophy may be open to doubt. Undoubtedly, infants who are jaundiced 






Acute Yellow Atrophy 163 

shortly after birth die in the course of a few days or weeks with symptoms 
of acute disease, but, as far as can be judged from the reports, the naked-eye 
appearances of the liver after death were not those usually found in acute 
yellow atrophy. In such obscure diseases as those named after Buhl and 
Winckel, jaundice occurs. While this disease cannot be said to be common 
at any time of life, it is perhaps rarer in childhood than in early adult or 
middle life, though it is very probable that cases are not infrequently over- 
looked, inasmuch as some of the recorded cases were not diagnosed during 
life. That they are not rare is certain, as Dr. Hyla Greves has collected 
seventeen cases besides one observed by himself. We have seen two cases, 
one of which occurred in a boy of 4 years, and we have had the opportunity 
of examining the liver in a case of Dr. Railton's. 

Symptoms. — The disease begins insidiously ; the first symptoms are 
chiefly those of catarrhal jaundice, loss of appetite, constipation, and jaundice, 
the stools are mostly pale, but sometimes quite normal, and the urine is bile- 
stained. The patient usually remains in this condition for a week or two, dur- 
ing which time neither his friends nor medical attendant suspect the serious 
nature of the disease. The liver at this period is enlarged and in some cases 
distinctly tender. Then come distinct cerebral symptoms which may not 
improbably be mistaken for the onset of tubercular meningitis. The child is 
irritable, vomits repeatedly, rambles at night, is perhaps very delirious or con- 
vulsed ; the pupils are generally dilated. There are often ecchymoses about 
the body at the seat of slight injuries, and oozing of blood from the gums and 
oedema of the feet and face. After a few days the child passes into a condi- 
tion of coma ; there are also probably muscular twitchings, spasms of several 
groups of muscles, as the masseters, and perhaps local paralyses. The urine 
may contain leucin and tyrosin. In the later stages the liver diminishes in 
size, but this is not invariably the case. The following case illustrates some 
of these points. 

Acute Yellow Atrophy of Liver. — Stephen T., aged 4 years. Admitted September 27, 
1882. Mother dead. No history of congenital syphilis could be obtained. Father is a 
labourer in poor circumstances. Child has been much neglected, and often had insufficient 
food. Four weeks before admission child took very little nourishment ; became yellow 
and was constipated. Fourteen days ago vomiting began, and lately he has been delirious 
at night and queer in his ways. Present state. — Patient is a well-developed boy ; moderate 
jaundice ; there is oedema of both eyelids, back of hands, and dorsum of both feet. He 
is frequently mumbling to himself, and does not readily understand what is said to him. 
His tongue is red at the tip and edges and coated on dorsum ; he is very thirsty, but 
almost constantly vomits his milk immediately after it is taken. Abdomen somewhat dis- 
tended ; edge of liver distinctly felt below costal arch and in epigastrium, and on per- 
cussion dulness extends upwards to the fourth space. The tip of the spleen is felt below 
the tenth rib. Heart's sound normal ; no marked physical signs in chest. Urine passed 
with fasces or in bed ; some separated from faeces contained bile-pigment ; no albumen ; 
no leucin or tyrosin under microscope. Faeces, passed a few hours after admission, were 
solid and of a dark brown colour. Pupils dilated, but act to light. Pulse, 100, weak ; 
Temperature, 99 F. Second day (of admission). — Vomiting continued most of day, but 
less after peptonised milk was given. Temperature, 96"4°-ioo - 2°. Third day. — Less 
vomiting ; haemorrhage from mouth, apparently from gums ; bowels acted once after 
calomel, solid brown motion ; no urine passed for twenty-four hours. Temperature, 
96°-ioi - 2°, 97 - 8°-io2'8°. Fourth day. — Child has been delirious, with some muscular 
twitchings of face and neck. This morning, left facial paralysis noticed not affecting the 
eye ; it is well marked when child cries, but not complete ; no paralysis elsewhere ; pupils 

M 2 



164 Diseases of the Liver 

dilated and sluggish ; child only semi-conscious ; several loose stools passed after calomel, 
the first light yellow, later pale grey colour ; no urine obtained ; edge of liver very dis- 
tinctly felt below costal arch. Pulse, 100, weak; temperature, io2 - 8°, 104 , io2 - 6°, 101 . 
Fifth day. — Much worse ; is quite unconscious ; head and eyes turned to right ; all limbs 
■extended and rigid ; spasms of jaws causing constant grinding of teeth ; breathing 
stertorous ; no optic neuritis, but veins are full and somewhat tortuous. Pulse, 130, weak ; 
temperature, ioi , 2°-ioo°. Died in afternoon. 

Post-morte?n (twenty-two hours after death). — Body well nourished ; skin very yellow ; 
much hypostatic congestion of dependent parts of the back and arms and legs ; ' coffee- 
ground ' material oozing from mouth ; no rigor mortis ; slight cedema ; a bruise about 
size of a penny is visible on the sub-clavicular region, left side. Chest : no fluid, old 
adhesions left side ; right lung on section shows numerous small haemorrhages into sub- 
stance of lung ; both lobes are gorged. Left lung : there is a solid portion in upper 
lobe, reaching anterior surface and corresponding in position with above-mentioned 
bruise, involving the whole thickness of the lobe, but not the inner or outer edges. On 
section this solid portion consists of red hepatisation with a blood-clot in centre and at 
circumference ; lower lobe gorged and containing small haemorrhages. Bronchi contain 
blood and mucus. Heart, o.\ oz. : left side contracted, containing a few strings of yellow 
fibrin ; walls of heart pale yellow and fatty ; no endocarditis ; haemorrhages into sheath of 
aorta. Abdomen : on opening, a few ounces of bile-stained fluid escaped. Much injection 
of small vessels of mesentery in the neighbourhood of the liver ; one haemorrhage, size 
of walnut, in mesentery of descending colon. Stomach contained coffee-grounds ; 
duodenum also darkish contents ; rest of small and large intestines contained pale yellow 
semi-fluid contents. Spleen, 3 oz. , firm : somewhat enlarged but normal. Kidneys, 
4g oz. : cortex pale yellow, and has a glistening appearance from presence of fat ; pyramids 
congested. Brain : nothing abnormal at base, but convolutions on upper surface are 
decidedly flattened ; the ventricles are distended with turbid fluid, and the parts around, 
especially the white portions, are softened and easily wash away under a stream of water ; 
no lesion of pons or softening noted elsewhere ; no haemorrhages. Liver, 12^ oz. : it is 
very limp, and capsule wrinkles on doubling up. Right lobe : upper and lower surfaces 
are irregular from presence of some portions which are more elevated than others ; the 
more elevated portions are greenish-yellow, and the others red. On section, bright 
orange-yellow and red portions are seen ; the lobules are not readily seen in the yellow 
parts, which are soft. In the red, which are firmer, the lobes can be distinguished, the 
centres being bright red and the circumference pale. The left lobe contains more of the 
red parts and the right more yellow. Microscopical examination. — Red portions, the 
intralobular veins are normal, the walls of the interlobular veins contain numerous 
leucocytes, and the surrounding connective tissue is also infiltrated ; the lobules contain 
no hepatic cells, but hyperplastic stroma, leucocytes, many red corpuscles. The biliary 
capillaries are very prominent objects, and seem to contain epithelium with nuclei under- 
going subdivision. Yellow portion — the lobules are large ; central vein normal ; hepatic 
cells swollen ; nuclei obscured ; fine granular contents and bile-pigment. The walls of 
interlobular veins infiltrated with leucocytes. Biliary capillaries stuffed with epithelium. 

Diagnosis. — Malignant jaundice in an early stage cannot be distinguished 
from catarrhal jaundice ; it is only when cerebral symptoms appear, and 
there are dilated pupils, ecchymoses, or constant vomiting, that the suspicion 
is raised that there is something more than simple jaundice. At this time the 
case is liable to be mistaken for meningitis, though the presence of jaundice 
and cerebral symptoms should indicate the true nature of the disease. It 
may possibly be confounded with pyaemia, phosphorus poisoning, or pneu- 
monia with jaundice, but in all these the jaundice would as a rule follow and 
not precede the other symptoms. 

Morbid Anatoiny. — Organs bile-stained ; haemorrhages in various organs. 
Liver small, limp in texture, mostly bile-stained, some portions being greenish- 



. Cirrhosis of Liver 165 

yellow, others orange-red, often bulging in some parts from shrinking in 
others. On section, there are usually areas of red or yellow colour in which 
the lobules are indistinct or entirely indistinguishable. 

Treatment. — Unfortunately but little can be said under this head, as 
such cases have been invariably fatal. 

Cirrhosis of Liver, Alcoholic. — A typical hobnail liver due to alco- 
holism is necessarily rare during early life, as it is hardly likely that it will 
often happen that a child has many opportunities for indulging in alcoholic 
drinks to any excess. Cases of this sort have, however, been reported by 
Continental writers, and a few in this country and also in America. Dr. 
Wilks relates the case of a girl of 8 years who had taken daily for some time 
half a pint of gin ; she eventually suffered from ascites, and at the post-mortem 
a small hobnail liver was found. Cases of cirrhosis have been reported by 
Frerichs, Bamberger, Howard, and others, in which there was a history of 
alcoholism. As the symptoms of alcoholic cirrhosis when it occurs in child- 
hood are the same in children as in adults, no special description is needed 
here. 

Syphilitic Cirrhosis. —Syphilis is by far the commonest cause of in- 
terstitial hepatitis occurring during early life ; though in a large proportion 
of cases it is found in the post-mortem room in cases in which it was not 
diagnosed during life. In syphilitic infants who are born dead, or who 
die within a few months of birth, the liver is sometimes found to be en- 
larged and firmer than usual, the surface is perhaps smooth, but the liver 
cuts as if of leathery consistence, and the cut surface shows the acini to 
be less distinct than normal, and bands of fibroid tissue may be seen 
running through the liver substance. In some cases there are no very 
characteristic microscopic appearances, and it is only on microscopical ex- 
amination that interstitial hepatitis is made out. In a well-marked case the 
section shows an excessive amount of connective tissue along the course of 
the portal vessels, and numerous spindle cells and embryonic tissue. In 
more advanced cases islands of fatty liver cells may be seen surrounded by 
newly formed connective tissue. The above appearances are so characteristic 
of congenital syphilis, that they are diagnostic of syphilis when found post 
?nortei?i, even in the absence of symptoms during life and other confirmatory 
evidence after death. Gubler has described another form of syphilitic liver, 
in which there are miliary gummata present in the liver mostly about the 
size of pins' heads, scattered through the substance or situated in groups, in 
combination with interstitial hepatitis. The small gummata consist of small 
round cells and are mostly connected with the smaller branches of the portal 
vein or biliary capillaries (Birsch Hirschfeld). There is often also thickening 
and thrombosis of the small vessels, the changes being similar to the arteritis 
found in syphilitic disease of the brain. In older children cheesy nodules 
and cicatricial bands of fibroid tissue are found on the surface of the liver, 
similar to those found in syphilitic disease of adults. There may be fibroid 
bands and cicatricial tissue in the great fissure and accompanying the portal 
vessels 'into the liver substance. In some cases there is a peri-hepatitis as 
well as an interstitial hepatitis. 

Symptoms. — In infants almost the only symptom is an enlarged liver, 
Jiaving perhaps harder feel than normal, and in some cases more or less 



1 66 Diseases of the Liver 

jaundice. In older children the liver may perhaps be felt to be enlarged and 
the edge irregular ; there will perhaps be other symptoms present that point 
to syphilis ; in a few cases there has been ascites from portal obstruction. 
Such cases have been described by Cheadle, Norman Moore, and Lewis 
Smith, of New York. 

Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of either alcoholic or syphilitic cirrhosis would 
be greatly assisted by a history of alcoholism or of syphilis, or in the latter 
case by other evidence of syphilis afforded by the patient. In older children, 
the presence of pegged teeth, interstitial keratitis, or scars about the mouth 
would naturally suggest that the enlarged liver present was syphilitic. In 
the absence of other evidence of syphilis in cases of ascites with enlarged 
liver, it is rarely safe to diagnose a syphilitic hepatitis, as both ascites from 
chronic peritonitis and portal obstruction from mediastinitis are more common 
than syphilitic cirrhosis. In portal obstruction the spleen is mostly enlarged. 

Treatment. — Not much can be expected of anti-syphilitic remedies in 
syphilitic cirrhosis, as it is hardly likely fibroid tissue can be absorbed. Still 
it will be wise to give mercury and iodide of potassium by the mouth and 
apply mercurials locally. The ascites may be relieved by tapping. 

Miliary tuberculosis, malaria, chronic peritonitis, chronic heart disease, 
and mediastinitis, may all give rise to interstitial hepatitis in a minor degree. 
In cases of mediastinitis where there has been some obstruction to the flow 
from the hepatic veins, the liver becomes often enormously enlarged and 
sponge-like from the dilatation of the capillaries and small vessels, and there 
is an excess of fibroid tissue formed. 

Treatment. — The treatment of portal obstruction, the result of a cirrhotic 
liver, is only palliative, for there is but little reason to hope that even in syphi- 
litic disease there is much chance of modifying in any way the fibrous tissue 
which is strangulating the portal channels in the liver. Relief must be sought 
by unloading the portal system by purgatives and diuretics and by removing 
the ascitic fluid by tapping ; the latter is best performed by means of Southey's 
trochars. In syphilitic cases the local inunction of mercurial ointment and 
other specific treatment should be tried. 

Patty liver. — The liver becomes enlarged from being infiltrated with 
fat in several different diseases during infancy and early childhood. It is 
common to find children who are fat, pale, and rickety, with large livers, the 
edge of the right lobe reaching nearly into the iliac fossa and the left to the 
umbilicus. If an opportunity occurs for a post-mortem examination, such 
livers are found to be pale and greasy, the lobules being indistinct, and the 
cells are seen microscopically to be loaded with fat. Such children are usually 
anaemic, have large distended abdomens, coated tongues, pasty stools, and 
suffer from chronic indigestion. Under a careful dietary, small doses of 
mercurials and salines, such as Carlsbad or Rubinat water, improvement 
gradually takes place and the liver diminishes in size. 

Tuberculosis of the Iiiver. — Although it is exceedingly common to find 
tubercles in the liver in children dying of general tuberculosis, it is exceedingly 
rare for these tubercles to have given any indication of their presence during 
life. Tubercular disease of the liver generally takes the form either of grey 
miliary tubercles scattered through the organ and on the surface, or of cheesy 
nodules, rarely larger than peas or at the most small marbles, which appear 



Hepatic Abscess 167 

to have a special preference for the neighbourhood of the bile-ducts. These 
caseous masses may be found bile-stained on section, and small cysts formed 
of dilated bile-ducts filled with inspissated bile may be found which have 
been caused by compression of the ducts. Jaundice is rarely produced 
unless there are enlarged caseous glands in the transverse fissure compress- 
ing the common duct. In very rare instances caseous masses appear to form 
in the liver, resembling the caseous masses seen in the brain ; these may 
cause enlargement of the liver and gradually soften down into a chronic 
abscess. We have seen only one case of this kind. The history was as 
follows : — 

Chronic Tuberculosis. Hepatic Abscess. — Boy, aged 14 years, father and mother 
dead; never been out of England; admitted December 21, 1880; recently had pain 
in right side and cough ; an anaemic boy ; yellowish conjunctiva ; pain and tenderness 
about hepatic region ; dulness in right nipple line to fifth rib, and two inches below 
ribs. Temperature, 99°-io2°. January 13. — Slight albumen in urine ; liver is larger, is 
tender to the touch and on percussion ; fine rales at base of right lung. Temperature, 
95°-io3°. 20th. — Liver excessively tender, hepatic region bulging; left lobe halfway to 
umbilicus ; dulness at base of right lung to angle of scapula ; explored left lobe of liver 
with syringe, only obtained blood ; albumen in urine ; is wasted. 21st. — Fluctuation felt 
in liver ; aspiration — this time obtained an ounce or two of thick pus. 26th. — Fluctuation 
decidedly felt ; opened antiseptically, 8 oz. of thick glairy pus, mixed with blood and 
bile ; tube inserted, followed during evening by large discharge of pus. 28th. — Has 
been very weak, vomiting ; left leg very cedematous for a day or two, now dark blue as if 
becoming gangrenous ; sudden death. 

Post-mortem. — Body emaciated ; pus swelling up from fistulous opening ; left leg much 
swollen ; some fluid in pericardium. Heart normal. Right lung adherent to diaphragm by 
lymph and fibrous tissue ; no pneumonia ; the diaphragm abnormally raised by the 
enlarged liver below, and is adherent to it by recent lymph ; the liver has been punctured 
in the left lobe near its junction with the right on its upper and anterior surface. The 
fistulous opening enters a very irregular cavity containing pus : this cavity contains semi- 
solid cheesy material and irregular fibrous trabecular, which give it a worm-eaten appear- 
ance ; posteriorly in the right lobe is a cheesy mass, size of an orange, beginning to 
become worm-eaten, and containing a little pus ; a few other irregular cavities joining 
together ; no lardaceous change. Spleen enlarged, lardaceous. Intestines matted 
together by old adhesions, the mesentery containing cretaceous masses (old peritonitis 
from suppurating glands) ; contains cicatrices of old (tubercular) ulcers ; no recent ulcera- 
tion. Mesenteric glands in places cretaceous. Left external iliac vein, ante-mortem 
clot ; kidneys congested, not lardaceous ; lungs, old scars at apices ; pulmonary artery 
contains ante-mortem clot ; embolism. 

Hepatic Abscess. — Children occasionally suffer from multiple abscesses, 
the result of the absorption of some septic material from the region of the 
portal vein, or from some abscess in the immediate neighbourhood. Thus 
in one case under our care multiple abscesses in the liver were evidently 
secondary to an ulcer in the caecal appendix caused by a pin which had been 
swallowed. In a second case there was a large hepatic abscess communi- 
cating through the diaphragm with an empyema in the right pleural cavity ; 
and in a case of Dr. Hutton's hepatic abscesses were due to the contiguity of 
the liver with suppurating retro-peritoneal glands. In some cases which have 
been recorded abscesses in the liver were secondary to typhoid ulcers, and 
in others to the irritation of worms which had penetrated into the bile-ducts. 
The symptoms consist in enlargement of the liver, extreme tenderness, and 



1 68 Diseases of the Liver 

intermittent fever. The prognosis is bad. If pus is found, it should be' 
evacuated antiseptically. 

Hydatids. — Hydatid cysts in the liver are not uncommon during latere 
childhood, but are decidedly rare before five or six years of age. If the cyst 
is of any size and situated in either lobe so as to come in contact with the" 
abdominal wall, it will form a smooth, rounded swelling continuous with the 
liver, neither painful nor tender, elastic to the touch, or actually fluctuating. 
Diagnosis under such circumstances is easy, especially if the tumour is 
tapped or aspirated, the fluid withdrawn being of low specific gravity, non- 
albuminous, and containing some of the scolices or pieces of cyst wall If 
the cyst occupy the posterior part of the right lobe it may push the diaphragm 
upwards and discharge into the lung or pleural cavity ; occasionally the cyst 
suppurates — in this case there are hectic fever, pain, and the symptoms of an 
abscess. 

Treatment. — Aspiration of the contents of the cyst may be sufficient - r 
the latter collapses and the hydatid is destroyed. The operation may have 
to be repeated, as the cyst may fill up with serum. If suppuration, occurs 
incision is required, and in many cases it is better to open the abdomen, 
secure the cyst to the abdominal wall, and drain the cavity without any 
previous aspiration, even if suppuration has not taken place. 

Tumours of the Liver. — New growths originating in the liver during 
childhood are among the greatest rarities, though cases of carcinoma, sarcoma, 
adenoma, and cavernous tumours have been described. An interesting case 
of lymphadenoma of the liver, the only one which we have met with, was 
admitted to the Children's Hospital, under Dr. Humphreys (now of St. 
Leonards), in 1878. 

A boy aged 14 years suffered, for a month before coming under notice, with pain in' 
the right hypochondriac region and wasting ; he noticed a swelling in the same region 
about two weeks before admission. When first admitted he was pale and sallow, but not : 
jaundiced, the liver was enlarged, the edge reaching nearly to the umbilicus ; there was a- 
large bossy swelling situated between the right costal arch and the umbilicus ; the super- 
ficial abdominal veins were enlarged and tortuous. Aspiration of the tumour yielded 
nothing but blood. He wasted, there was a hectic temperature (q8 -io2°), and the 
peritoneum and right pleura became distended with fluid. He died seven weeks after 
admission, having had symptoms for three months. At the post-mortem the abdominal 
cavity contained much fluid, the right lobe of the liver was much enlarged and contained 
a hemispherical mass, which on section had the appearance and consistence of brain 
tissue ; there were some haemorrhages into its substance, and fibrous bands passed through 
it. It was surrounded by a broad zone of compressed liver tissue. There was a mass of 
enlarged glands at the fissure. The right pleura was full of fluid. Microscopically the 
new growth resembled the structure of lymphatic glands. In this case it was not easy to 
decide where the growth commenced, but, as in the analogous case of lymphadenomata 
of the kidney, there is a strong probability that it began in the lymph glands of the fissure 
and grew into and compressed the liver substance. 



CHAPTER XL 

DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY APPARATUS. 

The Thorax in Infancy and Childhood. — It is necessary when exa- 
mining the chest of an infant or child for the first time to have it completely 
bare, so that a thorough examination can be made, the infant lying in its cot 
or on its mother's lap ; care must, of course, be taken to have the room suffi- 
ciently warm, as infants readily take cold when a large surface of the skin 
is exposed, and they are very sensitive to draughts. 

The way in which the child breathes should be carefully noticed. There 
may be a ' crowing ' inspiration as in laryngismus, or it may be stridulous, 
there being an evident obstruction both to filling and also emptying the 
chest. The cough may have a metallic or clanging ring. 

On inspection it will be noticed, firstly, that an infant's chest is deeper 
than an adult's, or, in other words, the antero-posterior diameter more nearly 
approaches the transverse, the ratio being 1-2 in an infant, 1-2^ during child- 
hood, and 1-3 or 3^ in adults ; the horizontal section is thus more circular in 
form during infancy than in later life. Secondly, the angle which the costal 
cartilages make with the sternum is larger in children than in adults, that is 
the lower part of the thoracic cage is widened out more ; this may be in part 
due or accentuated by the abdominal viscera occupying a relatively larger 
space and pressing the diaphragm upwards. This is seen in an exaggerated 
form in children who have enlarged livers and constant gaseous distention 
of the stomach and intestines. Any acquired deformity should be carefully 
noted ; various rickety deformities may be present — one side of the chest may 
be contracted from an old pleurisy or empyema, or the left chest may be 
bulged outwards by an hypertrophied heart or distended pericardium. 

The position of the cardiac impulse should be determined. Note must 
also be made of the frequency and character of the respiratory movements, 
whether deep or shallow, whether one side moves more freely than the other, 
or there is any sinking-in of the epigastrium or intercostal spaces and ribs 
during inspiration. It should be borne in mind that mere frequency of 
respirations does not necessarily mean any respiratory disease, but may 
be due to rapidity of the heart's action accompanying high fever or cardiac 
feebleness. 

After inspection it is usual to percuss the chest, placing one finger of the 
left hand against the chest wall and striking it with more or less force 
with the middle finger or forefinger of the right hand, taking care that the 
child lies or sits up straight, for if the body be twisted, so that one side 
bulges out more than the other, a fallacious hyper- or impaired resonance may 
be produced. All the regions of the chest must be carefully examined in turn. 
Too much stress should not be laid on a slightly impaired resonance, espe- 
cially if the child is crying, unless the result of auscultation corresponds, 



170 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

and a subsequent examination confirms the result. A typical ' cracked- 
pot ' sound is readily elicited in an infant on account of the yielding nature 
of the chest walls quite apart from the presence of cavities or any lung lesion. 
Careful note must be made of any spot where there is dulness or impaired 
resonance or hyper-resonance denoting emphysema, but bearing in mind 
that at times a 'boxy' note is elicited over lung in an early stage of pneu- 
monia or acute congestion. It must not be forgotten in examining the 
chest that the diaphragm usually takes a higher position in children than in 
adults, especially when the stomach and intestines are distended with gas. 

In auscultation the ear may be placed directly against the chest wall, or 
(what is much more convenient) a binaural stethoscope with a small chest 
piece may be used. All parts of the chest should be carefully examined, 
noting the character of the breathing, whether the air is entering every 
part of the lungs equally, or whether the air is not entering one part freely 
while other parts are being overworked. Weak breathing may be due to an 
early stage of pneumonia, effusion of fluid, collapse of lung, or compression 
of a bronchus. 

'Puerile/ or harsh, breathing is due to a portion of lung being over- 
worked; it is never safe to accept it as a sign of a lesion in the lung, as 
at first a student is inclined to do, and, moreover, the breath sounds may 
appear loud and harsh to an ear accustomed only to adults. It is not uncom- 
mon in young children to note on one occasion that the breathing is weak or 
almost absent at one base and loud elsewhere, whereas after a fit of crying, 
or the next day, the weak breathing has completely disappeared ; in these 
cases a bronchus with its branches has been temporarily plugged with 
mucus, which has become displaced by coughing. Bronchial breathing is 
present in consolidation of the lung from pneumonia or tubercular infiltra- 
tion, but it is also present in the majority of cases in effusion of fluid, though 
in this case it is usually weak and distant instead of being intense and blowing. 
Cavernous or amphoric breathing is not often heard, as cavities of any size 
are rare in young children. Among the adventitious sounds, fine crepitation 
is rarely heard in the early stages of pneumonia, the rales being mostly of 
medium size ; they may be ' consonant ' or ' ringing ' in character when con- 
veyed to the ear through solid lung, or subcrepitant and ill-defined when the 
secretion is thick and they have to pass through normal lung to reach the 
ear. Vocal resonance, or fremitus, often gives no definite result in girls or 
young children, though when the child is crying violently the increased reso- 
nance of the voice heard over a base or apex may be of diagnostic importance. 
It is needless to add that the physical examination of young children is often 
beset with difficulties on account of their restlessness or fright, and the ex- 
aminer may have his patience often sorely tried, and perhaps may fail to 
obtain a satisfactory examination from this cause. 

Laryngismus. Spasm of the Glottis. ' Child Crowing 1 .' — The term 
laryngismus is applied to a peculiar form of laryngo-respiratory spasm which 
occurs almost exclusively in rickety infants. In laryngismus there is no 
lesion of the larynx, or only in a small minority of cases is there a laryngeal 
,catarrh ; it is usually a pure neurosis, and it is only for the sake of contrast- 
ing it with other forms of laryngeal troubles that it is placed in this section 
rather than among the convulsive disorders, to which it more properly belongs. 



Laryngismus 1 7 1 

We have said that laryngeal spasm is mostly confined to rickety infants, 
but we must point out that we sometimes meet with infants who almost from 
their birth make a peculiar crowing sound in inspiration, which continues 
more or less for some months, but which gradually disappears as the infant 
grows older. In some of these cases this appears to be due, not to a spasm 
of the glottis, but to a deformity or limpness of the epiglottis, the latter being 
recurved, as Dr. B. Lees points out, so that it more or less interferes with 
the admission of air into the rima glottidis, and gives rise to a peculiar 
noise during inspiration. We believe that in some of these cases in young 
infants there is a true spasm of the glottis, the result of the irritation of 
a chronic catarrh and hypertrophy of the mucous membrane of the pharynx. 

In by far the majority of cases the symptoms of rickets are present, but 
we must not in all the cases expect to find marked enlargement of the 
•epiphyses, especially in infants of a few months old. Sometimes cranio-tabes 
may be detected ; usually there is some beading of the ribs and recession of 
the chest walls during inspiration. 

The characteristic feature of the attack is a sudden ' holding of the 
breath' for a few seconds ; then the glottis is burst open, the air rushing in 
with a stridulous sound or in a series of short ' chinks.' The seizure closely 
resembles, only in an exaggerated form, the ' catch in the breath ' which 
takes place as a preliminary to a good fit of crying, or, as Gay points out, 
of rage or bad temper. The condition seems to be as if the expiratory 
respiratory centre discharges for a few seconds an excessive quantity of nerve 
force, producing a spasm of the glottis and of the muscles of expiration, while 
the more powerful inspiratory centre, as it is more and more stimulated by 
the increasing venosity of the blood, strives, as it were, for mastery, and at 
length, when it succeeds, the glottis is burst open, and air rushes in through 
the narrow chink. In a severe attack, not only is the glottis closed by the 
adductors of the cords, but the epiglottis may be felt by the finger to be 
spasmodically applied to the superior aperture of the larynx, and the respira- 
tory muscles are in a state of spasm. 

Semon and Horsley have shown that the expiratory respiration centre is 
situated in the monkey in the cortex, 'just posterior to the lower end of the 
praecentral sulcus at the base of the third frontal convolution.' Stimulation 
■of this region produces adduction of the vocal cords, and if the excitation be 
powerful enough, spasm of the muscles of the face, neck, and upper limbs. 
The same observers failed to discover any inspiratory cortex centre, but 
found that excitation of the accessory nucleus in the medulla oblongata 
■evoked abduction of the cords. In rickets the nerve centres are in an 
unstable condition, and liable to liberate nerve force on the slightest provo- 
cation. In some cases many of the cortex centres discharge, and a general 
convulsion is produced ; in other cases it may be, at first at any rate, the 
expiratory respiration centre only, and a spasm of the glottis is produced. 

The exciting causes are probably many. The commonest is some emo- 
tional disturbance : a fit of crying or of anger may quickly pass into an 
attack ; fright or a sudden start may bring one on. The act of swallowing 
seems also sometimes to give rise to an attack. Dentition, irritation of 
mucous membrane of the pharynx and larynx, nasal adenoids, constipation, 
may perhaps act as exciting causes. In an infant we saw with Dr. Lawton, 



\J2 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

of Eccles, the attacks were apparently worse during the time it was suffering: 
from some aphthous ulcers on the soft palate. We have also seen cases 
which were worse during an attack of bronchial catarrh. We are not 
inclined to attach much importance to an enlarged thymus, swollen bronchial 
glands, or cranio-tabes as exciting causes. 

Symptoms. — In the milder cases, which are the most common, the child's 
inspiratory movements are accompanied by a slight ' crowing sound,' which 
does not appear to distress it, and which passes off during sleep. Some- 
times the crowing will last for days, and pass off again for some time. In 
some few cases the stridor is present during sleep as well as during the time 
the child is awake. In the most severe cases the attacks come on at frequent 
intervals, and are distressing in the extreme ; without warning, the infant is 
seen to screw up its face as if for a crying fit, it holds its breath, no air enters,., 
and the respiratory muscles are rigid and motionless, the veins on the face, 
and scalp become distended with venous blood, the face and lips become 
blue, or of a dusky tint ; then, after ten or more seconds, the obstruction to 
the air entering the lungs is overcome, and air rushes into the now open 
glottis. In some cases we have noted that while at first the respiratory 
muscles are quite motionless, in others, after the obstruction has lasted some, 
seconds, the diaphragm begins to work spasmodically, and will often succeed, 
in forcing the glottis, so that for a few seconds air is admitted at short in- 
tervals into the chest ; then for a time the attack is over, but may be shortly 
followed by another. 

These seizures, especially the more severe ones, are accompanied by 
clonic spasms of the limbs ; sometimes we have seen in these attacks the 
infant throw his hands up like a drowning man, and then, after the laryngeal 
spasm is over, the nerve discharge passes into the limbs, and the hands- 
become set, as in tetany, with the thumbs turned in, and the feet in a position-, 
of equino-varus. 

These attacks may come on at all times of the day or night, and on very 
slight provocation. We have already referred to the most common exciting 
causes ; the most important, perhaps, is some emotional disturbance. One 
of these seizures, as we have already pointed out, is very much like what 
takes place in the early stage of a fit of crying ; the facial muscles are con- 
tracted, the mouth is open, the breath is held, the air enters the chest spas- 
modically by the contraction of the diaphragm. Herbert Spencer remarks 
that an ' overflow of nerve-force, undirected by any motive, will manifestly 
take the most habitual routes ; and if these do not suffice, will next overflow 
into the less habitual ones.' We can easily understand on this principle that 
a discharge of nerve-force from unstable nervous centres may take the route,, 
which in infants produces a good cry, and may overflow into the muscles of 
the extremities, producing a spasmodic condition, i.e. ' Tetany.' 

One point we must not forget to emphasize, and that is, that many of the 
most severe seizures are not accompanied, or rather followed, by a definite 
crowing sound. It is really the less severe ones in which the crowing in- 
spiration is best marked ; the danger necessarily depends more upon the, 
length of time during which the breath is forcibly held, than upon the manner 
in which the air again enters. In many of the worst cases it is admitted, 
spasmodically in sobs, and not in a long-drawn crow. 



Laryngismus 



173 



Children who suffer from laryngismus are not only rickety, but are nearly 
always dyspeptic. There is often a difficulty in digesting cow's milk, the 
stools contain much undigested curd, and there is chronic distention of the 
'bowels. They are not infrequently well nourished, as far as fat goes, but 
their muscles are poorly developed. It is unnecessary to say that it is 
artificially fed infants who are the chief sufferers from laryngismus. The 
following case illustrates some of the points we have referred to : — 

S. H., aged 10 months; admitted February 28. Mother states he has never been 
'•strong, has had a ' croupy cough ' since 14 days old. For the last few weeks has had 
many choking fits, sometimes as many as twenty in one day. Weight, 9 lb. 14 oz. He 
is small for his age and cannot sit up ; he has no teeth, fontanelles widely open and tense ; 
no cranio-tabes ; some recession of the chest-walls during inspiration ; no marked beading 
of the ribs. When disturbed he makes a crowing sound with inspiration. During this 
time there is marked indrawing of the chest-wall, lasting for a few moments. At other 
times the breath is held tightly for a few seconds till he becomes blue in the face. He was 
ordered milk, half a pint, and whey, one-and-a-half pints daily, and some rhubarb and soda. 
March 2. — Has had many attacks of ' crowing,' and between the attacks there seems to 
be more or less constant spasm. March 4. — Ordered tr. belladonnse y\y\\, pot. bromidi 
.gr. ijss, om. 4tis hor. He has had six attacks yesterday ; no general convulsions. From 
this date he began to improve, the attacks becoming less. He went home on March 21 
(weight, 10 lb. 1 oz.), having had no attacks for ten days or more. 

Spasm of the glottis is sometimes the cause of death in cases where the 
obstruction is not complete, as in the following case. A boy of 1 year old 
had difficulty in breathing from birth, was seized with a bad attack, and was 
admitted to hospital ; there was undoubted obstruction to inspiration and 
much recession of the chest walls, necessitating tracheotomy, which was 
followed by much relief. Death followed five hours later without apparent 
cause. At the post-mortem there were no signs of rickets ; there was slight 
•congestion of the larynx and the thymus gland ; all the other organs were 
healthy. Sudden death from spasm of the glottis occasionally occurs in 
cases of tuberculosis with enlarged and caseous mediastinal glands. 

Diagnosis. — The following table gives the chief points : 

Membranous Croup, 



Laryngistnus : Spasm of the 
Glottis. 

Occurs in rickety children 
under 18 months of age. 

No fever, and no coryza or 
laryngeal catarrh. 

Occurs at any period of the 
24 hours, and often many 
times. 

No cough, inspirations are 
stridulous. 

Contractions of the limbs, 
or general convulsions, 
not uncommon. 

The attack lasts a few se- 
conds, and frequently re- 
curs. 

Occasionallv fatal. 



Spasmodic Laryngitis 
{False Croup). 

Rarely occurs under 2 years 
of age, commonest 2-7 
years. 

Slight fever, mostly coryza 
and laryngeal catarrh. 

The attack occurs at nisrht. 



Metallic cough, stridulous 
respiration, variable dys- 
pnoea. 

Convulsions rare. 



Attack passes off in the 
course of an hour or two. 



Rarelv fatal. 



Occurs at all ages during 
childhood. 

Variable amount of fever, 
and perhaps some diph- 
theria of the fauces. 

Mostly worse at night. 



Metallic cough, stridulous 
respiration, progressive 
dyspnoea. 

Convulsions rare. 



Becomes steadily worse, 
though variations occur 
in its progress. 

Very often fatal. 



174 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

Prognosis. — The great majority of infants who suffer from ' child-crowing T 
recover ; the prognosis, however, must always be a guarded one, and as long 
as there is any tendency to spasm of the glottis the child cannot be regarded 
as out of danger. A ' crowing ' child may at any time have general convul- 
sions and die in a few moments. Improvement in the child's general condi- 
tion, and especially of its digestive powers, quickly leads to an improvement in 
the ' crowing ; ' this we have noticed in several cases which rapidly improved 
under the careful- feeding and attention in the hospital, but which quickly re- 
lapsed again when they were discharged. An attack of bronchitis or broncho- 
pneumonia is very likely to prove fatal in a child subject to laryngismus. 

Treatment— During the spasmodic stage when the breath is being held, 
every effort must be directed towards exciting reflexly the inspiratory respi- 
ratory centre. A sponge well wetted with cold water may be dashed into the 
face ; patting on the back, or a vigorous shake, will sometimes be successful. 

We have found that hooking back the epiglottis with the forefinger has 
been followed by an inspiration. In one of our own cases a child who was 
subject to these attacks had a severe seizure while under chloroform for the 
removal of post-nasal adenoids, and his life was only saved by the rapid 
performance of tracheotomy. In such cases a catheter passed into the larynx 
would suffice to insure the entry of a small quantity of air. 

The most useful medicines for temporary use to keep the attacks in 
check are chloral, bromide, and minute doses of morphia. We should only 
give these drugs in the severer forms of spasms in order to soothe or render 
less irritable the unstable state of the nervous system. Five grains of 
bromide with two-and-a-half of chloral may be given to an infant of 6 
months, and repeated every six hours. A drop of liq. morphiae may be given 
every six hours, its effect being carefully watched. 

The most important part of the treatment is with regard to the diet and 
surroundings of the child. It is of the greatest importance that it should 
get fresh air ; a steam tent and hot close room is the worst possible place 
for an infant suffering from laryngismus. A change away to the seaside often 
works wonders, by improving the infant's digestive powers and general health. 
A food or foods must be found and given in quantities which the child can 
digest. Peptonised foods, cream mixtures, thin oatmeal gruel, beef-juice, 
all have their value in these cases, if given in suitable quantities according 
to the child's digestive powers. Medicines which assist the digestion and 
regulate the bowels are often necessary ; extract of malt, rhubarb and soda, 
acids and pepsine, and, above all, cod-liver oil, when it can be taken and 
digested. 

Spasmodic laryngitis. Catarrhal Spasm. False Croup. — This affec- 
tion differs from the last described in that it consists in a sudden but not 
complete stenosis of the glottis associated with a laryngeal or pharyngeal 
catarrh. A child, usually about 2 or 3 years of age, goes to bed apparently 
well or there may be a slight hoarseness or cold in the head ; after a few 
hours' sleep he is suddenly awakened with alarming symptoms of laryngeal 
obstruction. There is a loud metallic cough, stridulous respiration more 
especially with inspiration, the dyspnoea and distress are very great, there is 
recession of the chest walls, and all the accessory muscles are called into 
requisition. The orthopncea and distress are so great that death seems 



Catarrhal Laryngitis 175 

imminent. In the course of a few minutes, probably before the arrival of 
medical assistance, which is hastily summoned, the laryngeal obstruction 
has ceased, and the child, tired out by its unwonted exertions, falls into a 
quiet sleep. The symptoms of a catarrh or tracheitis persist for some days 
perhaps with some clanging cough and more or less pronounced attacks of 
dyspnoea at night. Children who thus suffer are extremely liable to a re- 
currence whenever they take cold, and it is not uncommon for mothers to say 
that their child is very subject to ' croup.' Though these attacks are alarming, 
they are rarely fatal, thus contrasting with laryngismus ; but it must be remem- 
bered that the latter is frequently associated with general convulsions and, 
moreover, occurs at an age when spasm of the glottis is necessarily dangerous 
if severe on account of the weakness of the respiratory muscles and want of 
rigidity in the chest walls. Children who are subject to spasmodic laryngitis 
are exceedingly apt to have chronically enlarged tonsils or nasal adenoids. 

These attacks of spasmodic croup differ very much in severity ; in some 
cases they are exceedingly mild, but on account of their occurring at night, 
and the dread in which all forms of croup are held, they are exceedingly 
apt to alarm the friends. Several children in the same family may suffer, 
and there is often a history of these attacks to be obtained in other members 
of the family. 

Treatment. — Great care should be exercised to protect children subject 
to such attacks from cold. A damp house or a damp situation should be 
avoided, and exposure to the cold east winds of spring should be carefully 
guarded against. Great benefit is usually derived from residence at the seaside. 
Cold sponging with tepid salt and water every morning on getting up will 
greatly assist in keeping the child free from attacks. Warm woollen clothing 
should be worn next to the skin, and care taken that the legs and neck are 
well protected. Enlarged tonsils or adenoids must be removed. During 
the attack most relief is given by applying hot sponges to the throat and by 
administering an emetic of ipecacuanha powder (5 to 10 grains) or a tea- 
spoonful or two of ipecacuanha wine. As the child gets older he becomes 
less and less liable to these attacks, which cease altogether before puberty is 
reached. 

Catarrhal Ziaryng-itis. — Children of all ages are liable to suffer from a 
catarrh of the larynx and trachea, though it is perhaps most common and 
is certainly most dangerous during the first two or three years of life. 
These attacks differ somewhat from those of spasmodic croup just described, 
inasmuch as there may be no violent exacerbation at night, yet in many 
cases all the symptoms are apt to be worse towards evening. In both cases 
there is laryngeal catarrh and laryngeal spasm, and they differ only in degree ; 
in the spasmodic variety there is usually but little catarrh but severe attacks 
of spasm of the glottis ; in the catarrhal variety the catarrh is much more 
severe, and perhaps the spasm is not well marked, but all these cases are 
apt to become much worse at night, apparently from the presence of more 
or less spasm. They are mostly the result of cold, exposure to cold winds 
or a chill, and they may be associated with measles, either belonging to the 
premonitory symptoms or following the disappearance of the rash. The 
attacks are preceded for the most part by coryza, feverishness and cough, 
the first suspicious symptom being the changed character of the cough,.. 



176 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

which is at first hard or hoarse, and then assumes the characteristic i croupy'' 
or 'brassy' character, which announces that there is some stenosis of the 
larynx. An examination of the fauces will probably show enlarged and con- 
gested tonsils with excessive secretion, and if the epiglottis can be seen, the 
mucous membrane will be found to be of a pinker colour than usual ; but it 
is rarely possible to get a view of the larynx by means of the laryngoscope. 
As the symptoms become more marked, the air is heard to enter the larynx 
with a hissing sound, there is dyspnoea, the alae nasi work, the chest walls 
-fall in during inspiration, and there is often much distress. In some cases 
the child has to be propped up in bed, and pays no heed to its toys, its 
whole attention being taken up in its efforts to breathe. The fever is 
variable, rarely high, usually ioo° to ioi° ; the pulse is quick and hard. In 
most cases the symptoms are milder than those just described, there being 
only a croupy cough and some acceleration of breathing. In the later 
stages the secretion becomes freer and muco-purulent. On the other hand, 
i the case may become so urgent that intubation or tracheotomy is required 
to stave off impending death, though usually the effects of treatment render 
this unnecessary. Cases of simple catarrhal laryngitis in children rarely 
present the picture of stenosis of the larynx which is seen in the membranous 
variety ; there is probably the ' croupy ' cough and frequent breathing, but 
between whiles, especially after a fit of coughing, the child is comparatively 
comfortable and falls into an easy sleep. The prognosis depends upon the 
diagnosis ; if the case is one of catarrhal laryngitis and the child is over 
2 or 3 years of age, there is strong probability that it will recover. The 
younger the child, the greater is the danger. 

Treatment. — The first appearance of ' croupy' symptoms should never be 
neglected ; the hard metallic cough, when once heard, should be the signal 
for placing the child in a warm room, where the temperature is maintained 
at 6o° or 6 5° both day and night, giving at the same time fluid food or sops, 
demulcent drinks, and medicines which promote diaphoresis. If the symp- 
toms become more pronounced, the child must be confined to its cot, and a 
tent rigged over it by means of sheets stretched over cords or a clothes- 
horse, so as to protect the patient from draughts, and a moist atmosphere 
must be secured by the aid of the steam kettle. Some carbolic acid or tr. 
benzoin co. may be placed in the kettle. The temperature inside the tent 
should be maintained at about 70 , and steam from a kettle allowed to play 
freely into it, so as to render the air thoroughly warm and moist. The usual 
tendency of the friends of the patient is to overdo the steam and maintain 
too high a temperature, so that it is not uncommon to find the patient almost 
parboiled. 

During the early stages of laryngitis, when there is much swelling of the 
mucous membrane of the larynx, with little secretion, the steam gives more 
or less, at least temporary, relief. This is most marked in the cases of hospital 
patients who have been much exposed before being admitted ; in these cases 
the amount of relief given by the steam tent is often an important element in 
the diagnosis of catarrhal versus membranous croup. A steam kettle should 
be heated by means of a spirit lamp rather than by gas or by placing it 
on the fire, as in the latter case the patient's cot has to be placed close to the 
fire. The products of the combustion of gas are objectionable, especially in 



Catarrhal Laryngitis 177 

a small room. Local applications applied over the larynx in the form of 
hot sponges or spongio-piline wrung out of hot water are often of much 
service. The sponges should be taken out of the hot water and squeezed 
by wringing in a piece of flannel and used continuously ; bat if this exhausts 
the child too much, a piece of spongio-piline may be secured in situ by tapes 
and renewed every half-hour. An emetic in this stage is often of much 
value in relieving the breathing and producing free expectoration, ipecacu- 
anha powder answering very well. Five grains may be given in syrup of 
orange-peel every ten minutes till vomiting is produced. Sulphate of copper 
in gr. \ to gr. \ doses, repeated in a few minutes, will generally produce 
vomiting. It is useless to repeat emetics if they fail to give relief. It need 
hardly be said that it is wrong to give emetics in the later stages, when the 
breathing has become laboured and the lips blue or pallid ; to give emetics 
under these circumstances is to risk failure and to waste invaluable time. Of 
medicines, antimony unquestionably holds the first place, and in sthenic cases 
should be given with a free hand, though as an emetic it is too slow and 
nauseating. Either the wine or tartar emetic may be given, in combination 
with citrate of potash or acetate of ammonia. (F. 22.) Tartar emetic may 
be given in powder or in ' tabloids,' gr. ^ to gr. -^ every two or three hours 
according to age. Both ipecacuanha and aconite in small and repeated 
doses are useful. 

The only food admissible is milk diluted with barley-water or soda-water, 
preferably given warm to assist in producing perspiration. In most cases of 
catarrhal laryngitis relief of the most urgent symptoms follows this line of 
treatment, though probably for several days many of the symptoms will 
remain, with exacerbations at night ; in such cases the antimony may be 
pushed, nauseating doses being given. 

The question as to whether intubation or tracheotomy should be per- 
formed is always a difficult one, inasmuch as in many cases the most urgent 
symptoms will disappear under the influence of treatment, and the operation, 
even in the most skilful hands, adds another element of danger to the case. 
It is impossible to lay down any rule for the performance of the operation, 
or to select any one symptom which is to be taken as the signal. Dyspnoea 
and recession of the chest-wall do not necessarily indicate any immediate 
danger, and most of us will have seen cases in which there has been indrawing 
of the epigastrium and ribs recover without operation. If, however, the case 
passes into a later stage in which the voice almost disappears, the respiration 
becomes laboured, all the respiratory muscles joining in the attempt to draw 
in air and expel it from the chest, while the distress and restlessness are on the 
increase, it is then quite certain that the time has come for affording relief. 
If there is marked pallor of the face, coma, delirium, or other symptom of 
toxaemia, there is not a moment to lose. 

The difficulty is in large measure due to the uncertainty of our diagnosis. 
If we are sure that we are dealing with a case of catarrh pure and simple, 
even though the symptoms of obstruction are threatening we can afford to 
wait, and give our treatment a fair trial before proceeding to operate, know- 
ing that much of the obstruction is due to spasm, which may at any time 
suddenly subside. Death from asphyxia must be very rare in a case of 
catarrhal laryngitis over two or three years of age. But it is comparatively 

N 



178 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

seldom that we can make a certain diagnosis — at first, at any rate — between 
catarrhal and membranous laryngitis, as it may be only after tracheotomy 
has been performed, and sometimes even a day or two later, that membrane 
is coughed up. It is often not easy to decide as to the time for operative 
interference, but in a case where there was a history of the child having 
suffered before from ' croup,' and where the breathing tended to get worse 
at night and afterwards improved for a while at least, we should delay 
operative interference as long as possible, in the hope that improvement 
might take place. On the other hand, in a case that steadily got worse with- 
out any intermissions, we should certainly advise operative interference in 
good time, as there would be little chance of a successful issue to the case 
unless the obstruction were relieved. 

Membranous laryngitis. — Is membranous laryngitis always diphthe- 
ritic ? Can there be diphtheria of the larynx without any tough membrane 
being present ? In the great majority of cases there can be no doubt that if 
membrane be present the case is one of diphtheria. It must also be said 
that in the great majority of cases, if there is no membrane, there is no 
diphtheria. But in the present state of our knowledge it is not wise to take 
up a dogmatic position, except in so far as to view every case of laryngitis, 
whether we find membrane or not, with the greatest suspicion, as all such 
cases may turn out in the end to be diphtheria, and we may regret when too 
late that we did not at first treat them as such. We must leave the discus- 
sion of the relation of membranous exudations to diphtheria to a later chapter 
{See Diphtheria.) 

Symptoms. — The initial symptoms of membranous croup, whether diph- 
theritic or not, are practically identical, inasmuch as they are those of stenosis 
of the larynx. When the larynx is the primary seat of the attack the symptoms 
are those of catarrh, with restlessness, feverishness, and brassy cough. In 
the course of a day or two, sometimes sooner, there is more or less loss of 
voice and the cough has a peculiar ringing or metallic character, which is 
very characteristic. 

It now becomes evident that there is some obstruction in the larynx, as 
the air enters the trachea with a hissing or stridulous sound, and the child is 
constantly endeavouring to cough something up and clutches at its neck as 
if to remove some obstruction. The tonsils are usually swollen, the fauces 
reddened, and perhaps the seat of false membrane. There is marked rest- 
lessness ; the child wants to be nursed, then put back again into its cot, per- 
haps gets a few minutes' sleep, waking up with a hoarse cough and difficulty 
of breathing. The voice now is nearly lost, the child speaking in a whisper 
and making itself understood with difficulty. There is marked dyspnoea, 
which tends to increase as the disease progresses ; the alae nasi dilate, the extra 
inspiratory muscles are called into action, and the epigastrium and inferior 
lateral region of the chest, the intercostal spaces, and supra-sternal fossa are 
drawn in during inspiration. The expiratory efforts are laboured, so that 
the abdominal muscles act with, some force, and the air escapes through the 
larynx with a noisy sound. So laboured and noisy is the breathing that it 
can be heard some distance off. While the child goes from bad to worse, 
there are usually more or less marked exacerbations ; the child is easier 



Membranous Laryngitis 179 

after a fit of coughing, during which mucus or perhaps some membrane is 
actually dislodged. All the symptoms are apt to be worse at night. 

If no relief is obtained the symptoms of toxaemia begin to present them- 
selves. There is a marked pallor or lividity about the lips and face ; per- 
spirations break out on the forehead ; the child is alternately drowsy and 
restless and delirious, perhaps attempting to get out of bed ; presently com- 
plete insensibility comes on, the pupils dilate, the attempts at respiration 
become more and more feeble, and death quickly ensues. The temperature 
is usually raised a degree or two in the earlier stages, but may be subnormal 
as the blood becomes more venous. An examination of the chest does not 
always yield positive results as to the state of the lungs. The whistling or 
stridulous sound produced in the larynx is heard all over the chest, masking 
the vesicular breath sounds, and making it difficult to diagnose the condition 
of the lung. The supraclavicular regions in front are usually unduly resonant 
from the presence of emphysema, while at the bases posteriorly the 
resonance is mostly impaired on account of the lung being collapsed, or air 
entering it very imperfectly. The diagnosis of pneumonia is difficult in the 
absence of impaired resonance, as the typical signs may be wanting on 
account of the small supply of air entering the chest ; moreover, the 
pneumonic consolidation may be masked by emphysema. It is difficult to 
diagnose the presence of membrane in the trachea and bronchi ; but if after 
tracheotomy has been performed the breathing is still laboured with indraw- 
ing of the chest-walls, there will be strong reason to suspect that the bronchi 
are obstructed by membrane. 

When the larynx is affected secondarily the symptoms are frequently 
•much less marked, more especially if the membrane only spreads to the 
larynx after it has existed for some days in the pharynx or nasal mucous 
membrane. In this case the weakness and depression which exist before 
the laryngeal complication supervenes mask the symptoms of laryngeal 
•stenosis. There is usually much less dyspnoea and distress than when a 
healthy child is suddenly attacked. 

Albuminuria exists in a large number of cases in the early stages, in 
nearly all in the later stages ; the urine may be highly albuminous and scanty. 
In rare cases there may be suppression of urine and uraemic symptoms. 

Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of stenosis of the larynx is not difficult, nor is 
it likely to be confounded with bronchitis or broncho-pneumonia where the 
obstruction resides in the bronchial tubes, or where there is extensive con- 
solidation of the lung. In laryngeal stenosis the air rushes through the 
larynx, giving rise to a crowing or stridulous sound, especially during inspira- 
tion, but there is obstruction to the expiration also ; the respiratory move- 
ments are laboured, as if to overcome the obstruction, and with this there is 
"marked recession or sucking in of the chest-walls during inspiration. There 
is loss or great impairment of voice. In pneumonia or bronchial obstruc- 
tion, the dyspnoea may be great and the respirations frequent, with much 
indrawing of the chest-wall, but there is no stridor or loss of voice. The 
diagnosis of obstruction of the bronchial tubes, in addition to stenosis of the 
larynx, as in those cases where the membrane has spread downwards or 
where there is an accumulation of mucus below the larynx, is difficult and 
uncertain ; but in all such cases the dyspnoea will be great, and tracheotomy 

n 2 



i8o Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

urgently required, and the presence of obstructed bronchi would not contra- 
indicate operation, as an opening in the trachea would favour the coughing- 
up of the obstructing material. 

The differential diagnosis of catarrhal, membranous, and diphtheritic croup 
is generally a matter of great difficulty, and until the case has remained under 
observation for some hours or days often impossible. Even after tracheo- 
tomy has been performed, the nature of the case may still be doubtful, inas- 
much as thick fibrinous mucus may be coughed up with no distinct mem- 
brane and recovery may take place without the diagnosis having been deter- 
mined. The question of diphtheria or not diphtheria is one of the greatest 
importance, but unfortunately there is not much that can be said with 
certainty. It is easy to say that in diphtheritic croup there is asthenia 
while in membranous laryngitis the attack is sthenic in nature. But, as a 
matter of fact, it occurs in practice that if the primary seat of the diphtheria 
is the larynx, the first and only symptoms are those of stenosis of the larynx, 
and the pallor and depression and asthenia which result are due to the 
toxaemia produced by want of oxygen, rather than by the working of the 
diphtheritic poison. It is for this reason that the symptoms of membranous 
formations are practically the same whether produced by diphtheria or not. 
If, however, the larynx is affected after the existence for some days of 
diphtheria of the fauces, the symptoms are necessarily modified. The 
diagnosis of diphtheria when primarily situated in the larynx has. often to be 
made less from the symptoms of the patient than from his surroundings. 

If diphtheria is epidemic at the time, or if the fauces are covered with 
membrane, or there is albumen present in the urine, the case is almost cer- 
tainly diphtheritic. The discovery of Loeffler's D-bacillus in the secretions- 
would place the diagnosis beyond doubt. 

Stenosis of the larynx may be caused in other ways than by the exudation 
of membrane ; the larynx may be compressed by an abscess situated pos- 
teriorly between the larynx and oesophagus, or even laterally ; in this case 
there will be difficulty of swallowing as well as dyspnoea. The trachea may 
be compressed below the larynx by an enlarged thyroid or new growth, but 
the history of the case as well as the local enlargement would distinguish 
between the two. In infants and young children spasm of the glottis will in 
rare cases simulate membranous laryngitis, as in the case given (p. 173). 
The diagnosis may be difficult, but the absence of fever would point to 
spasm ; it is rare, however, for any spasmodic affection to come on gradually 
and progress from bad to worse, as is the case with diphtheritic laryngitis. 

Pathological Anatomy. — The post-mortem appearances found in those 
who have died of membranous or diphtheritic croup differ according to the 
immediate cause of death. In the majority of cases this is due to the forma- 
tion of membrane below the tracheotomy wound and to the lungs becoming 
choked or collapsed. In such cases membrane may be found beginning 
at the epiglottis and extending downwards to the smallest bronchi. As a 
rule the membrane is tough and firmly adherent to the epiglottis and larynx, 
being separated with difficulty, while lower down the membrane is far less- 
tough and is much more easily detached ; the bronchi usually contain semi- 
purulent fluid, and the bases of the lungs are usually pneumonic or collapsed, 
while the apices are emphysematous. In some cases death results from 



Membranous Laryngitis 181 

asthenia or from septic poisoning the result of the diphtheritic infection ; in 
such cases the trachea and bronchi may be free from secretion. It is ex- 
ceedingly rare to find at the post-mortem that the membrane is confined to 
the larynx in those cases where tracheotomy has been performed. 

Treat7nent. — Every case of laryngitis occurring in a child should be at 
once isolated, as what may appear in the early stages to be a mild case of 
catarrhal laryngitis may in the end prove to be diphtheritic. There are mild 
attacks of diphtheria of the larynx, just as there are mild cases of diphtheria 
of the tonsils and fauces. In the early stages the secretion coughed up may 
be muco-purulent only, and later, either before or after tracheotomy or in- 
tubation has been performed, the secretion may be membranous. 

Much that has been said under the head of treatment in catarrhal laryn- 
gitis will apply to the treatment of diphtheritic laryngitis. A steam tent 
should be provided, and warmth and heat should be applied externally to 
the larynx, though any blistering or abrasion of the skin must be carefully 
avoided. If the case is certainly one of diphtheria, we doubt the value of 
either emetics or expectorants. If there is membrane in the larynx there is 
small chance of its being loosened or detached by these means. But, assum- 
ing the case is seen in an early stage, no harm can be done by an emetic of 
ipecacuanha ; Dr. W. P. Northrup recommends the yellow sulphate of 
mercury in 5 -grain doses. Emetics in the later stage are useless and 
harmful. We must chiefly rely on the application of steam from a steam- 
spray apparatus charged with some antiseptic, and, above all, in relieving 
the stenosis of the larynx by intubation or tracheotomy. The most useful 
antiseptic is bichloride of mercury ; carbolic acid, thymol, and oil of pepper- 
mint are also useful. The mouth should be kept swabbed out, and any 
.secretion coughed up must at once be removed and disinfected. The 
medicinal treatment appropriate for diphtheria should be given. The only 
food should consist of fluids. 

Tracheotomy. — The operation of opening the trachea in cases of mem- 
branous laryngitis must be looked upon as a means of relieving the mecha- 
nical obstruction to respiration ; it can in no way influence the constitutional 
effects of the disease, though it may prevent the addition of gradual asphyxia 
to the other depressing influences of the poison. Further, Ave may, by the 
operation, prevent the spread of the membrane down the trachea, and thus_, 
perhaps, lessen the risk of absorption of the virus as well as get rid of the 
obstruction. 1 What certainly may be looked for from the operation is that 
death from mechanical obstruction to the upper segment of the windpipe may 
be averted, and that the distress caused by dyspnoea may to a great degree 
.be relieved. It must not be forgotten that tracheotomy has its own dangers : 
first come the risks of the operation itself — haemorrhage, injury to important 
neighbouring structures, and entrance of blood into the trachea ; later, there 
are the dangers of septic absorption, the exposure of a raw surface to the 
diphtheritic poison, tracheitis, pneumonia, and so on, from exposure of the 
tracheal mucous membrane to cold ; that this is a real danger a paper of 
Dr. Wilks shows.' 2 

While we have thus indicated the objections to and the limited uses of 

\ Vide R. W. Parker. 3 Guys Reports, ser. iii. vol, vi. 



1 82 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

the operation, we would yet urge its performance in all cases where there is 
severe dyspnoea ; we have no means of knowing that the child will die of 
asthenia, we do know that he will die of suffocation if unrelieved, and the 
other dangers mentioned are all usually avoidable by careful operating and 
after-management. 

Extreme prostration without distinct evidence of asphyxia, and the pre- 
sence of pneumonia or capillary bronchitis, may be looked upon as indica- 
tions that tracheotomy will be of no avail. 1 

The younger the child the earlier should tracheotomy be done ; indeed,. 
Parker quotes Dickinson to the effect that once there is membrane in the 
larynx there is little hope but in tracheotomy. Inasmuch as the operation is 
nearly always one of urgency, we must be prepared to do it under unfavour- 
able circumstances as regards nursing, light, help and appliances. It is,, 
however, usually possible to improvise fairly serviceable arrangements for 
the operation itself. A dressing-table or the top of a chest of drawers 
in private houses is the usual operating table. Candles give generally 
the best obtainable light when, as is so often the case, the operation has to 
be done at night, and care must be taken that the lights are entrusted only 
to those members of the household who can be depended upon to bear seeing 
the operation. These makeshift arrangements, together with the small size 
and anatomical relations of the parts, the urgency of the case, and the 
movements of the trachea in difficult respiration, make this operation,, 
though often lightly spoken of, one of the most anxious in surgery. 

If possible, at least one skilled assistant should be obtained besides the 
anaesthetist. As regards anaesthetics, it is in our opinion a question to be 
settled for each case ; if the child is so asphyxiated as to be unconscious of 
pain, and not likely to struggle, it is far better to do without an anaesthetic. 
We have seen chloroform prove fatal before the operation was begun ; on 
the other hand, if the case is operated upon earlier, and the child is conscious, 
and restless, it is on all grounds better to give chloroform. 

The child then should be placed upon a table of convenient height, and 
the lights, if necessary, arranged carefully. Everything required in the 
operation should be laid out upon a table or chair ready to hand before the 
child is taken out of bed, since at any moment the moving or the giving of 
the anaesthetic may increase asphyxia and demand instant action. 

As soon as the child is unconscious, and not before, since it increases the 
dyspnoea, one pillow should be taken from beneath the head and placed 
under the shoulders, so that the head falls back and fully exposes the front 
of the neck. 2 The head must be held by an assistant exactly straight, so 
as to avoid any chance of the operator missing the mid line of the neck. 
The thyroid cartilage is then to be felt for, and an incision, one and a half 
to two inches in length, according to the size of the child, made in the middle 
line from the lower border of the thyroid cartilage downwards nearly to the 
top of the sternum. The first incision should be carried through the skin 

1 If tracheotomy is otherwise indicated, the presence of bronchitis may not in all cases 
prevent the operation being successful. We have seen a case in which it succeeded perfectly 
under these circumstances as far as relieving the dyspnoea went, though the child died, 
when apparently convalescent, from ulceration into the innominate artery. 

2 Parker recommends a wine-bottle wrapped in a towel as a neck support. 



TracJieotomy 



183 



and subcutaneous fat ; the second assistant should then draw the edges of 
the wound apart with retractors, and the operator should by successive cuts 
divide the tissues until he reaches the intermuscular septum between the 
sterno-hyoids or lower down between the sterno-thyroids ; on reaching this 
he should with a director tear through the line of junction, and the assistant 
should take them up with retractors. The tracheal fascia will now be ex- 
posed, and should be torn through in like manner, and the trachea bared. 
The tracheal hook is next fixed in the trachea, and drawn slightly forwards 
so as to steady the windpipe and make it prominent ; a short, somewhat 
round-shouldered knife x is then made to pierce the trachea, and as soon 
as it has entered the handle is slightly depressed, and the windpipe is divided 




Q?io6-thyroid' Mernhnnie 
U Artery 
Cricoid Cartilage 
Superior JUiyroid it,in 



Anatomy of Child's Trachea. (From ' Gray's Anatomy.') 



from below upwards for at least three-quarters of an inch. The knife is now 
laid aside, the dilator passed into the trachea and opened, and the hook re- 
moved ; a free blast of air and the driving out often of mucus or of mem- 
brane follows. If the trachea is free from membrane, the tracheotomy tube 
fitted with tapes is then passed in between or above the dilator blades, and 
the dilator is removed ; as soon as a blast of air through the tube shows that 
it is in place, the tapes should be tied round the neck, and the operation is 
over. The child should be kept upon the table well wrapped up, with a 
warm sponge over the tube, for a short time to recover itself, and that it may 
be seen that there is no bleeding or other complication ; after a quarter of 



1 I.e. rounded at the back and nearly straight in front. 



184 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

an hour the inner tube may be put in after clearing away all coughed-up 
matter, and the child put into its cot and the steam kettle arranged. 

Such are the general outlines of the course of an operation in which there 
have been no complications and no hurry ; it is, however, seldom that such a 
favourable state of things occurs, and it will be convenient to consider more 
in detail the various difficulties that may arise. First, then, one or more large 
veins, inferior thyroid or branches of the anterior jugular, may be met with ; 
if there is no urgency these may be ligatured, either before or immediately 
after division, or forcipressure forceps applied. Should, by any rare chance, an 
artery of any size be wounded, it must of course be treated in the same way 
In all cases the veins are necessarily intensely congested when dyspnoea 
is marked. In order to avoid danger of wounding veins, some surgeons lay 
aside the knife after the first incision and tear through the tissues down to the 
trachea with dissecting forceps or director. 

Next, the most rigid care must be taken to keep in the middle line ; in 
young fat children it is not difficult to miss the trachea, which in them is not 
only small, but so soft as to be readily compressed or pushed aside and so 
missed. Everyone has heard of, if not seen, cases in which the dissection 
has been carried to one side of the trachea and thus the great vessels, &c, 
endangered. 1 

The depth of the trachea must also be remembered, and the fact that it 
recedes from the surface towards the lower part of the neck. The deep in- 
cisions must not be carried too close to the sternum, or the innominate vessels 
will be endangered, nor must the trachea be opened so high up as to divide the 
thyroid cartilage and probably injure the vocal cords ; it is well, however, to 
get as low an opening as practicable, in order, if possible, to be clear of the 
obstruction. 

No regard need be paid to the thyroid gland, nor should any attempt be 
made in children to make a ' superior' or ' inferior' tracheotomy. In almost 
every case in which the operation has been done examination will show that 
two or three rings of the trachea and the cricoid cartilage, together with, of 
course, the isthmus of the thyroid gland, have been divided — that, in fact, a 
laryngo-tracheotomy has been done, and this is as good as any other operation. 

It is not by any means necessary to use a tracheal hook ; if it is not em- 
ployed, the left forefinger should be used as a guide and the trachea steadied 
by it or between it and the left thumb while the knife is carried upwards by 
the side of the finger or between it and the thumb ; in many cases, however, 
the hook does undoubtedly simplify the operation. 

It is of great importance to have the skin wound very free, both to give 
room for the deeper steps of the operation and to prevent the possibility 
of discharge or air being pent up in the cellular tissue of the wound ; no 
stitches should ever be put in. The tracheal opening should be large, me- 
dian, and vertical ; nothing is gained by a small opening and much trouble 
may arise in inserting the tube. The knife should enter the trachea some- 
what sharply, but not with a stab or plunge which would endanger the 
posterior wall ; cases have been recorded where the knife failed to pierce the 
mucous membrane, and hence the tube was passed into the submucous 

1 In tracheotomy low down, the anterior jugular vein is the vessel most likely to be 
injured. This is, of course, of minor importance. 



TracJieotomy 185 

tissue ; in other instances a tough diphtheritic membrane has been pushed 
before the knife and tube — under either condition, of course, no relief was 
obtained by the operation. 

If there is any large collection of membrane or of thick mucus in the 
trachea, the tube should not be inserted at once, but the edges of the "tracheal 
wound should be held apart for the child to freely cough out the contents of 
the air-passages, and for the surgeon to clear them away and examine the 
surface of the trachea so as to pick off any visible membrane above or below 
the opening. Parker advises the systematic use of the dilator and swabbing 
out the trachea and larynx with a feather dipped in solution of carbonate of 
soda before putting in the tube. 

The tracheal aperture may be held open either with the dilator or with 
artery forceps, or Golding Bird's dilator may be worn for a time. 

In inserting the tube it is sometimes difficult to get it into the slitlike 
orifice in the trachea ; under these circumstances the dilator is useful, or if 
one is not at hand, one edge of the opening may be depressed by the finger 
so as to make the aperture gape. A bivalve tube is of course the easiest to 
insert for this reason, though it is not by any means the best variety. The 
surgeon should never be satisfied that the trachea is properly opened unless 
free blasts of air are driven out on coughing, nor that the tube is in the wind- 
pipe unless air and mucus are blown out through the tube freely. 

The instrument most commonly used to clear the trachea of membrane 
is a feather ; some of the shorter tail feathers of a pheasant will be found the 
best ; if the longer ones are used, the end which is too flexible should be cut 
off. We have had some common brush pipe-cleaners tipped with coralline 
for this purpose, and also a miniature bristle probang made to sweep out the 
trachea. Membrane can often be picked out with forceps. Aspirators of all 
kinds are of use chiefly if not solely for blood and the thinner form of mucus ; 
adherent membrane and thick mucus cannot be drawn out by them ; neither 
is sucking by the mouth any better, hence it is not worth the risk to the 
operator. Anyone who has tried it will know how impossible it is to suck out 
anything except the fluid material, and even for this suction is often un- 
successful. Parker, however, strongly advocates the use of aspirators after 
loosening and softening the membrane by instillation of carbonate of soda. 1 
Where breathing has ceased or is becoming very feeble, artificial respira- 
tion should be performed, and if necessary a catheter may be passed down 
the trachea and the lungs inflated.' 

Such are the more important points about the operation itself in cases 
where everything can be done deliberately and Trousseau's classical advice 3 
followed. In many cases, however, if the operator is slow the child will be 
dead before the trachea is opened, and if not actually dead the almost complete 
asphyxia will seriously add to the dangers of the case. Under such circum- 
stances it is necessary to cut the steps of the operation short ; a free incision 
through the skin, another down to the trachea, and the third upwards in the 
trachea itself. We have often had to operate in this way with three cuts, 
using no instrument except the knife and the tracheotomy tube ; after the 

1 Sodse carbonat. 3ij, glycerine sij, water to oviij (Parker). 

2 Vide Jennings, Arch. Pcediatr. September 1884. 
5 ' OpeYez lentement, tres lentement.' 



i 86 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

first two incisions the left forefinger is passed down to the trachea, which is 
steadied by it ; the opening is made and the finger kept as a guide for the 
tube, which is at once inserted. 1 In some cases there is free bleeding for a 
moment or two from the engorged veins ; this must be neglected, the tube 
put in at once, and the child instantly turned over on its face to prevent any 
blood from running into the trachea ; as soon as air enters the lungs freely 
the circulation is re-established and the venous bleeding ceases without any 
treatment. The objection to this mode of operating is that it is of course 
more difficult, and there is some risk of blood getting into the air-passages ; 
it is, however, necessary in some cases. In very urgent suffocation the opera- 
tion may even be done in one incision through skin and trachea upwards, 
but this can hardly ever be necessary, and has several objections, the chief 
being that in children the trachea can by no means always be felt through 
the skin, and there is great likelihood of emphysema from insufficiency of the 
superficial wound.' 2 

It is well to remember that venous bleeding in tracheotomy is always more 
formidable in appearance than in reality, and always ceases at once after the 
trachea is freely opened. 

Emphysema occurring at the time of the operation is due to too small a 
skin wound or to opening up the cellular tissue in attempts to pass the tube ; 
it may be very extensive and spread down into the thorax ; in such cases it is 
sometimes fatal from pressure upon the lungs. Champneys has shown ex- 
perimentally that there is serious danger of mediastinal emphysema and 
pneumo-thorax when artificial respiration or sudden violent inspiratory effort 
is made after division of the deep cervical fascia ; hence the tube or dilator 
should be put in quickly and the fascia disturbed as little as possible. 3 

A possible danger from entry of air into a wounded vein need only be 
mentioned ; instant pressure on the vein and rapid opening of the trachea 
are the remedies. 

Opinions differ greatly as to the best form of tracheotomy tube for immedi- 
ate use. The bivalve is the easiest to insert ; the lobster-tailed tube of Durham 
is open to the objection that it is very difficult to clean ; probably Parker's so- 
called angular tube is the best, and is certainly anatomically the most correct ; 
it has also the advantage of being polished inside. It is, however, a matter 
of little importance what shape of tube is put in for the first few hours, pro- 
vided it is of sufficient size and has a movable shield to allow it to lie evenly. 
The largest size that the trachea will admit should always be used to give as 
much breathing space as possible and to prevent play of the tube in the 
trachea. Parker has shown that the diameter of the windpipe is exceed- 
ingly variable, and no rules for size in correspondence with age can be given, 
In any case it is advisable to change the tube after twenty-four or forty-eight 
hours, and this gives time for the substitution of a Parker's tube for any 
other that may have been used at the moment. After ninety-six hours the 

1 The finger and thumb may be usefully employed to push back the tissues on each 
side and, as it were, press forward the trachea. 

2 St. -Germain operates by one incision downwards, beginning by perforating the crico- 
thyroid membrane. Neither this plan nor operation with the thermo-cautery has anything 
to recommend it. 

3 Med.-Chir. Trans. 1882. 




Tracheotomy 1 87 

metal tube can often be replaced by a Morrant Baker's rubber one, or at 
least a metal tube of different length from that first employed, or, better still, 
the tube may be in favourable cases left out 
altogether. 

As soon as the trachea has been cleaned 
and the child has become quiet after the 
operation, i.e. usually in about half an hour 
or less, the child should be removed to the 
tent, the arrangement of which has been 
already described. 

The lower part of the wound should be 
dusted over with iodoform and a piece of 

.. . . . . ..,,,.. , Fig. 22. — Parkers lube. 

gauze slipped beneath the shield of the tube 

to protect the skin and wound from it. If the edge of the shield cuts into 
the wound, the tube does not fit well and probably the inner end is pressing 
upon the tracheal wall ; it is either too long in the straight part or the curve 
is wrong. A single layer of gauze wet with 1-40 carbolic or some other 
antiseptic solution should be laid over the mouth of the tube and removed 
when there is any coughing. 

The child must be constantly watched, and at the least sign of dyspnoea 
or any cough the tube should be cleaned with a feather, and coughing 
excited, watching for the moment when mucus appears at the mouth of the 
tube to wipe it away before it is drawn in again. The inner tube should be 
put in as soon as the child has settled down, and taken out every- half-hour 
or oftener at first to be cleaned. Special watch must be kept for any sudden 
plugging of the tube by pieces of detached membrane or thick mucus — a 
frequent cause of sudden death after tracheotomy — immediate removal of the 
tube and membrane is required in such circumstances. Abundant discharge 
of thin mucus is a good sign, in so far as there is less likelihood of there 
being any membrane in the trachea if free secretion occurs. 

After-ma?iagement. — Success in the results of tracheotomy cases depends 
more upon after-management than upon anything else, and if surgeons could 
nurse their own cases the mortality after the operation would be much less. 
Constant watchfulness, readiness to remove the tube altogether and clean out 
the trachea? the timely administration of stimulants, regulation of temperature 
and moisture are essentials, and can be only satisfactorily seen to by the surgeon 
himself. Cocks - well insists upon this, and points out that sudden obstruc- 
tion is most often due to inspissated mucus, not to membrane ; this thick 
mucus is secreted generally about twenty-four hours after the operation, 
and at the end of three or four days the discharge becomes thinner and 
more puriform (Jennings). 

It is well to feed the child by nutrient enemata for the first few hours, but 
if he is thirsty a few teapoonsfuls of iced milk may be given. During the 
first few days the milk not infrequently comes out in part through the 
tracheotomy tube from imperfect closure of the glottis during deglutition, and 
not, as might be supposed, from any accident to the oesophagus ; on account 

1 If membrane continues to form, this should be done at least once daily. 

2 Archives of Pediatrics, January 1884. 



1 88 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

of this occurrence it has been advised to give more solid food by the mouth. 
A certain amount of risk is incurred from this imperfect power of swallowing, 
In that food may pass into the lungs and set up the so-called ' deglutition 
pneumonia ; ' any such danger may be avoided, as pointed out by Dr. 
Habershon, jun., by feeding the child through a soft catheter ; from 2 to 6 oz. 
of milk may be given in this way every four hours, 1 but the plan is rarely 
required. 

If possible the tracheotomy tube should be removed altogether on the 
fourth or fifth day, but this must depend upon how far the disease has sub- 
sided ; if membrane is still coming away, the tube must remain, and it may 
be the eighth or tenth day before it is got rid of. If, as not infrequently 
happens, the dyspnoea returns on closure of the orifice of the tube with the 
finger (always supposing that the tube has a perforation at the bend) or on 
Its removal, the difficulty is due to the presence either of membrane or of 
granulation tissue, which may form a polypoid mass springing from the site 
of some patch of membrane, 2 from the edge of the wound, or from an ulcer 
due to the pressure of the tube. 3 Or the dyspnoea may be due to adhesions 
in the larynx or possibly paralysis of the laryngeal muscles, inflammatory 
softening of the trachea or swelling of the mucous membrane. 

Where, then, the tube cannot be removed entirely after the fifth day, the 
metal one should be replaced by a rubber one, or frequent changes made in 
the length of the tube, and daily attempts made to dispense with the tube 
altogether. Should the obstruction continue, search must be made for its 
cause ; the most common is the granulation mass which may sometimes 
be seen on using the dilator and be removed, its base being touched with 
nitrate of silver. Failing this, it is well to wait a week or so and allow the 
child to regain strength ; it should then be examined under an anaesthetic, 
and, failing the finding of granulations or other obvious cause, a flexible 
probe should be passed up through the glottis from below and a piece of 
silk carrying a small sponge be attached to it ; the probe should then be 
drawn out through the mouth, and the sponge carried through the larynx 
sweeps it out, breaks down any adhesions, and clears away mucus or any 
granulations there may be. We have by this means succeeded in restoring" 
the breathing powers after many attempts at doing without the tube for a 
long time. 

The dangers, then, of the too prolonged retention of the tube are the 
possible development of granulation masses and ulceration of the trachea, 
which may either lead to haemorrhage from perforating the innominate artery 
or vein or to subsequent tracheal stenosis from cicatricial stricture. Roger, 
in 1859, and Heilly {Le Progres Medical, November 29, 1884), estimated that 
in about one in five of the cases of tracheotomy there is ulceration of the 
trachea, but these results are from post-mortem observations. The ulcera- 

1 St. Bartholowexv s Reports, 1885. 

2 Granulation masses, according to Parker, are most common about the fourth to the 
eighth day, and may be expected if there are exuberant masses on the margin of the 
tracheal wound. Morell Mackenzie says they occur from the fifteenth to the thirtieth day, 
never after two months. Parker treats them by the application of nitrate of silver. 

3 Black patches seen on the outer tube when it is removed are said to indicate ulcera- 
tion at -the corresponding spot of the trachea, and should be looked upon as an indication 
for change of the tube to one of different length (Parker). 



Tracheotomy 1 89 

tion may be either on the anterior or posterior wall of the trachea and gives 
rise to no special symptoms at the time, unless some important vessel is opened. 

Sometimes mere nervousness and fear of suffocation prevent the removal 
of the tube ; in such cases attempts must be gradually made by the use of a 
tube with a larg'e fenestra to allow the passage of air through the larynx, while 
the external orifice of the tube is closed with the finger or a cork for gradu- 
ally increased periods of time. Careful watch must always be kept upon 
these cases for fear of sudden asphyxia, which may come on after removal 
of the tube, as soon as the tracheal orifice becomes small, or even later than 
this from growth of granulations from the inner surface of the wound. In 
such cases the wound may require to be reopened and the tube to be inserted 
afresh. In some few cases the tube can never be dispensed with, and has to 
be worn permanently ; but usually some cause of obstruction can be found. 
Sometimes a tough dense cicatricial membrane forms about the lower aper- 
ture of the larynx or upper part of the trachea, and requires removal by 
enlargement of the tracheotomy opening or by thyrotomy. Intubation with 
or without removal of cicatricial tissue is effectual in some cases. 1 In any 
case where the tube has to be long retained, great care must be taken to 
avoid ulceration and to see that the tube is not corroded ; it has several 
times happened that the tube has dropped off the shield and fallen into the 
trachea after long wear. 

As to the application of lotions, &c, to the interior of the trachea after 
operation, the number of specifics is as great as that for the throat ; the soda 
lotion and lime water - do, no doubt, soften the membrane and mucus, and 
allow it to be more easily detached ; of the other remedies, the most that can 
certainly be said of them is that it does no harm to try them, and may do 
good. The applications may be made by a brush or spray-producer, or a 
drop or two may be instilled through the tube from time to time. Probably 
smearing the tube each time it is replaced with iodoform ointment is a good 
plan. It should be swabbed over daily with a solution of perchloride of 
mercury (1-500), and then powdered with salicylic acid in starch (15 per 
cent), or equal parts of iodoform and boric acid. 

After the operation the child is greatly relieved, usually falls asleep, and all 
goes on well for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, and then in fatal cases death 
occurs, often suddenly. This sudden death may be due to various causes : 
blocking of the tube with detached membrane or mucus, extension downwards 
of the disease possibly, irritation of the vagus (Parker), simple asthenia or 
poisoning by the disease, pneumonia, or cardiac failure. 

There is no doubt that the majority of cases of tracheotomy for diphtheria 
die ; the mortality varies with the epidemic and with the operator, for neces- 
sarily the surgeon who will only operate in the most favourable cases will 
have a lower mortality than he who gives a chance of relief to less hopeful cases 
as well. Hence statistics are of no value. It is, however, roughly true that 
a large proportion of the cases described as croup recover after tracheotomy, 
while those classed as diphtheria mostly die. 

Age has a very important bearing on the success of the operation. 

1 Vide Pitts and Brook, Lancet, January 10, 1891. 

2 Lime water is soon rendered inefficient by the C0 2 of the expired air. 



190 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

Children under 2 years comparatively seldom recover ; x the feebleness of 
the child, the increased difficulty of the operation and of the subsequent 
management, all make the prospect at this age worse. 

Archambault, in the Paris Children's Hospital, gives the following table 
of tracheotomy cases : 





Cases 


Recoveries 


1-3 years 


. 976 


IO4 


3-4 „ ... 


. 820 


175 


4-5 ,i ... 


. . . 736 


174 


5-6 „ ... 


• 497 


I48 


above 6 „ ... 


• 547 


I98 



For the general management and feeding of diphtheria cases, as well as 
for the treatment of the fauces and mouth, see Diphtheria. 

Apart from diphtheria or croup, tracheotomy may have to be considered 
in cases of scalds of the glottis, usually the result of an attempt to drink from 
the spout of a tea-kettle. In such cases, as Dr. Wilks has shown, a false 
membrane may be produced exactly like that of diphtheria. 2 The sym- 
ptoms usually come on immediately, and in slight cases soon subside if the 
child is kept in bed in a warm moist atmosphere. Sudden spasm, bronchitis, 
and pneumonia, and the formation of false membrane are the chief dangers. 
The treatment of such cases consists in keeping the child in a tracheotomy 
tent and giving antimony or an emetic. If the child is steadily getting 
worse, tracheotomy should be performed. The tube may be removed 
usually on the third to eighth day. Scarification is often recommended, but 
is more easy to write about than to perform. 

Foreign bodies often find their way into the air-passages of children. 
A bead, or grain of maize, or a plum-stone, or other foreign body is held 
in the child's mouth, and a sudden inspiration may cause it to pass into the 
larynx. The body may lodge in the upper opening of the larynx or in the 
rima, or may pass into the trachea or either bronchus, usually the right. 

Parker records a case in which a caseous lymphatic gland ulcerated its 
way into and blocked the trachea. 3 

If the body is in the larynx there will be dyspnoea and more or less loss of 
voice, with hoarse or ringing cough, and if in the trachea possibly a loose 
rattling sound may be heard on listening over the front of the neck, indicating 
the movement of the body in the trachea. If the substance is lodged in the 
bronchus, there will be impaired breath sounds and possibly collapse of the 
lung on the same side. 

If the history is clear, tracheotomy should be at once performed, as sudden 
asphyxia often comes on quite unexpectedly ; hence, urgent symptoms should 
not be waited for. The opening in the trachea should be free, and the edges 
should be held apart to allow of the ready expulsion of the body, which is 

1 But Lindner, Jahrbuch f. Kinderheilk. , B. xx. H. 2, records 38 percent, of successes 
for ' croup and diphtheria,' and most of the successes were in the second year of life ; and 
Chaym, Archiv f. Kinderheilk., B. iv. H. 11, 12, has collected 220 successful cases under 
2 years ; the youngest cases are 6 weeks and 9 weeks respectively ; the latter, however, 
was for post-pharyngeal abscess. — Berliner klin. Woc/i., 1880. 

2 Guy s Reports, i860, and Bryant in the same number. 
5 Brit. Med. Jour., October 1, 1890. 



Intubation 



IQI 



often blown out at once. If this does not occur, the larynx should be searched, 
a probe being passed in from below and the finger made to explore the 
throat from the mouth. If the body is lodged below the opening, the child 
should be inverted and shaken, and if this is unsuccessful an attempt should 
be made to extract the substance with forceps or a brush passed down the 
trachea. Bronchitis and pneumonia usually speedily result if the foreign 
body is not removed. 

Should the attempt at removal fail, if the body is in the larynx and cannot 
be pushed up into the mouth or removed from below, it is probably better 
to follow Holmes's advice and divide partially or wholly the thyroid cartilage 
so as to expose and remove the impacted mass ; the operation is likely to do 
less harm than the retention of the foreign material. If the substance is 
lodged in the lungs, it may possibly be removed at a second attempt or 
may become loosened and coughed up ; occasionally such bodies ulcerate 
their way out and may even reach the surface of the chest. In other cases 
death results from pneumonia or pulmonary abscess. 

Certain other conditions may demand tracheotomy in children — congenital 
syphilitic laryngitis, chronic simple laryngitis, papilloma, or, as already men- 
tioned, pressure of pharyngeal abscesses. 

Intubation of the larynx has been of late years practised by O'Dwyer, 
Waxham, and others, chiefly in America, as a substitute for tracheotomy. It 




Fig. 23 — O'Dwyer's Intubation Apparatus. The figure shows the ' introducer' with a tube 
fitted on. A separate tube is also shown. 

lias been urged in its favour that it is a less severe measure than that opera- 
tion, and is likely to be permitted by friends when a cutting operation is re- 
fused ; that it does not prevent opening the trachea later, should that become 
necessary, and that it is efficient, while it does not expose a raw surface to 
the diphtheritic poison nor allow unwarmed air to reach the lungs. A special 
set of instruments is required for this plan. From 20 to 30 per cent. 1 of 
successful results have been obtained, but several drawbacks to its use are 
admitted, such as the difficulty of the manipulation, the liability to displace- 
ment of the tube, its obstruction, and so on. Our experience of the operation 
has shown that a little practice is required to learn readily to introduce the 
tube ; it is much more difficult to remove the tube from the larynx. 
Several improvements have been made in the apparatus, and the method has 

1 Vide Waxham, Brit. Med. Jour. , September 29, 1888. 



192 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

no doubt a considerable though limited field of usefulness. Intubation, as 
suggested by Symonds, would be certainly useful in some cases where after 
tracheotomy there is a difficulty in getting rid of the tube. 1 

In one instance in which we performed intubation upon a living child the 
result was disastrous ; a portion of the membrane was pushed down before 
the tube, and the child instantly choked ; it was only by immediate tracheo- 
tomy and the use of artificial respiration that breathing was restored. We 
have had some experience of the method in various forms of laryngeal ob- 
struction, and have not been led to take a very favourable view of its suit- 
ability for cases of diphtheria where false membrane in any quantity is 
present. Of eleven cases of intubation under our care, in three, success fol- 
lowed, in three tracheotomy was subsequently successfully performed, and 
in four instances the children died in spite of tracheotomy. The operation 
appears best adapted for cases where there is little or no false membrane — 
i.e. certain types of acute laryngitis, the less severe forms of diphtheria, where 




Fig. 24. — O'Dwyer's Extractor. The jointed beak fits into the tube and holds it firmly when 
the lever is depressed by the thumb of the operator. 

tracheotomy is for any reason undesirable, and for use in cases where 
mechanical obstruction remains after tracheotomy, or results from cicatricial 
contraction in the larynx. It is certainly unsuitable for bronchitic and 
pneumonic patients. 

The apparatus used for intubation, and figured above, consists of a special 
tube with an ' introducer ' and ' extractor.' The mouth is held open by a gag, a 
tube of proper size selected, threaded, and its pilot screwed on to the intro- 
ducer ; the left forefinger passed to the back of the throat pulls forward the 
epiglottis and serves as guide to the tube. Any difficulty in introducing the 
tube is got over by waiting for an inspiratory effort on the part of the patient 
and then slipping in the tube ; we have found this a little practical point of 
much value. As soon as the tube is in the larynx the introducer is with- 
drawn with the pilot, and if the tube is in position the thread may be also 
withdrawn. We are of opinion that it is, however, much better to leave the 
thread in the tube to facilitate extraction ; usually it sets up little or no 
irritation. The tube is then left in position for a time varying from a few 
hours to two or three days, according .to the circumstances of the case. If 

1 For further details we must refer to the Medical Chronicle for 1887, where abstracts 
of numerous papers on the subject will be found ; also to the Archives of Pcediatrics, 1887, 
and to Waxham's paper already referred to, and to the Appendix of the present work ; 
also to Balls' book on Intubation. 



Papilloma of the Larynx 193 

left too long it may cause ulceration of the larynx or trachea. 1 To remove it 
an anaesthetic is given, and the extractor introduced into the opening of the 
tube, which is then withdrawn. If too small a tube is used it may slip into 
the trachea. Without practice the tube is apt to be passed into the oeso- 
phagus. 

After the introduction of the tube, relief, though not necessarily immediate, is 
usually speedy. There is sometimes difficulty in the feeding from a tendency 
for fluids to pass into the trachea. If this difficulty occurs it can be met by 
feeding the child with its head hanging far back or by giving semi-solid food. 

Chronic Laryngitis. — Both infants and older children suffer from chronic 
hoarseness, with occasionally acute or subacute exacerbations, with croupy 
symptoms. Such cases may take their origin in a past attack or attacks of 
subacute laryngitis, a certain amount of thickening being left behind. Other 
cases are apparently syphilitic, especially in infants. Tubercular laryngitis 
may also occur, but it is certainly uncommon. The larynx is also sometimes 
affected in cases of chronic pharyngitis where the tonsils are enlarged and 
perhaps post-nasal growths also exist. If the symptoms do not yield to 
astringent applications or the use of caustics such as nitrate of silver, there 
may be so much progressive thickening and dyspnoea that tracheotomy 
may even be required ; this is, however, very rarely the case. 

Papilloma of the larynx is a rare affection, consisting in one or more 
warty outgrowths from the neighbourhood of the true vocal cords. The 
symptoms are aphonia and usually intermittent but increasing dyspnoea, 
coming on without obvious cause. Where laryngoscopy is practicable, inspec- 
tion shows the warty mass or masses usually about the anterior part of the 
glottis. Sudden obstruction of the aperture may result from spasm set up 
by impaction of a pendulous growth between the cords, or gradual asphyxia 
may come on. Three modes of treatment are possible — removal of the 
growths by endolaryngeal operation, a method applicable only to late child- 
hood and adults ; the second is tracheotomy, with or without an attempt to 
remove the growths from the tracheotomy wound ; and the third is thyrotomy, 
with excision of the warts when fully exposed. The latter plan, which is the 
simplest, is open to the objection that injury is likely to be done to the vocal 
cords and permanent aphonia may result. Several successful cases by Parker, 
Davies-Colley, and others, have, however, been recorded. On the whole, in 
this disease, it is probably best to perform thyrotomy. 

1 Carr, Lancet, March 28, 1891. 



194 



CHAPTER XII. 

DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY APPARATUS— continued. 

Bronchitis and Catarrh, — Catarrh of the bronchial tubes is a common 
affection at all periods of life and in every social grade, but it is in early 
childhood that it is perhaps the most common, and it is at this period that 
it assumes the greatest importance from the diseases which are liable to 
follow in its train. In old age, when the lungs are damaged by emphysema, 
and the chest-walls have lost their elasticity, bronchitis is apt to be a serious 
and often fatal disease ; but not less so is it in the very young, in whom the 
chest-walls are alike wanting in elasticity and rigidity, the bronchial tubes 
easily collapse, and the lungs very readily join in the inflammation. The 
greatest liability appears to occur during the first two years of life ; certainly 
at this age it is most fatal. Exposure to cold is in a large number of cases 
the exciting cause ; climatic influences are seen especially in late autumn or 
early winter in the large number of cases of chest affections which occur at 
this period. That the larger number of cases should occur among the 
lower and worst-housed class is only what is to be expected, inasmuch as the 
lives of the infants and children are spent either in the foul and stuffy atmo- 
sphere of an overcrowded and ill-ventilated house, or exposed imperfectly clad 
to all sorts of weather in the streets. 

The predisposing causes are many ; some children seem to inherit a 
tendency to bronchial catarrh, and yet, in spite of the greatest care and the 
most constant ' coddling,' suffer every few months, perhaps for the whole of 
the winter, from bronchial catarrh or severe colds, which pass into bronchitis, 
with the greatest readiness ; dentition, rickets, measles, whooping cough,, 
intestinal catarrh frequently play an important part in the production of a 
bronchitis. During the time that a tooth is being cut children seem very 
apt to suffer from catarrh, which in the winter affects the bronchial tubes 
and in summer the intestines. Pressure of the tooth on the gums seems to 
act reflexly in producing a catarrh, sometimes with more or less spasm, as. 
the child becomes wheezy at night, sibilus being heard all over the chest, 
while in the morning it will be perfectly well. This may happen several 
nights in succession. Rickety children are specially prone to suffer from 
bronchial affections, and in them it is especially serious on account of the 
softness of the ribs, and the weakness of the muscles of respiration, resulting 
in deformed chests and collapsed lung. 

Symptoms and Course. — The attack is often preceded by a cold in the 
head, the infant sneezes, its nose runs, and it begins to cough. If the 
bronchial catarrh which follows is mild, and the catarrh does not extend 



Bronchitis 195 

beyond the trachea and large bronchi, the general symptoms are slight : 
there is no distress, no dyspnoea, only a troublesome cough, perhaps some 
wheezing during respiration and a slightly elevated temperature at night. 
In the more severe attacks, in which the smaller bronchial tubes are involved, 
their mucous membrane being swollen and the secretion thick and viscid, 
dyspnoea from obstruction to the air entering the lungs will be present. 
The pulse is hard and accelerated, the number of respirations increased 
according to the amount of obstruction, the ate nasi working, the skin 
hot, and the infant restless and thirsty. On placing the ear to the chest, dry 
hissing or snoring sounds will be heard during inspiration, as the air rushes 
through the pulmonary divisions of the bronchi, in the severer cases entirely 
obscuring the respiratory murmur. In the milder attacks rhonchi will 
only be heard with some respiratory movements, being more especially 
heard at the roots of the lungs. 

In infants and young children, especially if their ribs are softened in con- 
sequence of rickets, there is recession of the chest-walls, chiefly at the 
epigastrium and lower lateral region of the chest, due to the imperfect filling 
of the lungs, the chest- wall falling in, in place of the lungs expanding. In a 
later stage the sibilant or rhonchial sounds become mixed with moist rales : 
these are not distinctly and sharply crepitant as of bubbles passing through 
thin fluid, but indistinct bubbling sounds as of air forced through thick 
tenacious mucus. The moist sounds succeeding the dry, point to a freer 
secretion of mucus from the hitherto swollen and congested mucous mem- 
brane. In some cases in infants mucous bubbling rales are heard from the 
first. If convalescence is quickly established, the abnormal sounds are 
gradually replaced by the normal respiratory murmur, though rhonchi or 
rales may be heard for some days or weeks. Percussion of the chest-walls 
during an attack of uncomplicated bronchitis shows the resonance normal, 
although perhaps there may be some hyper-resonance at the sub-clavicular 
regions from the presence of more or less emphysema. 

In most attacks of bronchitis there is usually more or less disturbance of 
the digestive organs. The bowels may be confined and distended with 
flatulence, the tongue is coated, and there is often more or less vomiting. 

The fever in uncomplicated cases is never high ; there may be an even- 
ing rise of a degree or two, while the morning temperature may be normal 
or subnormal, especially in weakly children. The cough, which in the early 
stages is hard, in the later stages becomes looser, mucus is coughed up into 
the pharynx and then quickly swallowed, unless extracted by means of the 
nurse's finger. Children under five years rarely expectorate — mucus is 
coughed up, but they have not the sense to spit it out. 

An attack of bronchitis usually lasts a week or ten days and ends in 
recovery, leaving the child subject to a second attack. 

Compiicatio?is. — Bronchitis in infants and young children is frequently 
accompanied by one or more complications, the commonest being collapse 
of the lung, catarrhal pneumonia, bronchiectasis, and emphysema. In a 
fatal case it is almost certain that one, or more often all four, of these com- 
plications will be found. 

Collapse of Iiung-. — During an attack of bronchitis or bronchial catarrh 
it is not uncommon to note that the respiratory murmur is weak or absent 

o 2 



196 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

•over a portion of lung, as, for instance, one or other base ; then perhaps after 
a vigorous cough a plug of mucus is dislodged from a large bronchus and the 
breath sounds, with perhaps some loose rales, are heard over the same area. 
At other times the breath sounds are absent, and by the next day the 
ordinary respiratory murmur will again be heard. In this case a plug of 
thick mucus lodged in one of the larger divisions of the pulmonary bronchi 
prevents the ingress and egress of the air from the lung, but is expelled 
and coughed up by an extra effort. 

If, however, thick mucus is drawn into the smaller bronchi, perhaps 
filling up a series of small branches, the most powerful expiratory effort the 
child can make fails to clear the occluded bronchi, especially when the re- 
spiratory muscles are weak and the ribs are soft and easily bend. Two 
things are now certain to happen — the lung supplied by the occluded bronchi 
collapses and more or less dilatation of the bronchial tubes and emphysema 
of the neighbouring lung occurs, unless the chest-walls fall in to take the 
room of the collapsed lung. The lung collapses in consequence of the 
absorption of the imprisoned air, the air entering the blood-vessels, as 
shown by the experiments of Lichtheim. It is clear that this collapse of 
lung and vicarious emphysema at least temporarily damages the lung, and if 
this should occur to any great extent in acute bronchitis, it adds considerably 
to the danger of death by asphyxia. 

The symptoms to which collapse gives rise are not always very definite, 
and unless tolerably extensive there may be no sign of its presence. In 
some cases it may supervene suddenly, possibly by the sucking in of mucus 
which has accumulated in the trachea during sleep, into the bronchial tubes, 
the dyspnoea becoming urgent, the child's lips blue ; it rolls about in its 
cot struggling for breath, and convulsions come on which perhaps prove 
fatal. In other cases, while the symptoms may be alarming for the time 
they quickly pass away, a result due to the mucus being expelled. If the 
collapse is scattered in patches throughout the lung, especially if accom- 
panied by emphysema, it will be impossible to detect it by any physical signs ; 
there may be hyper-resonance due to the emphysema, weak breath sounds, 
and perhaps some moist rales. If any extent of lung is involved, as part 
of an apex or base, there will be some loss of resonance, but this is rarely 
well marked unless some broncho-pneumonia be associated with it, a pneu- 
monic patch and a collapsed patch lying side by side. The respiratory mur- 
mur over the collapsed patch is weak, and rhonchus or moist sounds may 
be heard. In some cases there appears to be a mixed condition of collapse 
with much congestion of the vessels and oedema, or possibly, as some authors 
believe, the collapsed lung becomes the seat of a low form of pneumonia, 
leucocytes and epithelioid cells being present in the air-sacs. 

Bronchiectasis and Emphysema. — Dilatation of the bronchi frequently 
takes place during acute bronchitis, the walls of the medium-sized and small 
bronchi being thin and their calibre increased, a result no doubt due to in- 
flammatory softening of their walls. Emphysema is also constantly present 
in association with dilated bronchial tubes. The chest-walls during an acute 
attack assume the position of inspiration, and, particularly the infraclavicular 
regions, become hyper-resonant, while the expiratory murmur is prolonged. As 
already remarked, compensatory emphysema is constantly present in asso- 



C J ironic Bronchitis 



197 



ciation with broncho-pneumonia and collapse. Bronchiectasis takes place in 
association with chronic pleurisy and fibroid conditions of lung. 

Chronic Bronchitis and Bronchiectasis. — Children and infants, like 
adults, suffer from chronic bronchial catarrh ; they recover slowly and then 
perhaps within a few weeks another attack supervenes. Some children 
show such a tendency to these attacks that they have to be kept prisoners 
almost all the winter, as exposure to even slight cold is sufficient to lay them 
by for weeks. Frequent and long-continued attacks of bronchitis are certain 
sooner or later to produce emphysema, dilated bronchial tubes, and dilata- 
tion of the right side of the heart and the veins which empty into it. Such 
children present a typical picture ; they are mostly thin, with rounded droop- 
ing shoulders, barrel-shaped chests, enlarged superficial jugular veins and 



litem iiiiBiii 
iiiisiHasismiiiiiiiii 




IMIUUBKI RHHB««HB'JflHkVJHMflHB&TlHiHSllHliaiHrA«iBieZZ 



SSS5SSS EH'«iMHfM« 

isii ■MH1 





Fig. 25. — Temperature Chart of a case of Bronchitis with disseminated patches of pneumonia. 
Boy of 5 years. Recovery. 

often injected capillaries on the cheeks. In the milder cases such children 
with care improve greatly and frequently by puberty lose their tendency to 
bronchial troubles, and grow up, if not strong, at least not with impaired 
health. On the other hand, there is always the risk of an intercurrent and 
perhaps fatal pneumonia ; we have seen children of this class with marked 
emphysema come regularly into hospital perhaps twice in a winter with 
attacks of croupous pneumonia. There is a risk of chronic bronchitis passing 
into a chronic broncho-pneumonia, the lung tissue around the dilated bronchi 
becoming caseous and indurated. There is also the risk of tuberculosis, 
but we have not often been able to trace a connection between chronic 
bronchitis and tubercle, though those suffering from chronic bronchitis are 
often mistaken for phthisical subjects. 



198 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

Bronchc-pneumonia. — In many cases the attack begins with a bronchial 
catarrh and quickly passes on into a broncho-pneumonia, the inflammation 
extending from the bronchi into the air-cells. In other cases the bronchial 
symptoms may be slight or absent, and the attack may closely resemble a 
croupous pneumonia. Between these two types all gradations may be met 
with. When the pneumonia supervenes on bronchitis, all the symptoms 
become exaggerated, the child is restless, the cough shorter and more 
hacking, the skin hot and dry, the evening temperature usually reaching 103 
or 1 04° with morning remissions of several degrees, so that the fever assumes 
a remittent type ; sometimes there are evening instead of morning remissions, 
the temperature being at its lowest in the evening — the dyspnoea is usually 




Fig. 26.— Temperature Chart of a case of acute. Broncho-pneumonia in a boy of z\ years ; death 
fifteenth day. _ At the post-mortem both bases of lungs showed generalised broncho-pneumonia 
with 'graines jaunes.' 

great, the respirations numbering forty or fifty, but varying with the amount 
of fever and extent of lung involved. If the pneumonia is extensive the face 
wears a distressed expression, the ate nasi work vigorously, the child lies 
weak and helpless in its mother's arms, too feeble to cry, or if it resists exami- 
nation for a while it is soon exhausted and passively submits. 

An examination of the chest, if made when the attack is fully developed 
and severe, shows that the accessory muscles of respiration are brought into 
play, the respirations are rapid and shallow, with recession of the epigastrium 
and intercostal spaces. The percussion note varies according to the position 
of the consolidated lung ; this may involve an extended portion at one or 
both bases, at an apex, or be scattered in patches over the lungs. To detect 



Broncho-pneu mcnia 



199 



the pneumonic portions both light and strong percussion should be practised, 
carefully comparing any spot where the resonance appears impaired with 
the opposite side. There may be hyper-resonance, especially anteriorly, from 
the presence of emphysema. A considerable amount of pneumonia may exist 
if diffuse or patchy without any definitely impaired resonance. There is 
never complete dulness in pneumonic consolidation unless much lymph or 
some fluid be present. On auscultation rhonchi are usually heard over the 
chest, while over the pneumonic por- 
tions rales of a consonant or ringing 
character are heard, which contrast 
with the subcrepitant rales of a simple 



44-+^ 



mum 



intense, from the fact of their travel- 
ling to the ear through consolidated 
lung. Even though no consolidated 
lung can be detected by percussion, 
the presence of consonant intensely 
ringing rales with a temperature of 
103 or 104 points almost certainly to 
pneumonia. 

In the early stages the respiratory 
murmur is weak, later there is mostly 
well-marked bronchial breathing over 
the dull area. If a fatal result is about 
to occur, the respirations become more 
hurried, the distress greater, and the 
pulse weaker and weaker ; rales and 
rhonchus are heard over the whole 
chest, the heart flags, and the child 
becomes pallid and comatose, death 
taking place with symptoms of toxaemia 
on account of the bronchi becoming 
choked and the lungs consolidated. 
The temperature usually falls towards 
the close ; the child is frequently con- 
vulsed. If, however, the attack takes 
a favourable turn, towards the end of 
the first week or earlier the tempera- 
ture approaches normal, the breathing 
is easier, and the child, instead of con- 
centrating his whole attention on him- 
self, begins to notice those about and to play with his toys. The physical 
signs change but slowly, the bronchial breathing and rales being heard 
perhaps during the second or even the third week. 

While the above is the description of a typical attack, the pneumonia 
may be of much less well-marked character. The child may seem ill with 
little or no cough, while there is loss of appetite, coated tongue, and feverish- 
ness, especially well marked during the afternoon or evening. An examina- 
tion of the chest may at first yield no positive result, yet in a day it will be 



Fig. 27. — Temperature Chart of a case of acute 
lobar Pneumonia in an infant of 9 months; death 
on third day. The whole left lung except a small 
part of upper lobe, which was emphysematous, 
was solid ; section of lung not so solid as red 
hepatisation ; lobule": distinct, some of a pink 
and others of a greyish colour. 



200 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

noted that there is a patch of lung at the extreme base, axilla, or near the 
root where the air does not enter well, and the respiratory murmur is replaced 
by breathing of a distinctly bronchial character. In a few days or a week 
the temperature may again become normal. 

Sometimes an attack of broncho-pneumonia closely simulates the croupous 
variety, and there may be a doubt as to which category to refer it. The 
onset may be sudden, accompanied by a convulsion or series of convulsions,, 
the temperature may rise to 104 or 105 (see fig. 27), the physical signs may 
point to an extended portion of lung being involved, and only the course of 
the attack, the temperature becoming intermittent, and reaching normal 
gradually by lysis, would seem to indicate that the attack is rather of the 
catarrhal than the croupous variety. Some cases may from first to last be 
open to doubt. 

Course. — While broncho-pneumonia is frequently an acute disease, proving 
fatal in a few days or a week, its course in many cases is subacute or chronic,, 
lasting for several weeks or even more and yet ending in apparently com- 
plete recovery. In some instances recovery takes place to be followed by 
a relapse, the temperature again becoming remittent for a few days or a 
week. The termination of the fever is nearly always by lysis. In these 
protracted cases the possibility of tuberculosis or a local empyema must 
always be borne in mind. 

Secondary Pneumonias. — Pneumonias, mostly of the broncho-pneumonic 
form, occur as complications of many diseases, and may in consequence be 
modified in their course and in the symptoms they present. Thus a miliary 
tuberculosis may give rise to an acute broncho-pneumonia, which may run 
a short or protracted course, the two conditions present essentially modifying 
each other. In -whooping- cough, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, 
enteric fever, pneumonia may supervene caused by the specific micro- 
organism of the fever, or, in many cases at least, by the septic organisms 
present. While the pneumonia occurring in these diseases is usually of the 
broncho-pneumonic form, yet it is mostly fibrinous, and in the worst cases, 
exhibits a tendency to pus formations, so that small purulent abscesses may 
be found post mortem. In some cases a true croupous pneumonia may 
occur. In diphtheria the pneumonia is often haemorrhagic, small patches 
of dark red extravasated blood being seen on section of the pneumonic 
lung. 

In acute summer diarrhoea a pneumonia is very apt to be present and 
add to the gravity of the attack ; in the chronic intestinal catarrh of 
infants the immediate cause of death is frequently an intercurrent attack of 
inflammation of the lungs. 

Chronic Broncho-pneumonia. — Attacks of broncho-pneumonia are apt 
to become chronic in consequence of an imperfect clearing up of the lung 
and the resulting caseous degeneration. Catarrhal pneumonia following 
measles or whooping cough is very apt in an unhealthy child or one who 
inherits tubercular tendencies to take a subacute course ; a base, or, less 
often, an apex of a lung remains more or less dull, the breath sounds are 
bronchial, moist sounds are heard, and the evening temperature rises to 102 
or 103 F., with night sweats and emaciation. This state of things may go on 
for weeks, and it may be impossible to say if the caseous changes are pro- 



Chronic Broncho-pneumonia 20 1 

gressing or not. The risk in such cases is undoubtedly that, although the lung 
may clear up, the bronchial glands may become caseous, and a general tuber- 
culosis of the lung or perhaps tubercular meningitis follow. Most cases of 
chronic broncho-pneumonia terminate either in recovery or tuberculosis, 
though in some instances they run a very chronic course resembling a chronic 
phthisis ; and at the post-mortem dilated bronchi and caseous and fibroid 
changes are found, but no tubercle, at least no grey granulations. Such cases 
during life are mostly regarded as chronic or fibroid phthisis ; they present in 
their later stages the signs of consolidation of a portion of lung at an apex or 
base, the chest-wall is probably retracted, there are bronchial breathing, sharp 
ringing rales, and very foetid expectoration, which is coughed up in large 
quantities. They are thin, anaemic, are easily put out of health, have clubbed 
fingers and dilated right hearts. They linger long, but finally die exhausted. 
At the post-mortem there are found dilated bronchi filled with thick, foul secre- 
tion, cheesy nodules around the bronchial tubes, much fibroid and indurated 
lung tissue, and emphysema. In some cases there is gangrene of the lung- 
before death. Children liable to bronchitis, or who suffer from it in the chronic 
form, require to be warmly clothed and protected from cold. Residence in a 
warm climate and pure atmosphere during the winter, and at high altitudes 
during the summer, should be insisted on where possible. A warm house 
is necessary if they have to winter in this climate. Every means must be 
employed which will improve their general health. 1 

Prognosis. — Broncho-pneumonia is always a dangerous disease, but more 
especially so in children under 2 years of age who are rickety or weakly. 
The prognosis is necessarily serious if the pneumonia follow any other dis- 
ease, as measles, whooping cough, or summer diarrhoea, or when it occurs in 
scarlet fever through the extension of the inflammatory process in the throat. 
In any severe case the danger depends upon the amount of lung involved 
and the softness of the chest- walls. It must also be remembered that a young- 
child may struggle through the bronchial affection, only to pass into a con- 
dition of atrophy — the result of a gastro-intestinal catarrh. Both high and 
also very low temperatures are indicative of danger. The pneumonia may- 
become chronic and tuberculosis supervene. 

Morbid Anatomy. — The appearances seen post mortem in the bodies of 
children dying of bronchitis and broncho-pneumonia are very various, and 
are apt to puzzle those unaccustomed to the autopsies made in children ; and 
much confusion has existed in the past in reference to them, especially in 
confounding the various forms of pneumonia and carnification of the lung- 
with collapse. Collapse of the lung is mostly patchy in its distribution, rarely 
affecting any continuous extent of lung or involving the whole thickness of a 
lung. It affects the anterior and inferior edges of the lungs, especially the 
anterior edge of the middle lobe of the right side and tongue of the left 
which covers the heart ; it is sometimes present along the posterior border of 
the lung ; the collapsed portions are depressed below the surface, purple in 
colour, and airless. Taken between the finger and thumb, there is no sub- 
stance to be felt as in pneumonia. The collapsed portions can be inflated 
through the bronchi. The collapse is brought about in at least two ways — 

1 The treatment of dilated bronchi by incision and drainage has not been successful in 
our hands. 



202 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

either from occlusion of a small bronchus by thick mucus, the air being first 
imprisoned and then absorbed by the capillaries, or by feeble inspiratory 
power aided by obstruction to the entrance of air, especially when the ribs 
are soft, as in rickets ; in this case the chest falls in during inspiration, in- 
stead of the lungs becoming distended ; it is in this way that collapse is pro- 
duced along the anterior edges of the lung. The collapsed portions become 
cedematous from the stagnation of the circulation ; according to some, they 
"become pneumonic. 

What happens to the collapsed portions of lung in the long run is not 
clear. In most cases, apparently, recovery takes place ; but, we believe, in 
some cases fibroid changes are set up, as evidenced by those chronic cases ot 
bronchitis and dilated tubes, the latter surrounded by indurated lung. Acute 
emphysema plays an important part in the acute lung disease of children. 
It is sometimes produced very rapidly ; thus a child may die of acute broncho- 
pneumonia complicating measles in three or four days, and extensive emphy- 
sema maybe present, no doubt produced during the period, and contributing 
very materially to the fatal result {see p. 258). The bases of the lungs are 
in an early stage of pneumonia and collapse, the upper lobes are overworked, 
the constant coughing consequent on the acute bronchitis produces emphy- 
sema, and the only remaining normal lung is thus damaged, and a fatal result 
quickly ensues. 

The chief types found may be described shortly in the following groups : — 

1. Acute Bronchitis involving the Smaller Tutoes. Collapse of Lung-, 
Vicarious Emphysema. — On opening the chest the lungs are found to be in 
a condition of deep inspiration ; their surfaces are studded over with clusters 
of lobules which are depressed and purple in colour (collapse), and with raised 
portions which are of a pale pink colour (emphysema). On section, thick 
semi-purulent frothy mucus exudes from the large and small bronchi ; the 
latter sometimes contain a semi-membranous exudation. The cut surface of 
the lung exudes much blood-stained frothy fluid, due to congestion of the 
lung ; the lungs are crepitant, except where collapse has taken place. The 
large veins and right heart are much engorged. 

2. Disseminated Broncho-pneumonia.— The bronchial tubes contain 
much frothy fluid, one or both lungs, especially the lower lobes posteriorly, 
have a semi-solid feel, but crepitate, and perhaps some nodules of various 
sizes may be felt. The section exudes much serum, purulent mucus exudes 
from the small bronchi, the cut surface of the lung has a mottled appearance, 
caused by clusters of lobules, which are grey or pale pink and have a firm 
feel, and bright red portions of crepitant lung. The paler portions are pneu- 
monic and solid ; the red portions are air-containing congested lung, which 
surround the pneumonic portions. Portions of lung which are removed will 
float in water, but easily break down on thrusting in the finger. The upper 
lobes are emphysematous. 

3. Acute Generalised Broncho-pneumonia. — The posterior inferior or 
whole of one or both lobes has a semi-solid feel, though less solid than in 
croupous pneumonia, with but little or no sense of crepitation. The surface 
is purplish in colour; the pleural covering may have minute haemorrhages on 
its surface, or be roughened from the presence of lymph. The cut section 
has a solid feel, yet it is not granular as in true croupous pneumonia, but 



Broncl io -pneumonia 203 

easily breaks down on pressure with the finger, and sinks in water. It has 
a mottled appearance, in consequence of the lobules surrounding the ter- 
minal bronchi being paler in colour and in a later stage of consolidation 
than the intervening portions of lung. There will probably be collapse 
of the anterior and inferior edges, as well as acute emphysema in the 
same positions ; some of the vesicles are frequently distended to the size of 
millet seeds, or even peas, and perhaps one here and there is ruptured. In 
a still later stage, especially if the inflammation is intense, as in measles or 
scarlet fever, a lobe may be solid, and on the surface beneath the pleura 
there are a number of yellow spots, the size of millet seeds or larger, which 
on pricking yield a drop of thick pus. On section, these yellow spots are seen 
scattered through the lung ; they are the 'graines jaunes,' or ' abces peri- 
bronchique,' of French authors, and are, in fact, minute abscesses surrounding 
the terminal bronchioles, formed by the softening of the pneumonic lobules. 

4. In infants under 6 months a form of pneumonia is sometimes 
found which does not agree with the above description. A lobe, generally 
-one of the lower, is semi-solid, its surface depressed and purple, surrounded, 
perhaps, by raised emphysematous vesicles. The cut section is smooth and 
of a uniform plum colour, the lobules indistinct and airless, but the lung has 
not the solid feel of red hepatisation. 

5. In some cases nodules of fibrinous pneumonia as large as hazel 
nuts or walnuts, hard, and with a granular surface, may be found. We have 
seen this condition in connection with measles. 

It has already been remarked that clinically broncho-pneumonia some- 
times so closely simulates croupous pneumonia that it is difficult to say to 
which variety it is to be referred. The same difficulty may occur in the 
j)Ost-vwrtem room, as some lobular pneumonias have almost the solid feel 
found in croupous pneumonia, and a microscopic examination shows the 
air-vesicles to contain fibrin, and yet the section, to the naked eye, is not 
granular as it is in red hepatisation, but mottled, the clusters of lobules 
varying in tint, and more closely resembling in appearance the condition of 
broncho-pneumonia. 

The micro-organisms present in the broncho-pneumonia occurring in 
children have been studied by recent observers, more especially by Neu- 
mann, 1 Queisner,' 2 Strelitz, 3 and Prudden and Northrup. The commonest 
micro-organism found appears to be the Frankel-Weichselbaum diplococcus, 
much less often Friedlander's bacillus. In the septic pneumonias present 
in scarlet fever, measles, and diphtheria, various micrococci— including 
staphylo-coccus pyogenes aureus and albus, and streptococcus pyogenes — are 
usually present. 

In the present state of our knowledge it is unwise to lay too much stress 
•on the presence of these organisms in the pneumonic lungs ; but it seems 
•exceedingly probable that there are several micro-organisms which, if the con- 
tritions are favourable, are capable of giving rise to inflammation of the lungs. 

Diagnosis. — A clinical distinction between the above conditions is often 

impossible, inasmuch as bronchitis, collapse, emphysema, and catarrhal 

pneumonia may all exist in the same lung, and more or less mask one 

1 Jahrbuch Kinderh., Band xxx. p. 233. 2 Loc. cit. Band xxx. p. 277. 

5 Archiv f. Ki?iderh., Band xiii. p. 468. 



204 Diseases of the Respwatory Apparatus 

another. However, a few points may be emphasised. In simple bronchitis 
the temperature is rarely high, there is no impairment of resonance, and the 
moist sounds, if present, are indistinct and distant. In broncho-pneumonia 
the temperature is higher, usually there is impaired resonance, perhaps 
whiffy or bronchial breathing, and the moist sounds are clear, sharp, and 
ringing. The diagnosis of collapse is much more uncertain unless much 
lung is involved ; then there are impaired resonance and weak and distant, 
bronchial sounds. 

In all cases of broncho-pneumonia we must bear in mind the possibility- 
of some localised collection of pus being present over a dull patch, and also- 
that the case may be one of miliary tubercle as well as broncho-pneumonia. 

Treatment. — The colds in the head and bronchial catarrhs of children 
call rather for careful hygiene than active treatment. Confinement to a well 
warmed and ventilated room or suite of rooms, as long as the symptoms oi 
a cold are present or rhonchi are heard in the chest, with a light, mostly fluid 
diet, will in many cases be all that is necessary. Merely to confine a child, 
to the house and let it run about in cold passages and stand in draughts is- 
useless, and likely to give rise to another cold before the first has completely- 
passed away. Some children are exceedingly liable to take cold, and bron- 
chitis to follow very readily, and with these extra care must be taken, and the 
last trace of a cold must have disappeared before they are permitted to go out... 
In those cases where there is a laryngeal or tracheal catarrh the cough is 
often troublesome, especially keeping the patient awake at night and disturb- 
ing the whole household. Among the household remedies for coughs which, 
are useful are black-currant jelly, glycerine lozenges, liquorice, and jujubes 
simple or medicated. A hot cup of beef-tea or cocoa the last thing at night 
will often soothe a troublesome cough. In many cases it will be necessary 
to give small doses of some sedative, especially in the case of older children. 
Morphia, codeia, aconite, hyoscyamus, bromide of ammonium, may be given 
for this purpose, made up in the form of a linctus with syrup of orange or 
tolu or glycerine. The morphia and ipecacuanha lozenges of the B.P. made 
with fruit paste or glycerine jelly are very convenient. Codeia jelly acts 
exceedingly well in soothing irritable coughs. 

The diet should consist largely of fluids, milk, beef-tea, light puddings ; 
lemonade, barley water, linseed tea, to assuage thirst and tend to produce 
free action of the kidneys and skin, are likely to be useful ; salines such as 
citrate of ammonia or potash ; or liq. ammon. acet. may also be given. 

The prevention of attacks of bronchial catarrhs and colds is a matter of 
much importance, especially in the case of those who are liable to bronchitis 
or asthmatic attacks whenever they take cold. A house in a dry and bracing- 
situation, with well-warmed living-rooms, passages, and bedrooms — while 
the ventilation and sanitation are carefully looked after — is a first necessity- 
in the prevention of colds. Care must be taken that such children are 
properly clothed with well-fitting woollen under-garments, that they have 
plenty of exercise' in the open air whenever the weather is suitable, while 
cold sponging or the tepid douche in the morning whilst standing in warm 
water is of much service in promoting the circulation in the skin and pre- 
venting chills. 

Are ' colds in the head ' infectious ? It is a common experience that 



Bronclw-pneumonia 205 

almost a whole household is affected at the same time or in succession, and 
there can be little doubt that in some cases a nasal catarrh passes from one 
child to another without the latter having been exposed to any chill. Other 
conditions favouring these attacks may be present, but of these next to 
nothing is known. Possibly a chill may predispose the mucous membrane 
to take on inflammation or become a suitable nidus for the cultivation of 
bacilli or other organisms present in the atmosphere. 

If the catarrh passes downwards from the trachea into the smaller tubes, 
and the child in consequence ' wheezes ' and rhonchi are heard all over the 
chest, the child should be confined to its bed or cot, care being taken to have 
it warmly clothed and in a situation free from draughts. In the more severe 
cases of bronchitis and catarrhal pneumonia, especially in small children, a 
sort of tent should be rigged over the cot, or one or two clothes screens placed 
around with sheets hung on them so as to form sides and a roof will answer 
very well. The atmosphere must be kept moist by means of a bronchitis 
kettle, or the sheets which form the walls of the tent may be kept moist. 
The temperature in the cot should be maintained at 65°-7o° night and 
.■day. The diet should consist entirely of fluids if the attack is at all acute. 
Milk diluted with one-third or one-fourth part of whey, barley water, or soda 
-water should form the principal kind of nourishment ; a cup of beef-tea 
once or twice a day may be allowed. Moist, hot applications to the chest 
are soothing to the patient, and may be applied in the form of linseed poultices 
or fomentations. It must, however, be borne in mind that poultices made by 
unskilled hands may, especially in the case of infants and young children, do 
more harm than good ; to surround the chest of an infant with a heavy poul- 
tice when the bronchial tubes are choked with thick mucus and patches of 
lung are in a state of collapse is simply to invite death by suffocation. The 
poultices should be well mixed, not too heavy nor applied too hot (placing 
them against one's cheek is the best guide), being carefully kept in position 
by means of a flannel binder, and renewed at least every four hours. A 
mustard poultice is often of great service in the early stage ; one tablespoonful 
of mustard to four or five tablespoonfuls of linseed meal may be used, the 
.poultice remaining on three or four hours. This strength is not sufficient to 
produce more than some redness, and it can be renewed or replaced by a 
simple poultice according to circumstances. For infants and young children 
hot fomentations applied by means of spongio-piline or flannel are preferable 
to poultices ; they are much more cleanly and harm is less likely to be done 
by their application. Several layers of flannel may be used wrung out of 
water, or if need be mustard and water, and covered with a piece of oiled 
silk, the whole being surrounded by cotton wool. Poultices and hot applica- 
tions are of most service in the early stages, when the mucous membrane is 
swollen and dry and the secretion scanty ; in the later stages they are also 
useful if the secretion is thick and coughed up with difficulty. 

In the early stage of bronchitis, if there is much wheezing, dyspnoea, and 
distress, an emetic is of much service, more so, perhaps, in bronchitis than in 
catarrhal pneumonia. Pulv. ipecac, in 5 -grain doses in syrup of orange 
peel may be given to a child under 2 years of age and repeated in a few 
minutes if it fail to act. The act of vomiting, especially after ipecacuanha, 
will probably be attended by a freer secretion of mucus and relief to the 



2o6 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

breathing. At this period the depressant expectorants which appear ta 
diminish tension in the vessels and thus relieve the congested mucous 
membrane are mostly used. Of these antimony, ipecac, and aconite are 
more frequently used than any others. In this stage, when the cough is 
hard and sibilus is heard in the chest, antimony in small repeated doses, 
short of producing nausea and depression, is of much service. (F. 23.) 

In catarrhal pneumonia aconite in half-minim or minim doses is preferable. 
The drug may be continued for several days, as long as the fever lasts or 
the secretion remains scanty or is coughed up with difficulty. Given with 
caution and in small doses there is little fear of its producing too great de- 
pression ; in feeble children, however, it may be well to give small doses of 
alcohol at the same time. Many prefer to give ipecac, instead of antimony, 
especially in the feeble and cachectic patients so often met with in the out- 
patient room. Some belieVe ipecac, combined with alkalies such as bicar- 
bonate of potash to be of especial value when mucous rales are heard in 
the chest and the infant or child has much difficulty in coughing up the 
thick secretion which is formed. Simple salines are preferred by some. Dr. 
Lewis Smith recommends tr. veratri viridis in half-minim or minim doses 
every second hour. As long as the cough remains hard, and the mucous secre- 
tion scanty or difficult to expel, the antimony or ipecac, should be persevered 
with, and is far more likely to be of service than the stimulating mixtures so 
often prescribed. It is when the catarrh continues, the cough becoming 
loose, the secretion liquid, and the fever mostly gone, that carbonate of 
ammonia, squills, and terebene are most likely to be useful. At this stage 
the fomentations and poultices should be given up in favour of a warm cotton- 
wool jacket, and stimulating applications may be applied to the chest-walls. 
Ammonia may be usefully combined with digitalis and squills, as in F. 24. 

Stimulating applications to be rubbed into the chest-wall are useful in 
producing slight redness without being too severe. (F. 25, F. 26, F. 27.) 

The lin. potass, iodidi c. sapone B.P. may be used in a similar way. 

Iodide of potassium is often useful in the subacute or chronic stage, and 
nitric acid and mix vomica are of much service during convalescence. 

In bronchitis pure and simple the temperature is never so excessive as to 
require any antipyretic treatment, but in some cases of acute broncho-pneu- 
monia, especially where it approaches the croupous type, or when it accom- 
panies whooping cough or measles, the temperature is apt to take high flights. 
Sponging with tepid water, ' packs,' or when there is drowsiness or con- 
vulsions the warm bath gradually cooled down by adding cold water so as 
to reduce it to 6o°, may be used. Phenacetin or antipyrin may be used for 
the same purpose with care, beginning with a small dose, 2 grains of the 
former for a child of 2 or 3 years of age. Both of these antipyretics have 
been used in small doses frequently repeated both in acute bronchitis and 
broncho-pneumonia. An excessively high temperature, io4°-io5°, is some- 
times present in an early stage of pneumonia, accompanied by convulsions 
or coma ; in such cases no time should be lost in resorting to baths or packs, 
while giving stimulants if necessary by the rectum. 

Death usually threatens in bronchitis or broncho-pneumonia from 
mechanical interference with the air entering the lungs, asphyxia being pro- 
duced, with great depression of the heart's action. This occurs, especially in 



Broncho -pneumonia 207 

young infants, by a blockage of the medium-sized and small tubes by thick 
mucus which is difficult to expel, or is due to capillary obstruction, collapse 
of lung, acute emphysema, or a large tract of lung becoming involved in the 
pneumonic process. In young infants with obstructed bronchial tubes all 
tight binding up of the chest-walls by poultices or bandages must be avoided ; 
the position must be varied from time to time so as to give each lung full 
play in turn, and an occasional emetic of alum or squills will help to get rid 
of the excessive and tenacious secretion. The nurse's finger may be use- 
fully employed in removing the secretion from the back of the throat after a fit 
of coughing. In suddenly produced dyspnoea either from collapse of lung or 
acute pneumonia, when the circulation through the lungs is obstructed and 
the right heart over-distended, local bleeding by means of a leech or two is 
often of the greatest service, and may be the means of saving life. One, 
two, or three leeches may be applied at the tip of the sternum, and after 
falling off the bleeding may if necessary be encouraged by warm applica- 
tions. Mustard baths, or mustard fomentations, or turpentine stupes applied 
to the chest, are likely to be useful in those cases where there is extensive 
pneumonia, with much dyspnoea and cardiac depression — turpentine must 
be used cautiously. Ammonia and digitalis must also be freely given under 
similar circumstances. Oxygen inhalation may be resorted to, but we cannot 
say that we have had much success with it. 

The question of the administration of emetics, alcohol, and opium, is of 
importance. Emetics are mostly of value in the early stages of laryngitis or 
bronchitis when the cough is hard and the breathing difficult on account of 
the swollen condition of the mucous membrane ; a freer secretion follows the 
administration, and, moreover, the unloading of the stomach of the accumu- 
lated mucus and undigested food seems to have a good effect ; ipecacuanha 
or sulphate of zinc answers best at this stage. Emetics are sometimes useful 
in a later stage of bronchitis and collapse when the bronchial tubes are 
choked with mucus, provided there is no pneumonia or cyanosis ; 10 to 
30 grains of alum in a teaspoonful of syrup of squills is preferable to 
ipecac, or zinc at this time. Alum and honey may be given to infants 
on a small brush. The administration of alcohol is unnecessary in the 
early stages and should always be used with caution in the later stages, for, 
like opium, it soothes the cough and in large quantities its effect is nar- 
cotic ; it is therefore contraindicated except in small doses if there is any 
tendency to cyanosis. Opium in the form of Dover's powder is often of great 
value if the child is restless and its cough irritable, but it is perhaps needless 
to say it should on no account be given if there is much dyspnoea due to the 
accumulation of mucus in the bronchial tubes or if much lung is involved. 

During an acute attack of bronchitis or pneumonia the digestive organs 
are very apt to suffer; there may be vomiting, flatulence, and diarrhoea. 
This impaired digestion must always be borne in mind when the question of 
dieting is being discussed, and care must be taken not to overload the stomach 
and bowels with too large a quantity of milk, beef-tea, &c. An occasional 
laxative dose of calomel or rhubarb and soda may be useful. 

It is well to bear in mind the possibility that an infant may recover from 
an acute attack of bronchitis, to finally succumb to a gastro-intestinal atrophy 
dating from the acute bronchial attack. 



20S 



Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 



Croupous Pneumonia. — Croupous pneumonia in its typical form is a 
common disease in children over 3 years of age, and does not differ either 
in its course or morbid anatomy from the attacks in young adults, though the 
mortality is much less. Reference has already been made to the acute lobar 
pneumonias of infancy and childhood, which are frequently classed amongst 
the fibrinous or genuine croupous pneumonias on account of the extent of 
lung involved and also of their termination by crisis. That many of them are 
fibrinous to some extent is certain, as effused fibrin may be seen in sections 
prepared for the microscope, but in our experience such lungs when seen on 
the post-mortem table are more spongy and lack the complete solidity of the 
red hepatisation of true croupous pneumonia, and the outlines of the lobules 
are readily seen in consequence of their differing from one another as to 
the extent to which they are affected. Moreover, while they may contain 
fibrin, the cellular element largely predominates. Fortunately it is of little 
practical moment under which division these pneumonias are classed : hybrid 
cases are certain to come under observation both in infancy and child- 
hood, and we have frequently to be content with describing attacks as being 
of the ' croupous type,' or of the ' catarrhal ' or ' broncho-pneumonic J type, 
according as their symptoms resemble typical attacks of either the one or 
the other. It is the difficulty of classifying hybrid cases that makes the 
statistics of one hospital or one year or the mortality of the disease liable 
to error when compared with that of other hospitals or years. 

The statistics (given in the table below) of our own hospital of the 
cases entered as croupous pneumonia during the ten years 1 878-1 887 illus- 
trate the comparative frequency of the disease at different ages. In this 
series of cases the total mortality amounted to 5 per cent., the highest being 
among children under 2 years of age. 1 



Table showing the Ages and Mortality 0/401 Cases op 
Croupous Pnemnonia. 





Under 2 yrs. 


2 to 5 yrs. 


5 to 10 yrs. 


10 to 1 


4 yrs. 


Total 


Deaths 


Total 


Deaths 


Total 


Deaths 


Total 


Deaths 


Total ' Deaths 




1878 

1879 
1880 
1881 
1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 
1886 
1887 


2 

3 

1 

3 

2 

1 


I 
I 


15 
16 

5 
18 

14 

17 

7 

16 

9 
6 


3 
1 
1 

3 

1 

1 
3 


14 
14 

6 
20 

25 
26 

37 
24 

9 
18 


I 
I 

I 


2 

3 

3 

5 

8 

12 

12 

19 

4 

5 


— 


33 
36 
14 
44 
5o 
57 
56 
59 
23 
29 


3 

2 
2 

5 
2 

I 
I 
I 

3 




12 


2 


123 


13 


193 5 


73 




401 


20 



1 These figures closely correspond with those given by Von Dusch ; in 331 of his cases 
of croupous pneumonia in children under 10 years of age the mortality was 4 "8 per cent. 



Croupous Pneumonia 209 

The etiology of croupous pneumonia is not perhaps quite as simple as it 
seems at first sight. A schoolboy is exposed to a cold east wind after 
getting hot, or is chilled by a fall into water, and a few days later developes 
an acute pneumonia ; in such cases there can be little doubt that pneumonia 
in some way or other is the result of a chill. In connection, however, with 
this, our own hospital statistics do not show much difference in the number 
of cases admitted during the different months of the year, though there is a 
slight preponderance in favour of March. 1 Attacks certainly occur at all 
times of year, in the warmer as well as in the colder months. On the other 
hand, it is quite certain that croupous pneumonia is at times epidemic and 
also infectious, affecting several members of the same household or the same 
street, and in a few instances there have been widespread epidemics, as, for 
instance, during the influenza epidemic of 1891. Epidemics of pneumonia 
associated with tonsillitis have occurred in schools and other large institutions 
where the sanitary arrangements have been found faulty. It may be taken 
for certain that while there is a form of pneumonia of the croupous type 
which follows a chill, it may be produced by other causes, such as infection by 
the inhalation of the Frankel-Weichselbaum diplococcus or the influenza 
bacillus, or it may be part of some general septic poisoning. In some 
instances acute pneumonia has followed injury ; a blow on the chest or a 
fall on the head has been followed a few days later by a pneumonic attack. 

It seems to us that it is more than probable that these micro-organisms 
are incapable of setting up pneumonia in healthy lung in a normal condition ; 
but if the individual has caught cold or is in a low state of health a suitable 
soil is produced, and if an infection take place a pneumonia is the result. 

The pneumonic diplococcus appears to be almost constantly present in 
the sputa of cases of croupous pneumonia in the early stage, but it is also 
found in the pus from an acute otitis and also in the effusion in cerebro- 
spinal meningitis. It has been found in the sputa of healthy children. It 
can hardly be said to be pathogenic of pneumonia, but it is apparently 
capable of setting up pneumonia under certain conditions. 

In different epidemics, or in different years or localities, attacks of pneu- 
monia appear to vary in their character, sometimes being of the sthenic, 
sometimes of asthenic type ; this has been specially described by Foxwell.- 

Symptoms a?id Course. — The onset is sudden, with symptoms not unlike 
those of scarlet fever ; there is high fever, dyspnoea, rapid pulse, headache, 
pain in the side or abdomen, short cough, and perhaps vomiting and 
diarrhoea. In children under three years convulsions are not uncommon at 
the onset, but these are rare in older children ; the convulsions may prove 
fatal before the attack of pneumonia has fully declared itself. Delirium may 
be an early symptom, especially if the fever is high. By the time a medical 
examination is made the child is usually too ill to be about, and is either in 
bed or being nursed in its mothers arms ; the cheeks are flushed, the alae 
nasi are working, the respirations are perhaps doubled, being possibly 40 
per minute or more, the pulse 120 to 140, there is a temperature of 104 or 
thereabouts, the tongue is dry and brown, and there may be herpetic vesicles 

1 In 628 cases of croupous pneumonia during the years 1857-1885, Durasz found a 
slight excess in April and May. 

2 Practitioner, Tulv 1886. 



2 1 o Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

on the lips and nose. An examination of the urine shows it to be dark in- 
colour, concentrated, containing albumen and an excess of urea, and deficient 
in chlorides. The cough is dry and hacking, and pain is often complained of 
during the act ; in young children there is no expectoration, in older ones 
there may be the usual rusty sputa. The fever and dyspnoea continue, the 
child remaining very ill till the end of the week, when, usually between the 
sixth and ninth day, the fever suddenly abates, and a marked improvement 
takes place in all the symptoms, so that it is evident to all that the crisis has 
come. The crisis is sometimes marked by collapse, the child becoming cold 
and clammy, with a subnormal temperature. 

Physical Signs. — An examination of the chest on the first or second day 
of the attack will usually lead to the discovery of more or less consolidated 
lung. Careful percussion, striking now lightly, now more forcibly, will elicit 
a certain high-pitched note or impaired resonance over some part of the 
chest-wall, as in the infra-clavicular, axillary, or scapular region, or over the 
root or base of the lungs ; on listening over the affected area some departure 
from the normal breath sounds will probably be heard. There may be 
simply weak or distant breathing, as if the air was not entering freely into- 
some part of the lung ; there may be distant or intense bronchial breathing, 
or various abnormal sounds, as a pleuritic rub, rhonchus, or, more often, 
subcrepitant or loose ringing rales, the fine crepitation so common in adults 
being generally absent. There are usually increased vocal resonance and 
fremitus, though it is not always possible to elicit these signs unless the child 
cries. If there is much lung affected, loud or harsh breath sounds are heard 
over the non-affected lung, and care must be taken not to mistake these signs 
of an overworked, for those of an affected lung. 

The position of the consolidation varies considerably and does not ne- 
cessarily correspond to a lobe, but may occupy the whole extent of lung 
anteriorly or posteriorly ; or the most marked signs maybe first detected over 
the root of the lung behind or in the axilla. The left base and right apex are 
favourite spots to be attacked, but any part of the lung may be involved, 
though it must be borne in mind that the apices are more apt to be affected 
in children than in adults, and it is just at this spot that early signs are apt to 
be overlooked. In the course of a day or two, sometimes not for several, the 
physical signs become more marked, the dulness cannot be mistaken, the 
bronchial breathing becomes whiffy and intense ; in a few days more, usually 
after the crisis has arrived, coarse loose crepitant rales are heard which 
mark the resolution of the pneumonic lung. The dulness and bronchial 
breath sounds and rales disappear, but some want of resonance is apt to 
remain for many weeks, as the lung remains in an cedematous state. While 
such is the usual course of events in an ordinary case, there are marked 
differences with regard to the time when the physical signs make their 
appearance, there being frequently a delay of several days, perhaps appear- 
ing as late as the fifth. It is important to remember this, for a mistake in 
diagnosis is easy, as a most careful examination of the whole chest may reveal 
nothing suggestive of pneumonia. In such cases there is a strong presump- 
tion that the pneumonia is centrally situated, perhaps at the root of the 
lung, and takes some time to approach the surface ; or possibly there may 
be an acute inflammatory congestion of a portion of lung and a delay in the 



Croupous Pneumonia 2 1 1 

transudation of fibrin into the air-sacs. Often a sub-tympanitic, actually a 
tympanitic, note to percussion and weak bronchial breathing, or simply 
distant respiratory sounds, may be all there is to be heard for a day or two. 
It is not easy to say why a tympanitic or ' boxy' note is elicited over lung 
in a state of acute inflammatory congestion, or in the first stage of an acute 
lobar pneumonia, but that it does occur we have often had the opportunity 
of observing. In a few cases the crisis may come and the child recover 
without the classical signs of pneumonia ever being present. 

Temperature. — The temperature usually goes up suddenly at the onset 
to 104 or thereabouts, and during the course of the attack continues high, 
with slight morning remissions, till the crisis, when the fall is sudden (see fig. 




Junse \A. Gleet \5MQ \ 



Fig. 28.— Temperature Chart of a case of Croupous Pneumonia of left apex in a girl of five years. 
Crisis sixth day. Recovery. 

28), perhaps 4 or 5°, to a subnormal temperature ; the latter may last for a 
few days and then the normal line be regained. The day on which the crisis 
takes place varies greatly ; the attack may end about the fourth or fifth day 
or earlier, but usually the crisis is delayed till the seventh or eighth, and in 
the creeping form till the end of the second week or later ; a post-crisial 
rise often occurs (see fig. 29), the temperature rising a few degrees the fol- 
lowing evening, becoming normal the next morning ; or a relapse in which 
the temperature remains elevated may take place in consequence of another 
portion of lung being affected. Post-crisial hectic, prolonged for some days 
or weeks, suggests the presence of an empyema or other complication. In 
the minority of cases the temperature falls by lysis. 



2 1 2 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

Varieties.— -The course of the attack varies ; these varieties have been 
■emphasised by various writers, especially by A. Baginsky ; they may be 
enumerated as follows — (i) Abortive Pneumonia. — This variety, as the 
name implies, aborts, or the course comes to a sudden termination by crisis, 
after lasting two, three, or four days, mostly without the classical signs of 
pneumonia being developed ; yet a careful examination of the lungs will 
discover some spot where the breath sounds are weak and the percussion 
note slightly raised or tympanitic. Herpes is common on the lips and 
nose. (2) Creeping- or wandering- Pneumonia has been compared by 
Henoch to an attack of erysipelas spreading over the surface of the lung. 
The apex is perhaps the first part affected ; gradually the inflammatory 




Fig. 29. — Temperature Chart of a case of Croupous Pneumonia of left lung in a girl of five years, 
treated by cold baths. Crisis fourth day ; post-crisial rise. Recovery. 

process spreads to the base, and possibly finally attacks the opposite side. 
Such cases are apt to have a chronic course, the crisis being delayed till the 
tenth or fourteenth day, or the temperature may fall by lysis, or a hectic may 
succeed in consequence of an empyema being left behind. (3) Cerebral 
Pneumonia. — In this form cerebral symptoms are prominent, while, in the 
early stages at least, the symptoms of pneumonia are latent ; there may be 
convulsions, delirium, headache, and drowsiness. In such cases the fever 
usually runs high, and the cerebral symptoms may be due to the high fever 
and poisoned blood. Not unfrequently the lesion in these cases is at the 
apex. Cough is often absent. (4) Gastric Pneumonia. — In these cases 
gastric symptoms_are most marked ; the attack may begin with vomiting, 



Croupous Pneumonia 2 1 3 

diarrhoea, coated tongue, fever, and abdominal pain, and it is only after a day 
or two, when the classical signs of pneumonia appear, that a diagnosis of 
pneumonia is made. The attack may simulate gastro-intestinal catarrh or 
peritonitis, the abdominal pain being due to diaphragmatic or costal pleurisy. 
(5) Pleuro-pneumonia. — In these cases the signs of pleurisy predominate : 
there is sharp stabbing pain, tenderness on percussion, and the child screams 
when it coughs or turns over in bed. Signs of consolidation are succeeded 
by those of pleuritic effusion, or an empyema possibly results. 

Complications and Sequela. — Pleurisy frequently accompanies croupous 
pneumonia ; percussion over the dull area and deep pressure give pain, and 
friction sounds are frequently heard ; the pleurisy is apt to become suppura- 
tive in weakly children, especially if the pneumonia occurs in the course ot 
scarlet fever, measles, or whooping cough (see infra). Pericarditis some- 
times occurs. Hyperpyrexia, a temperature of 105 or 106 occasionally 
taking place, accompanied by cerebral symptoms, convulsions in young- 
children, stupor and delirium in older ones. Meningitis is rare, though it 
occurs occasionally simultaneously with the pneumonia or follows as a sequela, 
being most common in young children. Nephritis also occurs in associa- 
tion with pneumonia ; usually the latter is secondary to the former. Jaundice 
sometimes accompanies pneumonia, especially of the right base (see p. 214). 
Gangrene of the lung- occasionally supervenes and brings about a fatal 
result ; this seems mostly to occur either in pneumonia, secondary to nephritis, 
or when pneumonia occurs in a subject who has emphysematous lungs. The 
possibility of the lung being adherent to the chest and undergoing an indu- 
rating or fibroid process must be kept in mind. A chronic condition ot 
caseation may remain, but this is much commoner after catarrhal than after 
croupous pneumonia. Diphtheria of the fauces may complicate it ; once 
or twice we have discovered, to our surprise, late in the attack or on the 
post-mortem table, false membrane on the fauces. 

Prognosis. — The prognosis is favourable in cases of croupous pneumonia 
when it is primary and attacks healthy children over three years of age ; 
among such the mortality is small. Double pneumonia is necessarily more 
fatal than single, but here the amount of lung involved at one time is net 
necessarily great, as usually while it is advancing on one side it is recedim;- 
on the other ; the danger depends on the amount of lung involved, and the 
respirations give a more or less useful indication of this. In a child who 
already suffers from chronic bronchitis and emphysema or cardiac disease, 
the prognosis is much worse. Secondary pneumonia, when it follows or 
complicates scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, nephritis, or follows 
operations or is connected with septicaemia, is necessarily a serious and often 
fatal disease. When much pleurisy accompanies the pneumonia, especially 
in young children, the prognosis is less favourable than in cases of simple 
croupous pneumonia. 

Diagnosis. — In those cases of croupous pneumonia which begin with 
vomiting and high fever, and where the physical signs are delayed, there is 
a certain superficial resemblance to scarlet fever. That such cases are liable 
to be mistaken for scarlet fever is shown by the fact that not uncommonly 
cases of acute pneumonia are sent into fever hospitals certified as suffering 
from scarlet fever. A careful examination of the patient, and, if necessary, a. 



214 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

delay of twenty-four hours before coming to a decision, will, in the large 
majority of cases, prevent such an error. In the first twenty-four hours in a 
sharp attack of scarlet fever there may be high temperature, vomiting, diar- 
rhoea, rapid pulse (often 150), tonsillitis more or less developed, no pain in 
the chest or cough. The rash usually appears at the end of twenty-four hours. 
In acute pneumonia there may be high fever, headache, pain in the chest or 
abdomen, dyspnoea, pulse perhaps of 120, perhaps so*iie physical signs in 
the chest, not often vomiting, diarrhoea, or tonsillitis. There is no rash. 
Acute pneumonia with marked cerebral symptoms, such as delirium, stupor, 
headache, sordes on the teeth, and high fever may be taken for typhus. A 
careful examination of the lungs would generally decide ; in typhus there may 
be evidence of bronchitis ; in pneumonia there would usually be some want 
of resonance at an apex or base, with some distant or bronchial breathing. 
The presence of a characteristic rash on the third or fourth day would decide 
the diagnosis ; it is well to remember that in children typhus is usually a mild 
disease. In young children an acute attack of croupous pneumonia, with 
high fever, convulsions, drowsiness, or coma, may be mistaken for acute 
meningitis, or, as a matter of fact, pneumonia and meningitis may co-exist. 
We should, however, hesitate in the presence of pneumonia and a temperature 
of 1 04° or 105 to diagnose meningitis, the cerebral symptoms being due to 
the high temperature and poisoned blood. In all cases where a young child 
is suddenly taken with convulsions and high fever, pneumonia should be sus- 
pected and a careful examination of the lungs made. The diagnosis between 
croupous pneumonia and 4 generalised broncho-pneumonia may not be easy 
during life ; we cannot often do more than say such and such an attack 
approaches more nearly to the croupous type, when there is a sudden onset, 
a local portion of lung involved, a continuous temperature, and a crisis ; that 
it is more of the catarrhal type when there is much bronchitis, an intermit- 
tent temperature, and gradual subsidence of the fever. The difficulty does 
not always end in the post-morte7ti room, as typical fibrinous pneumonia 
in patches or more widely distributed may be found in one lung and un- 
doubted lobular pneumonia in the other, while both varieties may be present 
in the same lung. 

Pathology. — In croupous pneumonia the first stage is that of an inflam- 
matory engorgement of an extended portion of lung, the vessels are full, the 
capillaries are tortuous and distended, encroaching on the air space in the 
sacs ; in the second stage the engorged vessels relieve themselves by pouring 
out liquor sanguinis and some corpuscular elements into the air sacs, which 
become blocked with fibrine, and a condition of red hepatisation results. This 
led hepatisation, when seen at the post-mortem, differs from the lobar variety 
of catarrhal pneumonia in that it is more solid to the touch, and presents a 
uniformly coloured surface on which the outlines of the lobules cannot be dis- 
tinguished ; in children it is less often granular than it is in adults. In a later 
stage grey hepatisation is found, the lighter colour being due to the presence 
•of a greater number of corpuscular elements. In lung in a state of red 
hepatisation, Frankel-Weichselbaum diplococci may be usually detected by 
Gram's method. In one of our recent cases of fatal croupous pneumonia, in 
a boy of four years of age, who died on the eighth day (having been deeply 
jaundiced for three or four days), the left lung was in a condition of red and 



Croupous Pneumonia 215 

grey hepatisation, except at the extreme apex. There were some localised 
hepatised patches in the right base. We were able to obtain cultivations on 
glycerine agar of the Frankel-W. diplococcus, staphylococcus pyog. aureus, 
and strepto-coc. pyog. 

Treatment. — An uncomplicated case of croupous pneumonia in a child 
does not require active treatment, as the course is short and the heart and 
arterial system, unlike what is often found in adults, are free from degenera- 
tions, and able to stand the strain imposed upon them. The child should, of 
course, be confined to his bed in a well-warmed and ventilated room ; he should 
be allowed only fluid nourishment, such as milk, barley water, and soda water. 
A piece of spongio-piline or flannel doubled several times may be wrung out 
of hot water, and applied to the chest. Poultices may be used, and retain the 
heat better than anything else ; but they are very liable to slip out of place, 
and are unsuited for infants on account of their weight. In the early stages 
aconite is of service, one or two drops of the tincture being given every 
two or four hours, being watched carefully lest it produce too much depres- 
sion. In many cases no other treatment is required, the aconite being 
stopped when the crisis comes. If the temperature is not excessive, not 
much exceeding 103 , no special methods of reducing it need be used, as the 
course of the fever is short, and often after the first day or two it takes a 
lower range ; the initial fever in the case of infants and young children is in 
some cases high, and is, apparently, the cause of the cerebral symptoms, such 
as convulsions and coma, from which they suffer, and which sometimes prove 
fatal. When this is the case, no time should be lost in reducing temperature 
by cold sponging, packs, baths, an ice-bag to the chest over the seat of the 
pneumonia, or by the administration of antipyretics. If the temperature is 
high — 104 or 105 — there is no need to fear any harm accruing from cold 
water, the simplest method of applying it being by sponging the patient over 
with cold water, or — what is more effectual — a pack at 6o° or 70 ; this latter 
can be applied by wringing a towel out of cold water, folding and applying it 
round the chest, or em eloping the whole body in a wetted sheet. The pro- 
cess maybe repeated at intervals of an hour more or less. If these means 
prove inefficient, or if, as in the case of convulsions, there is no time to lose, 
the cold or graduated bath should be resorted to, the child being placed in a 
warm or lukewarm bath, and the temperature of the water gradually lowered 
to 6o° F. by addition of cold water or ice ; if the patient becomes blue and 
cold he should be removed at once. 

The best antipyretics are quinine and antifebrin and phenacetin, either 
being given in two or three grain doses to a child of three years every four 
hours ; antifebrin is apt to produce considerable depression, which, however, 
quickly passes away ; large doses of quinine are apt to produce dyspepsia. 
The effects of aconite on the pulse should be carefully watched ; any signs 
of intermission or irregularity should be the signal for omitting it, for a while 
at least, and substituting some simple saline, as liq. amnion, acet. or citratis 5 
alcohol and stimulant expectorants are best avoided in the early stages ; two 
or three drop doses of tr. digitalis, given every four hours, are often useful 
if the pulse is poor ; citrate of caffeine or sulphuric ether may also be 
given. 

In cases where the crisis is delayed on account of the inflammatory pro- 



216 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

cess extending, as in the creeping" form, and the child seems low and weak 7 
there is always a temptation to give ammonia and stimulants, and these may 
in some cases be needed, especially in hospital patients who are seen for 
the first time after some days' illness ; but our impression is that patients do 
better in the inflammatory stages, when the process is still extending, on 
small doses of aconite, antimony, or salines, than they do on a too stimu- 
lating treatment. An occasional dose of alcohol may do good when a con- 
tinuous dosing is harmful ; alcohol in large doses acts as a narcotic, and is 
apt to add to the drowsiness and tendency to delirium. Opium in the form 
of ' nepenthe ' or Dover's powder is of great value in calming the delirium 
and sleeplessness, as well as soothing the irritable cough and relieving pain 
when this is a marked feature, as it is in the pleuritic complications. One 
to three drops of nepenthe or half to two grains of Dover's powder may be 
given at night to procure rest and sleep. In double pneumonia, where there 
is much depression with a failing pulse, ether and digitalis must be resorted 
to. Ether maybe injected in three to five drop doses subcutaneously, or sp. 
setheris and tr. digitalis may be given every few hours. Champagne is a good 
restorative under these circumstances, but it may cause vomiting if given too 
freely, and it will be well to dilute it with soda water in the case of young 
children. 

Gangrene of the Lung;, — Croupous pneumonia, when it attacks children 
already the subject of chronic bronchitis and emphysema, is apt to terminate 
in gangrene of the lung ; this we have seen on several occasions. It is apt to 
follow pneumonia secondary to scarlatinal nephritis and also whooping- 
cough. The principal diagnostic symptom is the exceedingly foul breath ; 
the temperature is usually high, sometimes hectic, suggesting pus, and the 
pulse is rapid. The lung is found at the post-mortem in a state of grey hepa- 
tisation, breaking down into ragged cavities and smelling offensively. 

Abscess of the lung-. — Purulent collections in the lungs are mostly the 
result of septic embolism from some distant suppurating centre, as in an otitis 
or some other bone lesion, and associated with pyaemia. They are usually 
small and situated on the surface. Small abscesses may be secondary to an 
empyema, the latter finding its way via a small abscess into a bronchial tube- 
Minute abscesses are sometimes a sequence of a broncho-pneumonia secon- 
dary to scarlet fever, measles, or whooping cough, suppuration taking .place 
in the lobules immediately surrounding the terminal bronchioles ; here smalL 
centres containing pus may be found (see p. 203). 

In both gangrene and abscess of the lung, if the lesions are fairly localised 
but recovery is slow or the disease progressing, an attempt should be made to< 
arrest the mischief by incising and draining the abscess or gangrenous cavity. 
For this purpose it is necessary to localise the abscess, first by the physical 
signs as far as may be, and, secondly, by exploration with an aspirator needle, 
though, if the evidence is otherwise strong, failure to draw off pus by the 
aspirator should not prevent a further exploration ; the incision should be 
made over the abscess, and, if necessary, one or more segments of rib re- 
moved ; the lung should then be incised and drained, and treated on ordinary 
surgical principles. We have incised and drained a hydatid of the lung and 
a pulmonary abscess, with considerable relief to the children in each 
instance. 



Pleurisy 2\f 

Pleurisy and Empyema. — That pleurisy must be a common disease in 
children is shown by the frequency with which the lungs are found adherent. 
to the chest-walls when making autopsies on children who have died from, 
various diseases. Here, as in the case of adults, the evidence of a past pleurisy 
is conclusive. Yet it cannot be said that pleurisy is diagnosed and treated 
with any great frequency during life, the reason no doubt being that young- 
children are not able to localise attacks of pain, that when fretful it is not 
easy to thoroughly examine their chests by auscultation, and, moreover, the 
symptoms may be masked by other diseases in which the pleural lesion 
plays but a secondary part. 

Pleurisy, primary and acute, occurs at all ages during infancy and child- 
hood, the first year of life being by no means exempt. It is apt to follow expo- 
sure to cold or, not unfrequently, an accident, such as a fall or blow on the 
chest. It is, however, far more commonly associated with a croupous, catarrhal,, 
or septic pneumonia. It occurs very frequently in connection with tuber- 
culosis of the lung. 

Symptoms. — Pleurisy may begin suddenly and run an acute course, though 
more often it is subacute. The attack begins with a short cough, fever r 
shallow respiratory movements, the affected side moving less than its fellow^, 
accompanied by sharp pain, which the child, if old enough to do so, refers to 
the side or very often the epigastrium. In infants the attack maybe ushered 
in by convulsions and its course marked by screaming fits, especially on dis- 
turbance. If the pleurisy is extensive and acute, an examination of the 
chest shows the respirations to be shallow, and the movements of the affected 
side extremely limited, while percussion over the latter or pressure in the 
intercostal spaces with the finger gives rise to expressions of acute pain. 
On auscultation, while the breath sounds are loud and clear on the normal 
side, they are weak on the affected, and perhaps accompanied by a friction 
sound. The pulse is quickened and there is fever, perhaps ioo° to 102 , unless 
pneumonia is present, when it is probably higher. The further course of the 
attack varies according to whether effusion of serum occurs or not. In the 
latter case, in the course of a few days the fever subsides, the friction sounds 
disappear, though perhaps some 'stitch' (stabbing pain in the side) remains 
for a while. In many cases' apparently a local pleurisy takes place during the 
course of a bronchitis or bronchial catarrh in which little else than a sharp 
pain in the side or abdomen is present. 

In pleurisy occurring between the diaphragm and lung the symptoms are 
generally obscure, there is pain and tenderness in the epigastric or hepatic 
region, with thoracic breathing, the abdominal muscles and diaphragm being 
kept as quiet as possible. Should effusion take place in any quantity, 
signs of its presence quickly appear. The child will probably lie on the 
affected side, so as to give full play to the lung on the sound side ; the infant, 
as Henoch points out, with fluid in the right pleural cavity takes only the left 
breast of its mother for a similar reason. On inspection it will be noted that 
the side containing the effused fluid moves less freely than the other, and if 
the fluid is in the left chest, the cardiac impulse is displaced towards the 
right side. In large pleural effusions on the right side, the impulse may 
be moved towards the left. This displacement of the cardiac impulse is- 
of special value in the diagnosis of fluid in the chest in children, on account 



2i8 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

of the uncertainty and small value of some of the other physical signs ; 
as, for instance, the vocal resonance and fremitus, which yield valuable in- 
formation in adults. The position of the heart's impulse is best ascertained 
by placing the surface of the hand on the chest-wall, and, if necessary, by 
determining by auscultation the position of the heart by the comparative 
loudness of its sounds. It is necessary, however, to remember that the heart 
may be displaced without any fluid being present at the time of examination, 
as it may have been pushed on one side by a former effusion and have become 
fixed in an abnormal position by fibrous adhesions ; in this case the lung also 
will probably be adherent, and a dull note may be elicited over it which 
suggests the presence of fluid. The heart may also be pulled on one side or 
upwards by a fibroid condition of lung or chronic pleurisy. 

On percussion of the chest, a dull or much impaired resonance will be 
detected over the area occupied by fluid, while in most cases the sub-clavi- 
cular region and frequently also the supra-spinous fossa and possibly a strip 
between the base of the scapula and the spine will be resonant, often 
hyper-resonant. If the effusion is great the whole side will be completely 
dull and give a sense of resistance on percussion. On auscultation the 
breath sounds are weak and distant, but usually of a distinctly bronchial or 
tubular character. In the earlier stages of effusion the expiratory murmur 
is especially accentuated and bronchial, the air from the compressed lung 
being, as it were, expelled with difficulty. The breath sounds on the healthy 
side are exaggerated. The vocal resonance and fremitus may be absent or 
weak, but it may be impossible to elicit any information in this way, as the 
voices of children, especially girls, are weak, and moreover they may not be 
old enough to understand what they are wanted to do. During crying, in- 
formation of value may sometimes be obtained by placing the hand on the 
chest. Comparative measurements of the two sides show the affected 
.side in recent cases to be larger than the other ; but too much value, must 
not be attached to measurements, as in chronic cases some amount of 
retraction may have taken place. Of more value is the cyrtometer tracing ; 
this, as pointed out by Dr. S. Gee, shows a change of shape from the ellip- 
tical to the more circular form without the circumference necessarily being 
increased. 

Should a large amount of fluid be poured out in a short space of time, it 
will necessarily give rise to dyspnoea ; the child will turn over on to the 
affected side or lie upon its back ; the alas nasi work, and the number of re- 
spirations is increased perhaps to forty or fifty. If the amount of fluid is 
smaller in quantity, the child may be tolerably comfortable while lying at 
rest, but there is dyspnoea on the slightest exertion. The amount of feverish- 
ness varies ; during the inflammatory stage before or during the period the 
serum is being poured out the temperature is usually raised two or three 
degrees ; in the course of a few days a gradual fall takes place, and there may 
be no fever or only a slight elevation at night. 

Under favourable circumstances in a healthy child, the serum effused 
begins to be reabsorbed ; this it usually does in the course of a few days, 
the heart if displaced returning by degrees to its normal position, the level of 
the fluid becoming lower and lower, till the side regains its normal resonance ; 
or, what is much more likely, a somewhat impaired resonance, which it retains 



Empyema 219 

for many weeks. The reason of this is doubtless that the re-expanded lung 
remains for some time in a sodden and congested state, and not improbably 
its pleural surface contracts adhesions with the chest-wall. During the 
stage of re-absorption friction and moist rales are frequently heard in the 
lung, and the breath sounds are weak. In some cases, however, this desirable 
reabsorption does not at once take place. The child's health is impaired, 
he is anaemic and depressed, perhaps thick layers of lymph are covering the 
pleural surface of the lung and chest-wall, and conditions are not favourable 
for the reabsorption of the fluid after the inflammation has subsided ; or 
possibly the absorption may go on extremely slowly, pari passu with the 
organising of the lymph which has been poured out. Under these circum- 
stances much damage may be done, the heart may be fixed in a malposi- 
tion, the lung may become tied down by a thick layer of fibroid tissue which 
contracting holds the lung in its grip, while the chest falls in and the spine 
becomes curved. 

But besides a quick reabsorption of the serum, and a chronic pleurisy 
with its slow course, another result may follow, and that is — at least this 
is what is usually believed — the serum may become pus ; this, however, is not 
a common result if the fluid effused is at first serum, and it rarely happens 
that it remains so for some weeks and then finally becomes converted into 
pus. An empyema, as a rule, is an empyema from the first, at least the fluid 
effused is turbid-looking at first ; in other words, it is thin pus, and later it 
becomes thick pus. It is no doubt most common to find that where there is 
reason to believe fluid has existed in the chest for some weeks or months, 
the fluid is pus and not serum, but then in all probability the fluid has been 
pus from the first and has failed to be absorbed, whereas had it been serum it 
would have been. Serum may undoubtedly remain in the chest unaltered for 
many weeks, perhaps months ; but this is uncommon except in cases of 
tubercle, or new growths in the lung, or in cardiac disease. An empyema is, 
in the vast majority of instances at any rate, the result rather of a pleuro- 
pneumonia than a simple pleurisy. The more intense the inflammation 
the more likely is it that pus, not simple serum, is poured out, or that 
the serum poured out quickly becomes pus. This is especially likely to 
happen if a pleuro-pneumonia follows scarlet fever, measles, or whooping 
cough, or indeed any pneumonia of the croupous type. The symptoms 
:given by an empyema are by no means distinctive as between pus and 
serum, and often no definite diagnosis can be made until an exploratory 
puncture has been made. In favour of pus in acute cases would be its occur- 
rence as a sequel of a zymotic disease, especially in a weakly child ; in 
chronic cases the presence of hectic, diarrhoea, a sallow earthy complexion, 
the ' pointing ' of a collection of fluid in connection with the chest. A collec- 
tion of purulent fluid may be present in the chest and give very few signs of 
its presence, except the physical signs. It must be remembered that in any 
•chronic case of fluid in the chest in a child, that fluid is probably pus, but not 
universally so. The early history of an empyema is generally that of an 
-acute pneumonia which does not clear up, and the presence of pus in the 
•chest is likely to be thought to be consolidation of the lung, especially as 
there may be well-marked bronchial breathing. As an illustration of this 
the following case may be cited. 



220 



Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 



A girl of nine years was convalescent from scarlet fever. On the thirty-eighth day the 
temperature rose to 105 , there was intense pain referred to the left side of the chest and 
epigastrium, especially felt when she turned in bed, there was also some want of resonance 
at the left apex. On the third day of the attack there was diminished resonance over the 
whole left side, with bronchial breathing ; no displacement of the heart. On the sixth day 
there was slight displacement of the heart to the right, the dulness over the left chest was 
much more marked, the breath sounds were faint and bronchial. On the eleventh day 
the signs of fluid had increased, the heart's impulse being felt at the left border of the 
sternum ; an exploratory puncture showed the presence of pus. On the seventeenth day 
the chest was incised antiseptically, pus and much lymph escaped, a tube was inserted, 
and complete recovery ensued (see fig. 30). 

It must always be borne in mind if a croupous pneumonia does not clear 
up and the dulness disappear, or if the temperature remits instead of falling 
when the time for a crisis comes, that pus may be present in the chest. In such 









mm USB mm 

:^sS===s£==s==sSS||£=sisSa||=sii isi! fi£s| 

M—a— 1 1 



Fig. 30. — Temperature Chart of a case of Pleuro-pneumonia followed by Empyema, in a girl of 
nine years. Signs of fluid were discovered on the sixth day, pus on the eleventh day ; on the 
seventeenth day the chest was incised, followed by a fall in the temperature. 

cases the signs of consolidation of lung are gradually replaced by those of 
fluid, the latter accumulating as the pneumonic consolidation disappears. 

Pus may be present in the chest, yet not free in the pleural cavity, but 
confined by adhesion between the lung and chest-wall or diaphragm. More 
than one localised empyema may be present on the same or opposite sides. 
Such localised collections may be present in any part, as at the apex in front, 
the base behind, or in front between the pericardium and anterior edge of" 
the left lung, or between the lung and the diaphragm. These small empyemas 
are often associated with broncho-pneumonias and chronic tuberculosis of" 
the lung. It is perfectly obvious that if these collections of fluid are not 
large and are surrounded by and backed up by crepitant lung, diagnosis 
will be by no means easy, and it is not surprising that such should be found 
on the post-mortem table, having escaped discovery during life. In these- 
cases the physical signs are not distinctive ; there will mostly be a patch; 



Empyema 221 

of dulness, with more or less resistance, but an adherent lung with thick 
fibroid tissue between it and the chest-wall will give a similar note. The 
breath sounds are weak, perhaps bronchial. When in doubt it is wise to 
-explore, not using too fine a needle, as if the bore is too small it is apt to 
become blocked with a flake of lymph or pus. If the layer of pus is not thick 
the needle may pass through the pus into lung beyond. 

Diagnosis. — The distinction between the consolidation of pneumonia and 
pleuritic effusion in typical cases is made readily enough. The intense 
bronchial breathing, with the clear, ringing rales and impaired resonance of 
pneumonic consolidation, form a marked contrast to the weak, distant breath 
sounds, wooden dulness, and displaced heart distinctive of a large effusion 
of fluid. In many cases, however, no diagnosis is possible without an ex- 
planatory puncture, and even then a negative result does not definitely settle 
the matter, as it is quite possible to miss the fluid. A pneumonic lung 
covered with a thick layer of lymph, or a sodden lung covered with fibroid 
tissue and adherent to the chest-wall, gives a wooden dulness and resistance 
closely resembling that of fluid. On the other hand, when fluid is present 
the bronchial breathing is sometimes loud and even intense. A good rule 
to follow is, whenever there is a patch of dulness that does not clear up, 
especially where there is a hectic or elevated temperature, always to explore 
by means of a subcutaneous syringe. The diagnosis between a local or 
small collection of fluid at a base and chronic pneumonia, caseous pneumonia 
and tubercular consolidation, is often far from easy, and indeed is generally 
impossible without exploration. There may be dulness and a hectic tem- 
perature, moreover there may be a patch of impaired resonance in the axilla 
while the apex and base are resonant, and both sides may be affected. 

In one of our cases there was intense bronchial breathing and increased 
vocal resonance over whole of right lung, except at the base ; it was very 
<Iull all over. We removed 7 oz. of pus and more drained away afterwards. 

Morbid A?iatoviy. — It is not often that an opportunity occurs of examin- 
ing the chest of a child that has died of uncomplicated pleurisy or empyema, 
though it is common enough to find both in association with pneumonia or 
tuberculosis. The pleurisy differs much in degree, from a simply roughened 
surface to a layer of thick lymph ; the adhesions which result from the 
organising of the lymph also varying greatly in toughness and thickness. 
Serum in varying amount, perhaps in greater quantity than was suspected 
during life, may be found in association with pneumonia, especially in such 
diseases as nephritis, septicaemia, and scarlet fever. The lung corresponding 
to the position of the fluid is collapsed and airless. The result of a past 
pleurisy, especially when this has been chronic, is sometimes seen at the post- 
mortein in the shape of thick fibroid adhesions which completely surround 
and infiltrate the lung. The latter is completely surrounded, airless, in a 
condition of cirrhosis, traversed by bands of fibroid tissue, and occupying a 
position at the posterior aspect of the chest in contact with the spine. In 
other cases there may be found adhesions connecting both lungs with the 
chest-wall and diaphragm, and on cutting through the lungs they appear to 
be riddled with cavities, which are in reality dilated bronchial tubes. The 
relation between empyemas and tuberculosis is interesting and important. It 
"is believed by some that the subjects of chronic empyemas are apt to become 



222 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

tubercular ; in other words, patients who suffer from a chronic empyema are 
likely to die of phthisis. We do not think, at least as far as our experience 
goes, that there is any post-mortem evidence to support this. That chronic 
pneumonia may terminate in tuberculosis by the mediastinal glands becoming 
caseous is an almost everyday experience, but this certainly does not apply 
to empyema. Barlow and Parker, however, state that they have met with 
cases where they believed a tuberculosis was secondary to a chronic empyema. 1 
Localised collections of pus may sometimes be found in connection with, 
chronic tuberculosis, but in these cases the pus is apparently secondary to the 
tubercular process. 

Suppurative or simple pericarditis may take place by extension of the 
inflammation from the pleura. 

Treatment. — In the early stages of dry pleurisy where the pain is severe 
the child is necessarily placed in bed, small doses of an anodyne being given 
and hot applications applied to the chest. Small doses of opiates relieve the 
pain best, such as Dover's powder or ^o-tV grain of morphia given sub- 
cutaneously ; the latter may be administered to children over four years, 
but not to infants. Hot poultices may be used with less fear than in 
pneumonia where much lung is involved. Strapping the chest on the affected 
side with strips of belladonna plaster is often very useful. 

The natural course of a dry pleurisy is towards recovery, the inflamma- 
tory condition of the pleura subsiding, the lymph effused being organised, 
and the lung becoming adherent to the chest-wall. The adhesions thus formed 
differ very much in their firmness and strength, the lung being perhaps 
only loosely attached to the parietes, so that its movements are only 
slightly if at all impaired, or firmly attached by thick leathery adhesions 
so that it cannot be torn away without damage. In the latter case the ad- 
hesions are extensive, the movements of the lung are impaired, it never 
properly empties itself of air, and it is in consequence always more or less 
in a congested or cedematous condition, and possibly becomes infiltrated with 
fibroid tissue while the bronchial tubes become dilated. Such cases are 
probably the result of chronic or subacute pleurisy ; the chest may also con- 
tract and fall in. When an effusion of fluid has occurred, in the vast 
majority of cases reabsorption takes place after the inflammatory condition 
of the pleura has subsided, and the tension of blood in the vessels has become 
reduced to normal. Life, however, may be threatened from the excess of fluid 
thrown out ; under these circumstances nearly the whole of the blood in the 
body is passing through the sound lung ; it is consequently intensely congested 
and may become cedematous. Moreover, the right side of the heart is over- 
distended, and as a consequence sudden death is apt to ensue. For this 
reason no time should be lost, if the dyspnoea and distress become great, in 
relieving the chest by the withdrawal of some of the effused fluid. On the 
other hand, the mere presence of fluid in the chest, if there are no signs of 
distress, does not necessitate operative interference, as in the great majority 
of cases absorption takes place in the course of a few days or a week. Operative 
interference, therefore, is called for in all cases where there is dyspnoea or 
orthopncea when lying quietly in bed, or where there is much displacement of 

1 Dr. Hutton has also seen such cases. 



Treatment of Pleurisy and Empyema 225 

the heart. In those chronic cases where the fluid is not absorbed or is not 
diminishing in quantity after the lapse of a few weeks, the serum may be 
removed from the chest by means either of the aspirator or by trocar and 
cannula, the small ones introduced by Dr. Southey for the removal of the 
fluid in ascites answering very well. Whatever method is selected, the fluid 
should be removed slowly, and there is no necessity to remove all that can 
be aspirated. Too rapid aspiration of the fluid is apt to lead to bleeding 
into the chest from rupture of some of the capillary vessels, and may possibly 
cause emphysema of the lung on account of one part of the lung expanding 
faster than the other. On the whole, we believe the best results are obtained 
by the use of Southey's trocar and cannula. One of these may be introduced 
without difficulty and without pain if local anaesthesia be produced, a piece of 
fine indiarubber tube attached, and the fluid allowed slowly to drain away 
for a couple of hours or so, 10 to 20 ozs. being thus withdrawn ; if neces- 
sary two cannulas can be inserted. In those cases where the dyspnoea 
is extreme, relief is more quickly obtained by aspiration. It may not im- 
probably happen that the pleural cavity in part fills up again and a second 
or a third removal be required. In the less acute cases, where there is no 
urgency and no removal is attempted, the child should be confined to bed in 
a warm room and carefully protected from cold. It may be doubted if any 
drug materially aids the reabsorption of the effused fluid, though the usual 
treatment in such cases — namely, giving iodide of potassium internally and 
painting liniment of iodine mixed with an equal quantity of glycerine exter- 
nally — appears to be useful. The lin. iodi by itself requires using with care, 
especially in young or weakly children. 

The natural course of an empyema differs from that of a simple serous 
effusion. In a minority of cases, especially where the empyema is small 
and confined by adhesions, it may dry up, and the inspissated pus in time 
become cretaceous. But this event can hardly be expected, and should it 
take place, especially if the empyema be a large one, the result, accompanied 
as it is by retraction of the chest and compression of the lung, is anything 
but satisfactory. The presence of pus in the chest is inconsistent with good 
health, to say nothing of the risks the patients run of its burrowing in various 
directions. The child with a chronic undrained empyema probably suffers 
from hectic fever, is anaemic and sallow, the skin becomes rough, the fingers 
clubbed, and the child emaciates. Various other results may follow ; the pus 
may form an abscess, find its way through the intercostals, and point in the 
fourth or fifth space ; it may find its way through the skin and a chronic 
discharge take place. It may open through the lung into a bronchial tube 
and the pus be gradually coughed up ; in this way recovery may eventually 
take place, though the process is a slow one ; or an abscess or abscesses 
may form in the lung. An empyema on the right side may, either by con- 
tiguity or by opening through the diaphragm, give rise to an abscess in the 
liver. It may open into the abdomen by finding its way through the diaphragm 
and set up peritonitis. The pus may burrow any distance, opening through 
the abdominal walls or simulating a lumbar abscess. 

Directly a diagnosis of pus in the chest is made, arrangements should be 
made to evacuate it, and this in the vast majority of cases should be by free 
incision and drainage. Aspiration may be tried once or twice in local 



224 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

-empyemata, especially in infants and small children, but it is only in the 
minority of cases that it will succeed, as the cavity usually fills up again 
and separates the parts which should be kept in contact if a cure is to result. 

The surgical treatment of suppuration within the pleural cavity is based 
•on the ordinary principles guiding us in the management of abscesses else- 
where. Hence, although it occasionally happens that pleural abscesses dry 
up and do not discharge at all, or discharge through the lung or elsewhere 
and then heal, none of these possibilities should be looked for, and the treat- 
ment practically resolves itself into tapping and free incision. 

Tapping an empyema with a simple trocar and allowing the fluid to drain 
•away through a tube into an antiseptic lotion is a mode of treatment that 
is successful in certain cases, but is open to several objections. The cases 
for which it is suitable are those where the empyema is recent, of small size, 
contains no masses of lymph or caseous material, and where the lung is not 
bound down by firm adhesions but is ready to expand on removal of the com- 
pressing fluid ; further, it is important for the successful employment of this 
plan that the pus be contained in one cavity only and not be loculated. The 
-dangers of tapping are the risk of wounding the lung by thrusting the trocar 
too far inwards on the one hand, and on the other the possibility of pushing 
the thickened pleura or a layer of lymph before the trocar so that the abscess 
cavity is not opened. There is also the likelihood of the cannula becoming 
blocked with lymph or caseous material, and of incomplete emptying of the 
cavity because it is loculated or because the lung cannot re-expand. 

Aspiration is open to the same objections, with the additional one that if 
too powerful suction is employed there is likely to be bleeding from the 
•surface of the lung or the pleura, and the cavity may become partially filled 
■with clot which readily decomposes. 

The difficulty of emptying the cavity when the lung cannot re-expand has 
been met by Mr. R. W. Parker by the plan of injecting aseptic air into the 
pleura to replace the pus as it flows away, or lotions may be used with the 
same object ; but the plan has not met, and is not likely to meet, with general 
approval. Aspiration, then, should be employed for small, single, recent em- 
pyemata, and in some few of such cases after one or two tappings the pus will 
cease to be secreted. Should there be chronic disease of the lung, caseous 
material, glandular or other, or disease of the ribs or spine, since the source of 
irritation remains, pus formation will go on and aspiration cannot be sufficient. 
Failing, then, tapping or aspiration, the remaining resource is free incision 
and drainage of the abscess. The general plan of operation may be described 
iirst and certain special points alluded to afterwards. 

The incision should be an inch or more in length, and should be made 
-along the lower margin of the space selected, so as to avoid injury to the 
intercostal vessels. The tissues should be gradually cut through until the 
pleura is reached, all bleeding being arrested before the pleura is opened. 
If the membrane is not much thickened, a sharp director may be thrust 
through it and used as a guide for the knife ; if, however, it is very tough 
■and thick, as may be the case if the disease is of long standing, it is better to 
incise it at once with the knife. As soon as the cavity is reached a pair of 
dressing or sinus forceps should be passed in, opened, and the pus allowed 
to escape freely. The drainage tube is then to be inserted and secured by a 



Empyema 225 

thread round the chest unless a special tube is employed. Possibly the 
dressings will be soaked and require changing in a few hours ; if, however, 
the cavity is fairly emptied and thick wood-wool pads are employed, this is 
not likely to be the case. 

The special points to be considered are the position of the incision, the 
drainage tube, the management of adhesions, and the washing out of the 
chest. 

First, then, the position of the incision. Where the empyema is local the 
incision must of course be made over it, and the lowest convenient spot for 
drainage should be chosen. Where the whole pleural cavity is filled with 
pus a difference of opinion exists as to the most suitable spot for the opening. 
Mr. Marshall advocates an incision in the front of the chest, others prefer 
the axilla. We think, however, on the whole, the best place is just behind 
and below the angle of the scapula in the eighth interspace ; this spot 
affords good drainage when the patient lies on his back or side, it is not 
quite so convenient for dressing, but it is nearly at the lowest point of the 
cavity, yet not so low as to risk injury to the diaphragm, which is liable to be 
drawn up to take the place of the shrunken lung. 1 Unless the incision is 
made too far back there is no great thickness of muscle to cut through. 

As to drainage, though in some cases where the chest is very full of 
fluid the intercostal spaces may be widened and bulging, yet often this is not 
so, and the ribs are so close together that it is difficult to get a tube into the 
chest, and when inserted it is liable to be nipped by pressure of the ribs. In 
such cases the ribs should be prised apart with dressing forceps, and a 
rigid tube, such as a silver or vulcanite tracheotomy tube, employed. 
The tube should not project far into the pleural cavity, but only just enough 
to be clear of the thickened pleura, otherwise it will fail to drain the cavity 
and may be blocked by pressure against the lung. A double tube, or two 
pieces of tubing fixed together side by side (Battams), are preferred by some 
surgeons ; the plan is useful if it is intended to wash out the chest, but in many 
cases is open to the objection given above. 

After opening the chest a finger should be passed in if possible to 
ascertain the size of the cavity and to break down any adhesions shutting in 
localised collections of pus, 2 as well as to remove any masses of lymph or 
solid material in the cavity. If the pus is foul or thick and flaky, as large a 
tube as possible should be put in, and all solid and offensive matter care- 
fully removed after resection of a portion of a rib. Should any bleeding 
occur from the intercostal vessels, they may be picked up or secured by 
a catgut ligature passed round the rib including the vessel ; this is easily done 
■with an aneurism needle. Bleeding from the granulating surface of the pleura 
after exploration soon ceases of itself, but all clots should be washed out. 

During the operation careful watch must be kept by the anaesthetist that 
the child does not suffer from having to lie upon the sound side, and at any 
sign of failing pulse or respiration the child must be turned upon its back or 
towards the affected side. The after-treatment of empyema consists in 

1 The objection that an empyema usually heals up at the back first, and that therefore 
a cavity is likely to remain unclosed in front, has not in our experience proved a valid objec- 
tion to the posterior incision. 

2 Dr. Fagge states that loculation is very rarely found post mortem. 

Q 



226 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

keeping the cavity aseptic and well drained ; obstruction of the tube is most 
likely to be due to flakes of lymph or to slipping of the tube if a rigid one is 
used, to nipping of the tube by the ribs if rubber is employed. As regards 
washing out the chest it must be remembered that there is a certain amount 
of danger in it ; cases of sudden death during the process have several times 
been recorded, possibly from irritation of cardiac nerves in the wall of the 
cavity, or from sudden dyspnoea ; this risk should deter us from washing 
out an empyema unless the discharge continues to be foul, and it should 
lead to caution and the avoidance of any distention of the cavity or the use 
of irritant lotions even in such cases. In free incision of the chest the opening 
is of course large enough to admit air readily, hence there is no obstacle to 
complete emptying of the cavity. The tube should not be left out until the 
discharge has nearly or quite ceased, and exploration with a probe has shown 
that the cavity is filled up ; often, though there is but little discharge, a good- 
sized cavity or a long sinus remains, and if the external wound is allowed to 
close, fresh collections of pus will take place. In a certain number of cases 
the empyema will be pointing externally when the case is first seen ; such 
pointing most commonly occurs in the front of the chest from the second to 
the fifth space. If the skin is already thinned the pus should be let out at 
this spot and the case managed as usual ; if, however, the cavity does not 
drain freely, a long probe should be passed through the anterior orifice, and 
cut down upon at a more dependent spot, and a drainage tube inserted there. 
While admitting that the successful management of empyema is not simply 
a question of drainage as in other abscesses, we think a dependent opening 
is a highly important matter. A free outlet is absolutely essential. 

Sometimes the pressure of the drainage tube causes ulceration of one of 
the ribs ; this is, however, a matter of little importance, since the rib usually 
recovers after removal of the tube. 

In a certain proportion of cases after drainage of the empyema the cavity 
does not become obliterated, but remains as a pus-secreting sac ; this is due 
either to imperfect expansion of the lung or insufficient compensatory falling 
in of the chest-wall. Under such conditions the discharge may go on inde- 
finitely and cause lardaceous disease and hectic fever ; it is then necessary to 
find other means of allowing the surfaces of the abscess sac to come together. 
For this purpose resection of one or more ribs (Estlander's operation l ) has 
been devised. Although in children, from the softness and flexibility of the 
ribs and spine, the chest generally falls in readily, this is by no means always 
the case, and the operation should be done as soon as it is clear that progress is 
not being made or the child's health is failing. Where there is an insufficient 
opening for drainage, it is also necessary in some cases to provide a larger 
orifice by removal of part of a rib. The operation is a simple one ; to remove a 
single rib, the lowest one in the cavity should be chosen, usually the seventh 
or eighth. An incision is made along it down to the bone, the periosteum is 
readily peeled back with a raspatory, and about an inch or more of the rib is 
cut out with bone forceps ; the periosteum and pleura are then incised parallel 
with and avoiding the intercostal vessels ; if the artery is wounded, however, 
it is easily secured now that the rib is gone. When the resection is done to 

1 Estlander's operation is strictly the removal of a sufficient part of the chest-wall to 
allow of complete collapse. 



Empyema 



227 



allow collapse of the chest-wall, from two to five ribs may have to be resected, 
two or three inches of bone being taken from each ; in such case a quadri- 
lateral flap of the soft parts should be turned forward and the ribs removed 
one after the other. Though it is perhaps better in such cases to remove the 
bones subperiosteal^, the periosteum should be cut away before closing the 
wound, otherwise it often happens that ossification rapidly takes place and 
fills up the gap in the chest-wall and so prevents the desired collapse. We 
have sometimes found the intercostal vessels obliterated in these cases, and 
there has been no arterial bleeding at all. Marshall has divided the costal 
cartilages subcutaneously with the same object, but resection is the more corn- 




Fig. 



-Deformity of Chest due to Empyema 



plete operation, and it sounds and looks more formidable than it is. The 
subsequent management of the wound requires no description. Unless an 
empyema speedily recovers, more or less retraction of the side necessarily 
results, and from this a lateral or rather, as Lane has pointed out, a true rotato- 
lateral curvature of the spine follows ; this of course is largely irremediable, 
but some improvement may be obtained by treatment {vide Lateral CUR- 
VATURE). (Fig. 31.) 

Inasmuch as the ribs are less yielding near the angles, it is better to 
remove the bone as far back as possible up to the edge of the erector spinas. 
We have tried osteotomy of the rib at the posterior part at the same time as 
resection to allow more complete falling in of the chest- wall, but found little 

Q 2 



228 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

was to be gained by this means, since the rib is held firmly in place by the 
surrounding soft parts. 

Asthma. — Spasmodic asthma is by no means uncommon among children. 
Bronchial spasm is sometimes secondary to dentition ; a child when cutting 
a tooth, especially towards evening, begins to wheeze, and on placing the 
ear to the chest sibilus may be heard. A condition of asthma or urgent 
dyspnoea is frequently present in the uraemia of scarlatinal nephritis and in 
the rare cases of contracted kidney which occur in children ; it may be open 
to doubt if in such cases the origin is not cardiac, rather than being due 
to any bronchial spasm. Hysterical children sometimes have attacks re- 
sembling asthma. The commonest form, however, is bronchial or spas- 
modic asthma, resembling the asthma of adults ; such children are exceed- 
ingly liable to bronchial catarrh. In most of these cases it is hereditary, and 
may begin as early as two years of age. The attack begins with the 
symptoms of a cold in the head or a bronchial catarrh lasting for a few hours 
or days, then an attack of dyspnoea occurs, perhaps at night-time ; the child 
sits up in bed and fights for his breath, the breathing is quick, the alas nasi 
work, the lips are blue ; the attack lasts from a few minutes to an hour or two, 
and is followed by freer secretion and relief. Some attacks are associated 
not with bronchial catarrh but with dyspepsia, and have been termed asthma 
dyspepticum by Henoch, the child having an asthmatic attack when suffering 
from dyspepsia or after taking improper food. Instances have occurred in 
which enlarged tonsils and post-nasal adenoids have appeared to have had 
a hand in producing such attacks. The treatment must be directed to 
prevent children from taking cold or becoming dyspeptic. Some high, 
bracing, dry, inland site usually suits such children better than the sea-side. 
The east winds of spring are especially liable to excite an attack. A house 
uniformly warmed throughout, so that the child, who is necessarily confined 
much to the house, can wander from one room to another without the risk 
of cold, is a great advantage. An attack may usually be relieved by the 
burning of nitrate-of-potash papers, and by lobelia. Arsenic is the best 
remedy, with cod-liver oil between the attacks. The bowels require atten- 
tion ; Carlsbad salts or some other saline aperient being useful for this pur- 
pose. Enlarged tonsils and post-nasal adenoids should be removed. 

Diseases of the Bronchial G-lands. — The tracheo-bronchial glands are 
situated in the middle mediastinum in close relationship with the trachea 
and bronchi ; they are some ten to twelve in number, and are arranged in 
three groups ; one set surrounds the trachea, another group is situated 
at the bifurcation, and a third around the right and left bronchi. The 
pulmonary glands are situated at the root of the lung and accompany 
the bronchi into* the substance of the lung. These glands receive the 
lymphatics of the lungs and bronchi, and like other lymphatic glands 
readily become inflamed and swollen during attacks of bronchitis and 
broncho-pneumonia, especially after measles and whooping cough, and are 
apt to remain chronically enlarged and further to become caseous and to 
suppurate. During this inflammatory process more or less thickening 
and matting often takes place in surrounding parts, so that the glands may 
become adherent to the trachea or bronchi or oesophagus. The glands and 
connective tissue in the anterior and posterior mediastinum may also become 



Diseases of Bronchial Glands 



229 



affected, so that the anterior-internal edges of the lungs and the whole con- 
tents of the mediastinum may become thickened and matted together. 

Caseation of the mediastinal glands is exceedingly common in children, 
and they may be found in this condition in the bodies of children dying of 
various diseases, but they are almost universally caseous in those dying of 
pulmonary tuberculosis or chronic catarrhal pneumonia. In many cases 
of acute or chronic tuberculosis it is clear that the disease in the glands is 
older than the tubercle in the lungs, and has spread from the former to the 
latter. In such cases the glands have become enlarged secondarily to some 




Fig. 32.— Section through a large mass of cheesy glands at the bifurcation of the trachea, and 
extending along the bronchi into the lung. Two of the glands are beginning to show signs 
of softening at their centres. (After W. P. Xorthrup, M.D.) 

bronchitis or pneumonia, have undergone caseation, and the lungs have been 
infected in consequence of caseating bronchial or pulmonary glands, the 
tubercular disease spreading into the lungs from the root. 

Symptoms. — In the large majority of cases there are no distinctive 
symptoms of caseating mediastinal glands, and per se they are not more 
likely to give rise to symptoms than caseating glands in the neck ; but, inas- 
much as they are so frequently associated with early or chronic tuberculosis 
of the lungs, the subjects of them are hardly likely to present the appearances 
of health. Occasionally, however, they are found unexpectedly in the bodies 
of children dying of other diseases. With regard to physical signs, it must 



230 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

be clear from a consideration of the anatomy of the mediastinum that the 
glands lie too deeply to be detected by percussion unless they are enormously 
enlarged ; this may take place in sarcomatous enlargement, but rarely in tuber- 
culosis. It has been asserted that when enlarged they can be detected by a 
diminished resonance in the interscapular region, corresponding to the third 
to the first vertebrae ; but, inasmuch as the thick posterior edges of the lungs, 
besides the aorta, oesophagus, and a mass of muscle, intervene between the 
glands and the surface, it is certain that the enlargement must be very con- 
siderable to modify the percussion note in this position. Enlarged glands are 
more likely to modify the resonance behind the upper part of the sternum 
and adjacent cartilages, but in infants and young children the anterior medi- 
astinum is occupied by the thymus, which would mask any enlargement of the 
lymphatic glands ; and in older children, where the thymus is small, lymphatic 
glands must be very much enlarged to come to the surface and give rise to 
any dulness, covered as they are by the anterior edges of the lungs. Error 
may easily arise from a dulness due to a past pleurisy and consequent adhe- 
sion along the anterior edges of the lungs. If the results of percussion are 
uncertain, those derived from auscultation are necessarily more so, except in 
considerable enlargement of glands. Of the pressure signs, the most reliable 
is weak breathing in one of the lungs in consequence of pressure on the right 
or left bronchus ; this sign is of undoubted value, but as there is usually some 
tubercular lesion in the lungs, this symptom may readily be masked. Attacks 
of paroxysmal dyspnoea, and cough with stridulous breathing, may also be 
present on account of the nerves being involved. Swelling of the face and 
distention of the jugulars have also been described, but these are far more 
frequently due to constant coughing than to any pressure on the large veins 
in the chest. A caseous gland not infrequently becomes adherent to the 
trachea or one of the bronchi, and ulcerates into it, and caseous matter may 
be coughed up ; in a few instances it has happened that this takes place 
suddenly and death results from plugging of the windpipe. In other 
instances the glands may form an abscess which points in one of the inter- 
costal spaces close to the sternum, as in a case under the care of Dr. 
Eustace Smith, or may open into the oesophagus. In one of our own cases 
a mediastinal abscess pointed near the left edge of the sternum, low 
down. 

The pulmonary glands which accompany the small bronchial glands into 
the lungs may become caseous, soften, and form cavities, more especially in 
the lower lobes. It must be acknowledged that caseous glands can rarely 
be diagnosed during life with anything like certainty, partly on account of their 
lying deeply, and partly from the fact that they are so commonly associated 
with chronic lung disease. They rarely attain any large size, and consequently 
do not modify the percussion note or press on the veins, bronchi, or nerves. 
When, however, the mediastinal glands become the seat of a new growth, 
such as lymphadenoma, the case is different ; they may become enormously 
enlarged surrounding the veins and bronchi, giving rise to marked dulness 
over the sternum and adjoining rib-cartilages, and pressure signs from in- 
volving the vessels. Attacks of paroxysmal breathing are common on 
account of pressure on the recurrent laryngeal and other nerves. The course 
of the disease usually extends over a few months only, the patient getting 



Tuberculosis of Lungs 231 

progressively worse. Among the early symptoms will usually be those of 
disturbed innervation. There are attacks of paroxysmal cough, with a metal- 
lic ring and stridulous breathing and orthopncea, so that the child has to 
be propped up to get its breath ; in the later stages the distress is often very 
great. The voice is altered, perhaps reduced to a whisper. The return of 
blood to the chest may be interfered with on account of the superior vena 
cava being compressed, giving rise to a distention of the jugular or axillary 
veins and swelling of the face or arms. Fluid may be present in one or both 
pleural cavities from pressure on the azygos veins. If the tumour is of any 
size, there will be dulness over the sternum or in the adjoining region, parti- 
cularly to the left edge of the sternum in the upper intercostal spaces. In- 
tense bronchial breathing may be heard here. Moreover, the lung may be 
pushed to the left by the encroachment of the tumour, which may bulge 
forward the sternum and ribs. 

Chronic Tuberculosis of the Lungs. — Infancy and early childhood. — 
No age is free from liability to be affected with tubercle ; thus Demme has 
found tubercular disease of the intestine in an infant of twenty-nine days. 

Tubercular disease is not common in infants of a few months old ; at 
this period gastro-intestinal atrophy is exceedingly common, and is liable 
to be mistaken for tubercular disease on account of the wasting which takes 
place. Tuberculosis in young children rarely begins as does the phthisis of 
adults by a growth of tubercle and a condensation at the apices of the lungs, 
and a gradual extension downwards taking place, but is apt to be far more 
widespread in its distribution both in the lungs and in the body. It is there- 
fore far more difficult to diagnose by means of physical signs which are less 
distinctive than are those of adults. It is needless to say that the same 
general appearances are found in the bodies of children as in adults dying of 
tuberculosis — grey tubercle, caseous masses, iron-grey infiltration and fibroid 
tissue in excessive quantity, and irregular cavities. The distribution, however, 
usually differs, one of the chief differences being that in adults the tubercular 
processes appear to have a special affinity for the apices ; in early childhood 
there is no such predilection, the hilus of the lung or base being more frequently 
affected before the apex. The bronchial glands are almost constantly found 
caseous, with also the small pulmonary glands which accompany the bronchi, 
the latter suppurating and forming small cavities near the root of the lungs. 
In this way a tuberculosis may spread into the lungs from the hilus. Not 
infrequently one or both bases are semi-solid from caseating pneumonia with 
ragged cavities, at other times a similar state of things is found at the apex. 
In other cases both lungs are stuffed with clusters of grey or yellow tubercles 
surrounding the terminal bronchi. There may be tubercle on the surface 
of the pleura, with more or less pleurisy or small local empyemas. The 
abdominal organs are exceedingly apt to be affected ; cheesy masses are 
frequently found in the liver, spleen, and kidneys ; cheesy mesenteric glands 
and ulceration of the intestines are very common in cases of general tuber- 
culosis. Tubercles are not infrequently found on the peritoneum and other 
serous membranes, as the pleura and meninges of the brain. Tubercular 
disease of bone may be associated with a general distribution of tubercle 
throughout the body. 

The changes founder/ mortem in young children suffering from chronic 



232 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

or subacute tuberculosis compared with those found in the chronic phthisis 
of adults may be summed up as follows : — 

1. Frequency with which the lungs (in children) are invaded with tuber- 
cular deposits from the root of the lung in consequence of an infection from 
caseating bronchial glands. 

2. Frequency with which the lymphatic glands of the body become 
tubercular. 

3. Frequency with which caseous degeneration takes place in the lungs, 
&c, grey tubercle being less common. 

4. Frequency with which the liver, spleen, kidneys, mesenteric glands, 
peritoneum, and intestines are the seat of tubercular changes. 

5. Frequency of tubercular meningitis and of caseous tubercle in the 
brain. 

Symptoms. — If the diagnosis of phthisis in the early stages is difficult in 
adults, when it is possible to carefully auscultate and percuss the apices 
of the lungs, examine the sputa for bacilli, and cross-question the patient 
concerning the symptoms presented, it is necessarily much more difficult in 
the infant or young child, where the symptoms are rarely definite and where 
the lesions are so widely spread throughout the body. The younger the 
subject the more likely are the symptoms to be wanting in distinctiveness 
and the diagnosis to be consequently difficult, frequently wasting and a 
family history of tuberculosis being nearly all there is to go by. The tem- 
perature is usually hectic, normal or perhaps subnormal in the morning and 
reaching 102 or io3°in the evening, though this may be reversed. There 
may be diarrhoea without apparent cause, and various dyspeptic troubles ; 
cough, though this may be absent ; perhaps enlargement of some external 
glands. An examination of the lungs may reveal very little, perhaps some 
want of resonance over the base or apex or in the interscapular region or 
axilla, with some ringing consonant rales or crepitation. There is progressive 
wasting, which in a child of over a year or eighteen months is more sus- 
picious than in an infant a few months old, where wasting is more often 
due to chronic intestinal catarrh than to tuberculosis. In those cases where 
wasting and hectic follow measles, whooping-cough, bronchitis, or broncho- 
pneumonia, there is a strong suspicion of tuberculosis, even though there 
may have been a period of comparative health intervening between the 
acute attack and the hectic supervening ; a family history of phthisis would 
make the case look still more threatening. In the later stages the sym- 
ptoms become more decisive. The hectic continues, the wasting is pro- 
gressive, the cough is troublesome, the diarrhoea perhaps is still present, 
parasitic stomatitis makes its appearance, the feet, hands, and face become 
©edematous, and the child is anaemic and very weak. Examination of 
the chest will now show some marked dulness or loss of resonance over 
some portion of lung, apex or base, with bronchial breathing and sharp con- 
sonating rales ; often one is surprised to find how little can be detected 
in the chest, even when it is evident that the child is far advanced in 
tubercular disease. The typical signs of a cavity can rarely be elicited, 
inasmuch as the cavities in the lungs of infants and young children are not 
often larger than marbles or walnuts ; most frequently they have irregular 
and ragged walls. A cracked-pot sound may sometimes be elicited in front,, 



Tuberculosis of Lungs 233 

but on account of the yielding nature of the chest-walls in an infant it is 
of no diagnostic value as regards a cavity. 

Diagnosis. — Whenever wasting occurs as a prominent symptom during 
infancy and childhood, tuberculosis is certain to be thought of; wasting 
occurs in all dyspeptic diseases during infancy, and it may simulate the 
wasting of tuberculosis when it occurs in connection with empyema or 
broncho-pneumonia in young children. An empyema may readily be mis- 
taken for tuberculosis of the lungs if a careful examination of the lungs is 
not made, aided if necessary by an exploratory puncture, as there is wasting, 
hectic, and cough. The difficulty in deciding may be great without explora- 
tion if the empyema is localised or there is more than one. A chronic 
effusion in the pericardium may be mistaken for tubercular disease. It is 
often difficult in cases of chronic broncho-pneumonia, the chronic condition 
following an acute attack, to decide if a tubercular process is going on. 
There may be wasting and hectic, and yet after some weeks the temperature 
will gradually fall, the lung clear up, and the child perfectly recover. In 
most cases only the progress of the case will decide. 

Older Childre7i. — After the age of six years — in other words, after the 
commencement of the second dentition — chronic tuberculosis much more fre- 
quently resembles the chronic phthisis of adults than it does before this 
era. As the child gets older the resemblance becomes still more close. 
Children before this age rarely suffer from chronic tuberculosis of the adult type. 
The early symptoms are those of cough, loss of appetite, diarrhoea, wasting, 
night sweats, and hectic ; progressive weakness ; the symptom which we miss 
for the most part is haemoptysis, which, though sometimes present, is much 
more frequently absent in children than in adults, and less is expectorated. 
An examination of the chest may perhaps disclose some loss of resonance at 
one apex (usually the right), with perhaps some rhonchus or moist sounds, 
or there may be no loss of resonance, only the signs of a chronic or subacute 
bronchial catarrh localised in the apex of a lung' ; or there may be impaired 
resonance only, due to the presence of a thickened pleura and adherent 
lung. In this stage children perhaps more often than adults improve under 
treatment and a careful hygiene, and may be restored to perfect health ; there 
is abundant evidence to demonstrate this. If the disease progresses the 
hectic and wasting continue, the child becomes pallid and weak, the 
diarrhoea frequent and troublesome, especially following meals ; the physical 
signs show an extended area of lung involved, the tubercular infiltration 
travelling from the apex towards the base, and giving rise to caseous degene- 
ration, fibroid changes, and cavitation. The progress of such cases is apt to 
be more rapid than the corresponding cases in adults, four to six months 
being a common time. In the last stages the emaciation is extreme, the 
feet cedematous, bed sores are apt to form, and while the patient may linger 
for a while if no intercurrent affection brings the end quickly, it must be 
borne in mind that such cases are exceedingly apt to be brought to a con- 
clusion by tubercular meningitis in any stage early or late. The abdominal 
organs are also apt to join in a more extensive spreading of tubercle than is 
the case later in life ; mesenteric disease, extensive ulceration of bowels, 
peritonitis subacute or acute, are apt to be present, and necessarily influence 
the course of the disease. Haemoptysis, which may be fatal almost immedi- 



234 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

ately, occasionally occurs ; in other cases blood may be expectorated in con- 
siderable quantities. 

Sometimes an acute phthisis takes place without miliary tuberculosis 
being present ; the tubercular process taking the form of clusters of grey 
tubercle surrounding the bronchi, the process beginning at the apex and 
travelling towards the base, the symptoms being those of a rapid phthisis, 
perhaps extending over a month or two. 

On the other hand, a ntoroid phthisis essentially chronic in its course 
may take place, appearing at times to be stationary, or the patient undergoes 
considerable improvement. In these cases there is much fibroid change and 
iron-grey induration of lung with retraction. The physical signs develop 
slowly, there is dulness of an apex, which gradually becomes almost abso- 
lute, intense bronchial breathing, consonant rales and gradual retraction of 
the affected side. The child may fatten and appear to flourish and present 
a normal temperature, but it is easily exhausted, suffers from dyspnoea on 
exertion, its face and lips are turgid, and the fingers become clubbed. In 
a few cases there is haemoptysis, but this is the exception. It is possible 
that the process may become arrested, the lung being converted into fibroid 
tissue. In the majority of cases the disease is progressive, and the opposite 
apex becomes affected. The whole course may extend over several years, 
unless bronchitis or some other intercurrent disease supervenes. 

The principal clinical differences between chronic phthisis in older chil- 
dren and adults may be summed up as follows : — 

1. Frequency with which children in the first stage recover. 

2. Frequency with which the disease is brought to an abrupt termination 
by some acute affection, as tubercular meningitis, pleurisy, peritonitis, or 
acute miliary tuberculosis. 

3. Comparative rarity of haemoptysis in the early stages and of laryngitis 
in the latter stages. 

4. Frequency of complication with abdominal tuberculosis. 

5. Comparative rarity as compared with that of adults of extensive cavities 
in the lungs. 

The post-mortem appearances are mostly similar to those found under 
similar circumstances in adults. Irregular ragged cavities, varying in size 
from a hazel-nut to a walnut, most numerous in the upper lobes, with cheesy 
masses and fibroid indurations ; the same condition in the lower lobes in 
an earlier stage, with more or less crepitant lung. As a rule there is not 
much grey tubercle, but caseous masses, sometimes associated with peri- 
bronchial grey or yellow tubercles. There are not often cavities of large 
size, but these occur at times ; in one case, in a boy of eight years, who had 
suffered for six months, there was a cavity in the upper two-thirds of the left 
lung as large as an adult's clenched fist. Pleurisy and small collections of 
pus are not uncommon. The bronchial glands are almost invariably en- 
larged and caseous. 

Instead of the above, especially in the more acute cases, the lungs may 
be everywhere infiltrated with clusters of peri-bronchial tubercles, which 
crowd the upper lobes, where ragged irregular cavitation is commencing, 
while they are more sparely scattered through the lower lobes. 

In fibroid phthisis an extensive portion of one or both lungs is cicatrised 



Tuberculosis of Lungs 235 

and solid, bands of fibrous tissue run across, there is much grey infiltration 
dilated bronchi, caseous glands, and perhaps small ragged cavities. Other 
portions of lung are hypertrophic or emphysematous, perhaps containing 
scattered clusters of peri-bronchial tubercles. 

Cheesy tubercles are met with constantly in other organs than the lung, 
especially in the liver, spleen, and kidneys ; caseous mesenteric glands and 
ulceration of the intestines may also be associated. 

Treatment. — The treatment of enlarged and caseous glands is necessarily 
the same in large measure as that of early tuberculosis. If a child, say one 
from three to s ; x years of age, suffers from a hacking paroxysmal cough, is 
slightly feverish at night, remains in a condition of ill-defined malaise, especi- 
ally if he has recently suffered from bronchitis, whooping-cough, or measles, 
the suspicion will be raised that there is either caseation of the bronchial glands 
or an early tuberculosis of the lungs. There can be no certainty about the 
diagnosis, but if the family history points to tuberculosis there is only too 
much reason for anxiety. The indications for treatment which suggest 
themselves are to place the child under conditions in which there will be the 
least possible irritation of the lungs and bronchial tubes, and to supply him 
with nourishment in suitable quantities and in the most digestible forms. 
It is needless to say that these indications are fulfilled with difficulty or only 
partially. Residence in the smoke and dirt of large towns, or on damp 
clay subsoils, is alike bad, and if possible the child should be removed to 
some breezy moorland site or bracing sea-side place. Fresh air when it can 
be taken without risk of cold is of the greatest possible advantage in bracing 
up the digestive organs. In winter, if it be impossible to seek a warmer 
climate, thoroughly warm and well-ventilated apartments free from draughts 
must be secured. A well-warmed but not ' stuffy ' house is a great advan- 
tage, as the child may in such a case have the ' run ; of the whole house 
without being exposed to cold passages and open windows. A nourishing, 
easily assimilated diet should be prescribed, a variety being introduced in 
order to tempt the capricious appetite often present. A cup of beef-tea the 
last thing at night will often ease the cough and soothe the child to sleep. 

Of special medicinal treatment, cod-liver oil, malt extract, mineral acids 
with cinchonine and the hypophosphites may be prescribed with advantage. 
Creasote or guaicol is often prescribed. Counter-irritants are useful ; they 
are hardly likely to have much effect on glands which are actually caseating, 
but they undoubtedly favourably influence chronic catarrhs of the bronchial 
mucous membranes. Among the milder ones, the lin. pot. iodid. c. sapone 
may be rubbed into the chest every evening, a piece of ' swansdown ' or layer 
of cotton wool being applied. A stronger application may be made by diluting 
lin. iodi with glycerine and water (F. 27), and applying it to the sternum or 
the subclavicular region every night and covering it over with a layer of cot- 
ton wool. Care must be taken not to render the skin sore by applying it 
too frequently on the same spot. 

The more urgent symptoms present when the nerves are involved by a 
mediastinal tumour, and which are often very distressing, may be relieved in 
many cases by warm applications, such as fomentations, and small doses of 
nepenthe or morphia. Relief will probably be obtained from opiates com- 
bined with ether or chloroform if the dyspnoea is due to spasm. Inhalations 



236 Diseases of the Respiratory Apparatus 

of chloroform, ether, or nitrite of amyl, usually relieve. Small doses of morphia 
given subcutaneously may be tried. 

Much that has been said applies to the early stages of all forms of chronic 
tuberculosis of the lungs. It is of the greatest possible importance to recog- 
nise the disease in its early stages, when there is a fair probability that it may 
be arrested or undergo a natural cure if the conditions are favourable. To 
this end an equable temperature, a pure bracing air, protection from cold and 
damp and rapid temperature changes are of the greatest importance. The 
presence of tubercle in the lungs naturally predisposes to catarrhs and local 
pneumonias, and exposure to unfavourable conditions likely to favour their 
development is certain greatly to aggravate the disease. Great care must 
also be taken in the food which the child takes and in treating any departure 
from a healthy condition of the child's digestive system. A condition of 
catarrh of the bowels is very often present in tubercular diseases apart from 
any local lesion, and is an important factor in producing the wasting which 
accompanies tuberculosis. 



237 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE SPECIFIC FEVERS. 

Feverishness. — Children more often than adults are apt to suffer from 
attacks of feverishness, the temperature perhaps rising suddenly without any 
obvious cause, remaining raised for a day or two, much to the alarm of the 
friends and the medical attendant, and returning to normal without any clue 
having been obtained as to the cause. Perhaps the feverishness is less acute, 
but continuous for some weeks, rising in the evening and falling in the 
morning, without any diagnosis being made. It is hardly needful to insist 
that in any given case no effort should be spared to find out the cause of 
the fever, and to effect this the child should be carefully examined, its chest 
being stripped and any sign of pneumonia carefully looked for, while the 
skin and throat should be minutely scrutinised in a good light. Inquiries 
should be made as to what the child has taken in the way of food prior to 
the attack. If the attack is sudden, the temperature rising to 103 or 104 
or more, epidemic influenza, acute pneumonia, scarlet fever, or acute dys- 
pepsia from the ingestion of unsuitable food will doubtless suggest itself. 

In children under three years of age, a high temperature with convulsions 
may be due to acute pneumonia, and a careful examination of the lungs should 
be made ; in older children there may be no convulsions, but usually, if the 
physical signs are not distinctive, there is some stitch in the side felt on 
coughing, with more or less dyspnoea. In scarlet fever there is usually 
vomiting and often diarrhoea, and the appearances in the throat and skin 
soon become distinctive. During the first twelve or twenty-four hours it 
may be difficult to distinguish between scarlet fever and an acute diarrhoea 
or gastro-intestinal catarrh the result of improper food, as sometimes a 
gastric attack will produce severe symptoms of vomiting, diarrhoea, and fever. 
Or there may be no diarrhoea or sickness and only feverishness. The 
diagnosis in epidemic influenza has often to be made from the fact that it is 
prevalent in the house or neighbourhood rather than from the symptoms, 
which are so frequently indefinite. In many of these cases it is wise to wait 
before giving a definite opinion. In infants and young children the cause of 
an unexplained high fever may prove to be an acute otitis which has been 
overlooked till pus has made its appearance at the external meatus ; such 
cases are very apt at first to be mistaken for meningitis (see fig. 33). 

In some feverish attacks we have noticed an enlargement of the cervical 
glands, either the deep cervical at the angle of the jaw, or the glands on the 
upper part and posterior edge of the sterno-mastoid, without any appearances 
of irritation in the tonsil or pharynx ; possibly there may be such a disease 



2 3 8 



The Specific Fevers 



as an acute idiopathic adenitis, or some poison may perhaps be absorbed 
from the pharynx and enter the glands without setting up any local lesion at 
the point of absorption. 

Such cases have been described by E. Pfeiffer, Heubner, and Rauchfuss, 
under the name of gland fever. The attack, according to Pfeiffer, is sudden 
and the fever moderately high ; there is complaint of tenderness in the neck, 
and some of the cervical glands, usually those at the posterior border of the 
sterno-mastoid, or the occipital glands, are swollen and tender. In a few 
days the temperature falls and the glands become normal. In a few instances 
the attack has been more severe and has lasted longer. In these cases no 





isiissssssssrsssss 

illlSEIIIIIilllllillill 

illlilililiiillillll 
iiiillillliHIIi IIIIIL 

ii illinium Htm 



s:m 



IIIIIIIIII 




Fig. 33- 



-Temperature Chart showing high temperature due to an acute otitis in an 
infant of seven months. 



abnormal appearances have been detected in the tonsils or nasal mucous 
membrane. The glands never suppurate. Pfeiffer has noted several of 
these cases in one house at the same time, the disease being infectious or 
epidemic. 

Acute cerebral congestion or 'sunstroke' may be accompanied by high 
fever, quickly followed by death. In many cases where there are a high 
temperature and cerebral symptoms, such as coma, delirium, or torpor, it is 
often difficult to say whether there is some cerebral disease, or whether the 
high temperature and poisoned blood are not causing the cerebral symptoms, 
the brain itself being normal. When the temperature rises more slowly, 
taking several days to reach its greatest elevation, as is the case in measles, 
typhus, typhoid, and small-pox, a diagnosis cannot be made for a few days 



Scarlet Fever 239 

till characteristic symptoms develop. The hard cough, suffused eyes, and 
rash of measles, the headache, delirium, and coma of typhus, the backache, 
and papules of smallpox, settle the diagnosis. 

The diagnosis as to the cause of fever is often very difficult when the 
fever assumes the intermittent or remittent type, going on for some days or 
weeks without any characteristic symptoms developing. Such cases were 
formerly designated ' low ' or ' continued fever, ; and while it is not wise to 
use such indefinite terms, we must be prepared to find cases of intermittent 
fever in children in which it may be quite impossible to make a diagnosis. 
A sub-acute or chronic gastro-intestinal catarrh, a patch of catarrhal pneu- 
monia, a low form of enteric fever, a tubercular peritonitis or a miliary 
tuberculosis, may be present. There may be, as Dr. Foxwell suggests in 
these cases, a condition of general catarrh, including both alimentary and 
respiratory tracts. In all such cases a most careful examination should be 
made of the chest, abdomen, and retina for miliary tubercles, in the hope of 
detecting something which will throw light on the attack. We must not 
forget that some of these cases of protracted remittent fever are in reality 
cases of miliary or local tuberculosis in which healing eventually takes 
place. We feel sure we have seen such cases. 

Scarlet Fever. — Scarlet fever is a specific fever of a highly infectious and 
dangerous character which occurs in epidemics, but is always more or less 
endemic in large populations. It is easy to understand the occurrence of 
epidemics in a small population where the fever exhausts the soil, as it were, 
by attacking all those susceptible to its influence and then disappears for a 
while, to prevail at a later period, when the infection is re-introduced and the 
population contains again a number of the unprotected. It is more difficult, 
however, to understand the cause of epidemics in large cities where the 
infection is always present, unless we assume the existence of some un- 
known influence which favours the spread of the disease at one time more 
than another by rendering those who are unprotected by a former attack more 
than usually susceptible to the infection. Thus epidemics of scarlet fever are 
more common and widespread in the autumn than at any other period, and 
it would appear that at this season either the poison is apt to be more intense 
or individual susceptibility greater. Individual susceptibility varies greatly 
with age ; infants under six months of age are rarely attacked, during the 
second year the susceptibility is greater, while children during their fourth 
and seventh years are most often attacked. The susceptibility then appears 
to diminish as age increases, though, as already remarked, varying strangely 
from time to time. Thus it may happen that a medical man or nurse may 
come in contact with scarlet fever cases for weeks or perhaps months with- 
out contracting the disease and yet finally take it. In one case which came 
under our notice a probationer-nurse was engaged in nursing in a scarlet- 
fever ward for six months without being attacked ; many months after, while 
nursing in a surgical ward at another hospital, she contracted a smart attack 
of scarlet fever from a sporadic case arising in the ward. In another case 
a child had a severe attack of scarlet fever twenty-nine days after admission 
to the scarlet-fever ward. In this case it was supposed to have had an attack 
of scarlet fever for which it was sent in ; but second attacks of scarlet fever/ 
are rare ; they do, however, undoubtedly occur. 



240 The Specific Fevers 

Scarlet fever is apparently not so infectious as measles, a large number of 
children and adults escape being attacked ; thus Biedert found in an epidemic 
which prevailed in an isolated village (Neunhofen) where the inhabitants 
freely mixed with one another, and where no isolation of the fever patients 
was possible, that about 58 per cent, of the children unprotected by a former 
attack contracted the disease, though only about two-thirds of these had well- 
marked symptoms, the rest having sore throats only. In different epidemics 
the number attacked varies extremely. 

The mortality varies in different epidemics ; thus, in the fever ward of 
the Children's Hospital, Manchester, it has varied from 6 to 25 per cent, in 
different years during the years 1877-87, the average mortality among 1,598 
cases treated being 11 -8 per cent. This average mortality closely corre- 
sponds with the figures given by Collie of the mortality in the London, Stock- 
well, and Homerton fever hospitals, where, in upwards of 10,000 cases of 
scarlet fever, the mortality was 12-5 per cent. As in all probability many of 
the milder cases of fever never come into hospital at all, 10 per cent, mortality 
given by W. Squire as the average appears to be as nearly correct as possible. 
Age influences the mortality very considerably ; the mortality is high during 
the first three or four years of life, amounting to 25 to 30 per cent. ; it con- 
tinues high till the age of six or seven years is reached, declining after this 
till the age of twenty-one, again increasing after this epoch. 

Are there any morbid conditions of body which predispose to scarlet 
fever ? Very little is definitely known about such conditions ; individual sus- 
ceptibility varies in the most erratic manner, at least is governed by no known 
laws, and it cannot be said that ill-health in any way either favours or protects 
from attacks. To this, however, must be added that it is our experience that 
operation cases and surgical cases with open wounds are more liable to con- 
tract the disease than are healthy children. The so-called surgical scarlet 
fever is simply scarlet fever occurring in a surgical case (vide infra). 

The strong and healthy appear to be as frequently attacked as the weakly, 
and the attacks are often fatal to such ; it is by no means uncommon to see 
on the post-mortem table children Avho have succumbed to malignant scarlet 
fever looking fat and plump, and who were apparently in the best of health 
when attacked. 

The transference of mfection from the sick to the healthy takes place in 
various ways ; it may be by direct contact, the breath or the exhalations from 
the fever patient may be inhaled, or it may be carried by means of clothes 
or wearing apparel or bedding which has been in contact with the sick. It 
is highly probable also that the excretions of the patient are infective, the 
urine, faeces, and discharges from the ear or nose. From the investigations of 
Power and Klein it seems that the fever may pass from cattle to man by 
means of the milk of cows suffering from a form of bovine fever known by 
the name of i sore teats.' The poison of scarlet fever appears to retain its 
vitality for many months, fever breaking out again and ag'ain in houses which 
have been imperfectly disinfected. 

Second attacks are rare. Reinfection qr relapses are said to take place 
in some instances ; in cases coming under our notice which have had an 
attack of genuine scarlet fever after admission to our fever ward, there was 
considerable doubt as to the correctness of the original diagnosis. 



Scarlet Fever 241 

Incubation. — Mostly two to five days, though it may be much less, perhaps 
only a few hours ; forty-eight to seventy-two hours is a common period, but 
in many cases where slight sore throat precedes for some hours the more 
definite symptoms it is impossible to state the period of incubation with 
exactness. In the majority of cases, if the initial vomiting be taken as the 
first symptom, it will be found that the incubation is under three days. It 
cannot be said with certainty that it may not be more than five days, but 
such cases must be very exceptional. 

Premonitory Syinptoms. — The invasion in the case of children is usually 
sudden, the first symptom being nearly always vomiting ; this may come on 
after a hearty meal. There may also be diarrhoea. In older children and in 
adults there is usually nausea if not vomiting, sore throat, headache, shivering, 
and loss of appetite. ' Sore throat ' with vomiting in a child or adult is ex- 
tremely suspicious of scarlet fever, especially if fever is present. The tempe- 
rature usually runs up quickly to 103 or 104 , and perhaps the patient sits 
over the fire on account of feeling chilly ; in some cases there is slight delirium. 

An attack of vomiting and diarrhoea coming on suddenly with feverishness 
(io3°-io4°F.) is very probably the commencement of scarlet fever. 1 

Symptoms and Course. — Medium Forms. — The premonitory symptoms 
are usually followed within twenty-four hours by the characteristic rash. 
This is said to make its appearance first about the neck, but there is no cer- 
tainty about this, and traces maybe seen of it on the backs of the hands and 
wrists, or on the thighs or abdomen, when it is present nowhere else. In 
some cases it is first visible on the back. At first the rash is faint though 
perfectly characteristic, taking two or three days to reach its height. In 
other cases it disappears in the course of twenty-four or forty-eight hours, 
having at no time been more than a fine faint rash. When typical it 
cannot be mistaken for any other rash. Viewed from a short distance, the 
whole body excepting the face is of a uniform bright red colour ; examined 
closely, it consists of a multitude of red points which correspond with the hair- 
follicles ; these points are surrounded by zones of erythematous redness which, 
joining with one another, give a general diffuse red appearance to the skin. 
Sometimes the rash consists of the points only without the erythema ; in this 
case the redness is necessarily less vivid. In rough skins the rash may be 
coarsely punctiform ; that is, there is a condition of ' goose skin,' each point 
being large and the rash therefore coarse. Sudamina are not uncommon. 
In other cases the rash is patchy on the limbs, and when this is so, the case 
may simulate measles ; the patches consist of clusters of fine papules or points 
with much surrounding erythema, while normal skin is present between the 
patches. Sometimes the rash is haemorrhagic, minute extravasations of 
blood taking place into the skin ; this may occur in mild cases. It is, how- 
ever, much more common in malignant cases. Purpuric patches are not 
uncommonly found after death that were not present during life. Towards 
the end of the first week the rash, which has been fading for several days, is 
succeeded by desquamation, which is free or slight according to the intensity 
of the rash. This exfoliation of the epidermis generally goes on for many 
weeks, being present longest about the hands and feet. The tonsils are red, 

1 In such cases death may take place within twenty-fours of the onset. 

R 



242 



The Specific Fevers 



swollen, and covered with an excess of mucoid secretion, yellow points 
corresponding to the tonsillar crypts are usually present, sometimes there 
are patches of yellow exudation ; the soft palate, uvula, and pharynx are more 
or less congested. The nasal mucous membrane is frequently involved, so 
that there is much discharge from the nose. The deep cervical glands at 
the angles of the jaw are usually enlarged. The tongue is coated with a 
thick white fur ; not infrequently there is a dry glazed, central band on the 
dorsum ; in the course of a few days the tongue cleans,. leaving a red clean 
glazed tongue with prominent fungiform papillae — i.e. ' the strawberry tongue.' 
The eyes are often suffused and the conjunctiva injected, and with this there 




uPBumn 



sbbssssssssbssbbs 

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Fig. 34.— Temperature Chart of a case of Scarlet Fever, medium attack. M. K., aged 13 years. 

*, Rash present. 

is often sleeplessness or delirium, no doubt due to a congested state of the 
membranes of the brain. In rare cases the delirium is severe and the 
patient violent. 

The pulse is quick, varying from 1 20 to 1 50, often faster than the temperature 
or the general state of the child would have led one to expect ; the tempe- 
rature varies, mostly reaching 103 or 105 in a moderately sharp attack 
(fig. 34). The urine is scanty, high-coloured, and often contains a small 
quantity of albumen. In the course of a few days, perhaps by the end of the 
third or fourth, the attack has reached its height, and the symptoms begin to 
decline. The rash gradually fades, the temperature falls, the evening rises 



Scarlet Fever 243 

being smaller and the morning remissions more marked ; the tongue cleans, 
the fauces are less injected, and the appetite returns. By the end of the first 
week the temperature has reached normal ; any feverishness which continues 
after this suggests some complication, the commonest being an ulcerating or 
sloughy process going on in the throat, inflammation of glands, and otitis. It 
must, however, be added that attacks of scarlet fever are extremely unequal 
and no two cases are exactly alike. 

Mild Scarlet Fever. — In some cases the premonitory symptoms are 
absent or the fever is only slight and easily overlooked, and the first thing to 
call attention to the attack is the rash. It not unfrequently happens, even 
in hospitals where the children are under observation, that the discovery of a 
rash is the first thing noted. The child may seem to be in its usual health. 
make no complaint of sore throat, and appear to take its meals well, with 
an evening rise and a morning remission of temperature, and yet be suffer- 















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Fig. 35. — Temperature Chart of a Mild Scarlet Fever. B. W., aged 6 years. Attack contracted 

in scarlet-fever ward. 

Ing from a mild attack of scarlet fever (fig. 35). The rash in such cases 
is rarely well marked, but if it is diffuse and punctiform and remains visible 
for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, the attack is unmistakably one of scarlet 
fever. There is usually slight tonsillitis. The most difficult cases to dia- 
gnose are those where there is sore throat without rash, inasmuch as there 
is nothing characteristic about a scarlatinal tonsillitis. 

IVIalig-nant Scarlet Fever. — In some cases death occurs very rapidly, 
perhaps within twenty-four hours, though this is rare. The most rapid case 
which has come under our notice was that of a girl of twenty months. 

She was noticed not to take her dinner well and vomited after her tea ; her temperature, 
which had been normal in the morning, had risen to 103° by 5.30 (fig. 36 a) ; at 7 p.m. the 
pulse was 160, the tonsils were enlarged, and there was a very faint rash over the body ; 
she was removed the same evening by the resident medical officer, Dr. Kershaw, to the 
fever ward. Next morning the rash had disappeared, the tonsils were enlarged with a 
patch of exudation on one of them, her pulse and respirations were rapid, but she did not 

R 2 



244 



The Specific Fevers 



seem extremely ill. She gradually became worse, the face cyanosed, respiration gasping-, 
and pulse failing ; she died soon after 5 P.M., twenty-four hours after the initial symptom 
of vomiting. 

At the post-mortem one tonsil was sloughing and soft. Death in this 
case, as in most rapidly fatal cases, took place through the heart failing 
under the influence of the poison ; they may not appear for a few hours in 
actual danger, then symptoms of cyanosis and collapse set in, quickly followed 
by a fatal result. In the great majority of acute cases death does not take 
place till the fourth or the seventh day (fig. 36 b) ; in these the temperature 




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Fig. 360:. — Temperature Chart of Malignant 
Scarlet Fever. Death in twenty-four hours. 



Fig. 36 b. — Temperature Chart of Malignant 
Scarlet Fever. Death seventh day. *, Rash. 



is high, perhaps 105 or 106 , there is much diarrhoea, often extreme restless- 
ness, followed by coma ; the tonsils are much swollen and covered with foul 
secretion, there is much nasal discharge, the glandular swelling and cellulitis 
are great, the neck being hard and tense to the touch ; the skin is of a dull 
lurid colour, the extremities cold, and the heart gradually fails. If life is 
prolonged for a few days the tonsils and soft palate slough and the lungs 
become the seat of septic pneumonia. In another class of cases in which 
life is prolonged to the end of the second or third week a condition of 
septicemia is set up. The tonsils ulcerate, sloughy patches appear on the 



Scarlet Fever 245 

fauces, the glands become enlarged and brawny, the nasal mucous mem- 
brane discharges a purulent secretion, and the conjunctivae become 
affected ; the temperature is remittent but continues high, the urine albu- 
minous, pus wells out from both ears, the child gradually wastes, and dies 
in the course of ten cr fourteen days. At the post-mortem there are found 
extensive sloughing about the fauces, pleuro-pneumonia, and large haemor- 
rhagic kidneys with minute abscesses. In some cases the temperature remains 
high during the second or even third week without any local lesion being 
discoverable to account for it. In all such cases the lungs should be carefully 
■examined, and the possibility of some septic inflammation going on in the 
kidneys should be borne in mind. 

Prognosis. — A guarded prognosis must always be given in the case of 
young children, the throat complications in these being generally serious. The 
tonsils are apt to slough, and they have so little power to get rid of the foul 
secretion which rapidly forms in the pharynx and nose that they are extremely 
liable to pneumonia from extension from the pharynx and glandular inflam- 
mation. Diarrhoea is always a serious symptom ; when present at the onset 
it points to a sharp attack, in the later stages it is also of evil augury, and if a 
marked symptom it usually presages a fatal result. Drowsiness at the onset 
and during the course of the attack is an unfavourable symptom, as it usually 
accompanies a high degree of fever and a severe course. In all cases where 
the temperature is maintained during the second or third week the pro- 
gnosis must be exceedingly guarded, and the possibility of a fatal nephritis 
supervening must be borne in mind. 

Complications and Sequela. — Many of these have already been referred 
to— 

(1) The tonsils may become deeply excavated, the soft palate may slough, 
a- small hole appearing through the velum, to be followed perhaps by an almost 
entire destruction of the soft parts ; in the rare cases when recovery follows, 
cicatrisation and deformity of the soft palate are the result. The inflammation 
may spread to the epiglottis and larynx, and croupy symptoms become so 
urgent that tracheotomy is required. The fauces and larynx may become 
the seat of false membrane. In rare cases the ulcerating process in the throat 
may reach and enter the internal carotid or jugular vein and death follow 
from haemorrhage. 

(2) The nasal and conjunctival mucous membrane may be the seat of 
inflammation or a fibrinous exudation. A chronic discharge from the nose 
and a consequent eczematous condition of the upper lip may be left after the 
fever. 

(3) Otitis. — The inflammation may spread along the Eustachian tube to 
the middle ear, and pus be formed in the tympanic cavity, which finds its exit 
by perforation of the membrane. This may happen during the fever or during 
convalescence. Suppuration in the tympanum is one of the common causes 
of a continued elevated temperature after the disappearance of the rash ; the 
child may suffer very little pain, and the presence of pus in the external 
meatus or staining the linen may be the first thing to call attention to this 
complication. At other times the child will put its hand to its ear and 
frequently shake its head, as if to get rid of some source of irritation. Pyaemia 
and abscesses in the lungs may follow if thrombosis of the lateral sinus occurs. 



246 The Specific Fevers 

(4) The cervical glands frequently become enlarged and suppurate,, 
either during the course of the fever or when the child is convalescent. In, 
some cases, more especially in weakly children, much sloughing may go on 
about the neck, deep ragged ulcers being formed, exposing the large vessels ;. 
fatal haemorrhage may occur from the latter. 

(5) Broncho- or pleuro-pneumonia occurs very frequently during 
the second week, and is due to extension downwards of the lesion from the 
throat. Pneumonia followed by empyema may take place during conva- 
lescence. 

(6) Synovitis and Rheumatism. — The joints are apt to become swollen 
and tender at the end of the first or beginning of the second week ; those 
most frequently affected are the wrists and small joints of the hand, whilst 
sometimes the synovial sheaths of the tendons at the back and in the palms 
of the hands are attacked. The knees, ankles, soles of the feet, elbows, and 
joints of the cervical vertebrae may be affected. Movement of the affected 
joints causes pain, and they are mostly swollen, red, and tender. The affec- 
tion is rarely severe, being fugitive, and seldom returning to the same joint.. 
The knees sometimes remain swollen for some weeks from effusion into 
the joints. The cases complicated with synovitis are usually severe, though 
exceptions occur. Peri-endocarditis occurs much less frequently than in the 
ordinary form of rheumatism. Synovitis sometimes occurs in association with 
nephritis during the second week. Attacks of true rheumatism are apt to 
occur during convalescence, but such are more common in young adults than 
in children ; these attacks differ in no particular from ordinary rheumatism,, 
the heart being frequently involved. An attack of scarlet fever during con- 
valescence from rheumatism not infrequently causes a relapse. 

(7) Pyaemia and suppuration in the joints occasionally occurs ; any 
joint may be affected. Such cases are mostly fatal, though not invariably so.. 

(8) Nephritis. — No complication of scarlet fever can vie in importance 
or interest with nephritis ; and this condition often gives rise to much anxiety 
in an otherwise mild and favourable case. The ' initial ' albuminuria which 
frequently accompanies the febrile state in the first week of the disease is not 
of much importance, as it is usually temporary and not due to any important 
lesion of the kidneys, and quickly disappears as the fever subsides towards 
the end of the first week. Apart from this febrile albuminuria, there are two- 
forms of nephritis which, it is important to bear in mind, are distinct from 
one another, though they have frequently been confounded and much con- 
fusion has arisen in consequence. They may be distinguished as (a) Septic 
nephritis, (b) Post-scarlatinal nephritis. 

{a) Septic Nephritis. — In the severe forms of fever complicated with 
sloughing tonsils and soft palate and much glandular swelling the urine is 
albuminous, frequently highly so ; but it rarely contains blood in appreciable 
quantities or casts ; there are indeed no renal symptoms, or if there are 
they are so masked by the general condition of septicaemia that it is difficult 
or impossible to differentiate them. There is no dropsy or uraemic pheno- 
mena. If the patient survive till the end of the second or third week, a 
more or less typical pyaemic kidney is found at the post-mortem. The 
kidneys are enlarged, frequently very much so ; they are flabby, of a cream 
colour on the surface, with minute haemorrhages and usually minute abs- 



Scarlatinal Nepliritzs 



247 



cesses. On section the cortex is of the same cream colour mottled with 
injected vessels and points of fluid or inspissated pus. This condition of 
kidney forms part of a general condition of pyaemia and is chiefly of interest 
in demonstrating that the kidneys suffer during the course of the disease 
itself, and consequently in cases which recover are in a condition which pre- 
disposes to inflammatory affections during convalescence. 

(&) Post-scarlatinal Nephritis. — This is the form which is liable to super- 
vene during the third or fourth weeks and which is known generally by the 
name of scarlatinal nephritis. There can be little doubt that the kidneys are 
actively engaged during the course of the fever itself, and for the succeeding 
week or two, in carrying off the waste products formed during the fever, and 
are in an irritable condition and prone to take on inflammatory action, in 
the same way as the bronchial tubes and lungs are left in an irritable con- 
dition after measles and are apt to suffer from inflammatory attacks : and 




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Fig. 37.— Temperature Chart of Post-scarlatinal Nephritis, 
convulsions. Recovery. 



■, rash ; a, albumen ; c. uraemic 



while it is possible in both cases that nephritis and pneumonia may super- 
vene in spite of the greatest care, yet any chill or exposure to cold is extremely 
likely to produce or determine such an attack. The number of those who 
suffer varies in different epidemics, and also according to the season and 
the care which is taken of them during convalescence. Taking an average 
of several years, we find about 6 per cent, of our hospital patients have 
suffered from post-scarlatinal nephritis. Patients who have had the primary 
fever both in a severe and mild form may be attacked ; in the former class 
of cases, especially where there has been no period of apyrexia, it is mostly 
fatal ; in the latter class — at least in hospital — it is rarely so fatal. The 
prognosis is usually bad in those cases where the temperature continues 
elevated during the second week, in consequence of severe pharyngeal or 
glandular inflammation, and which contract nephritis in the third week, the 
latter complication supervening on the throat lesions. From the fourteenth 



248 The Specific Fevers 

to the twenty-sixth day is the commonest time for nephritis to supervene, 
but as it usually begins insidiously, traces of albumen being present for a 
few days before blood and larger quantities of albumen appear, it is often 
impossible to determine the exact date of the commencement of the attack. 
In well-marked cases it is noticed by the attendants that the child which, 
since the subsidence of the fever, has been practically well, becomes restless, 
feverish at night, thirsty, has a quick perhaps hard pulse, and passes small 
quantities of dark-coloured urine. If particular attention has been paid to 
the urine, it will probably have been found that it has been diminishing in 
quantity, and has contained small quantities of albumen for a few days prior 
to the dark urine being passed. Sometimes puffiness about the face pre- 
cedes the appearance of albumen in the urine. The urine may be dark 
red, but usually it is ' smoky,' and on allowing it to stand in a tall glass 
deposits a dark flocculent precipitate, not unlike the flocculi in beef-tea. This 
precipitate consists of blood corpuscles, epithelium and fibrinous cylinders 
which have been formed in the tubules and consequently may contain 
corpuscles and epithelium. The supernatant liquid contains a variable 
amount of albumen, sometimes becoming almost solid on being boiled ; 
more often a half to a sixth of its volume of coagulated albumen pre- 
cipitates by boiling. It may not contain any blood. For a few days the 
urine continues dark and albuminous and of high specific gravity (1020-1025), 
and diminished in quantity, perhaps only a few ounces per diem ; the face 
becomes pale and puffy, there may be oedema of the feet and scrotum, and 
more or less vomiting ; then, perhaps, at the end of a week an improvement 
takes place, large quantities of urine are passed with diminished quantities 
of blood and albumen, and the child becomes again convalescent, though 
the urine may contain some albumen for weeks or even months, and the 
anaemia may continue for a like period. On the other hand, in a minority of 
cases the nephritis is prolonged and symptoms of uraemia may supervene, 
the pulse becomes slow, the temperature subnormal, the tongue dry and 
brown. Often there is frequent vomiting, sometimes diarrhoea (see fig. y]) ; 
haemorrhages may take place from various surfaces, especially the nose ; 
there may be amaurosis, muscular twitchings, and perhaps general convul- 
sions. 

In all cases of nephritis particular care should be taken to examine the 
heart, inasmuch as a fatal result is more often brought about in consequence 
of cardiac failure than directly through uraemic convulsions. One of the 
effects of nephritis is to raise the tension in the blood-vessels, and this, if 
continued for any considerable time, is followed by dilatation of the heart, 
the tension in the arterial system in combination with malnutrition being 
responsible for this result. Another not uncommon result is endocarditis 
or pericarditis, and possibly embolism. The possibility of death occur- 
ring- suddenly during the course of an acute or subacute nephritis must 
always be borne in mind ; the patient may appear to be doing fairly well, 
perhaps sitting up in bed and playing with his toys, when an attack of 
dyspnoea comes on, the face becomes livid or pallid, the pulse disappears, and 
death quickly takes place. Sometimes attacks of dyspnoea may precede by 
a day or two the fatal event. Such cases have been often described as being 
fatal in consequence of cedema of the lungs, the dilatation of the heart 



Complications of Scarlet Fever 249 

having been overlooked ; oedema of the lungs is present, but it is secondary 
to the cardiac failure. The pathology of such cases is tolerably clear ; acute 
nephritis, running a very rapid course in consequence of the kidneys being 
almost completely choked, usually terminates with uraemic phenomena ; if 
it runs a slower course, the tension in the blood-vessels throws additional 
work upon the heart, the left ventricle struggles with the increased work 
thrown upon it, the blood becomes impoverished and nutrition impaired, 
the cavities of the heart dilate, and finally that organ gives way, often 
suddenly at the last. The amount of dilatation present should be carefully 
noted by the position of the apex beat, and the increase of impaired reso- 
nance. 

Pneumonia, pleurisy, and peritonitis may occur in the course of 
nephritis, and pleuro-pneumonia, ending in gangrene, may take place. In a 
few cases the attack is exceedingly acute, the temperature being high, 104 
to 105 , the tongue dry and brown, the urine containing much blood and 
albumen, and death rapidly taking place. In such cases there is usually 
coincident pneumonia. In a large number of cases the attacks are mild, 
a small quantity of albumen, perhaps without any blood, making its appear- 
ance during the third week, the face becoming puffy and the child anaemic, 
the albumen disappearing in the course of a week or two, and the child after 
a prolonged convalescence slowly regaining its health. 

Total suppression of urine is not common, a few ounces daily being 
usually passed ; in one of our cases only three ounces of pale albuminous 
urine was passed in the four and a half days which preceded death ; there 
were no convulsions. Life is rarely prolonged beyond the fifth day if there 
is total suppression. Death takes place in many cases without convulsions ; 
in others convulsions may supervene and recovery follow ; the convulsions 
are not dependent only upon retained urinary products, but also upon the 
stability of the nervous centres, which differs markedly in different children. 

Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of mild cases of scarlet fever often presents 
extraordinary difficulty, and yet the importance of making a diagnosis is often 
great. In hospital or dispensary practice cases have mostly to be treated as 
infectious or non-infectious ; as there is often no opportunity of taking a 
middle course, they must be sent into a fever ward with the risk of contract- 
ing the disease if the diagnosis is at fault, or of infecting others if treated 
with non-infectious cases. In private practice among the wealthier classes 
it may be possible to isolate all suspicious cases, but such are always a source 
of anxiety. It cannot be too forcibly impressed that diagnosis in some 
instances is impossible, and that errors will occasionally be made by the most 
experienced, though at the same time it must be acknowledged that mistakes 
are more frequently made through carelessness than from any want of know- 
ledge. The most characteristic phenomenon is of course the rash, and if this 
is well marked, being diffuse and punctiform, and lasting at least twenty-four 
or forty- eight hours, even in the absence of tonsillitis or a high tempera- 
ture, there can hardly be a doubt about the diagnosis. A measles rash can 
hardly be mistaken for it, except in those cases where the rash is patchy about 
the limbs, but in these it is usually diffuse and characteristic on the trunk. 
A scarlet-fever rash, however faint, usually lasts for twenty-four hours at least, 
in this respect differing from erythematous rashes, which may be present in 



250 The Specific Fevers 

the evening and gone before morning. It is always well when called to see a 
rash by artificial light to wait for daylight to give a definite opinion. It is- 
important to bear in mind that a rash resembling scarlet fever occurs in 
some cases of pyaemia and also in rubella (see p. 263). To distinguish be- 
tween scarlatinal and simple tonsillitis is mostly impossible in the absence 
of a rash ; the ' strawberry ' tongue is generally absent in cases unattended 
with a rash. Cases of tonsillitis where the nasal mucous membrane becomes 
involved, or where there is excessive exudation on the fauces or sloughing of 
the soft palate, if diphtheria can be excluded, are probably scarlatinal. If the 
lymphatic glands at the angle of the jaw become enlarged and tender, scarlet 
fever is probable. Acute nephritis occurring after an anomalous rash or 
sore throat makes it practically certain that the primary attack was scarlet 
fever. 

Morbid A7iatomy. — In the bodies of those dying during the first few days 
of the disease no gross lesions except those in connection with the throat 
can be detected. One or both tonsils are ragged, perhaps sloughy, the glands 
are enlarged, perhaps beginning to suppurate, the internal organs are gorged 
with blood, there are minute haemorrhages on their surfaces. The heart,, 
liver, and kidneys are pale, the Peyer's glands are swollen, and the mucous 
membrane of the intestines injected. If the child has survived a week or 
more, usually septic changes are present ; the lungs are in a condition of 
pneumonia more or less advanced, which is secondary to the sloughy throat 
and the glandular inflammation and cellulitis in the neck ; marked changes 
are also found in the kidneys if the child has survived two or three weeks.. 
In typical cases these are much enlarged, flabby, pale on the surface, with 
minute haemorrhages and injected capillaries ; on section minute abscesses- 
may often be seen at the base of the pyramids. On microscopical examina- 
tion large tracts of kidney substance will be found infiltrated with leucocytes, 
and micrococci {streptococci pyogenes) will be detected in the capillaries. If 
death has been the result of post-scarlatinal nephritis, in the early stages the 
kidneys will be gorged with blood and deeply stained in consequence of the- 
tubules being choked with casts and the capillaries distended to their utmost. 
In a later stage the kidneys are enlarged and pale, dripping urine on section,, 
and on close examination it will be noted that the Malpighian bodies are 
enlarged and pale, standing out prominently like grains of sand dusted on to 
the cortex. On microscopical examination it will be found that the glomeruli 
are enlarged in consequence of containing an increase in the number of their 
nuclei, in some cases fibrinous thrombi, and in a later stage being surrounded 
by a fibro-cellular growth which completely strangulates them and produces 
complete obstruction. When nephritis is present the cavities of the heart 
are found dilated ; sometimes there is peri-endocarditis, peritonitis, or pneu- 
monia. 

Treatme?it. — As soon as scarlet fever is suspected, means must be adopted 
to prevent the spread of the disease in the household by isolating the patient 
as far as it is possible to do so. It is obviously impossible to effect this in the 
smaller class of houses, and indeed even in large and well-appointed houses, 
nothing like perfect isolation can be carried out, the removal of the patient to> 
a fever hospital being in all cases the wisest course when it can be managed. 
To diminish risks of infection as far as it is possible, a room on the upper 



Scarlet Fever 2 5 t 

story should be secured, or, still better, the whole of the top landing should 
be devoted to the patient and those of the household who are in attendance 
on him. Every article in the room which can be spared, especially cur- 
tains, carpets, and other woollen goods, should be removed, only retaining 
such as are required for immediate use. The bedding should consist of a. 
horsehair mattress and warm but light coverings. The sick-room should 
be large and airy, the more cubic space the better, provided it can be kept at 
a moderate temperature, and all draughts avoided. The attendants on the 
sick should not mix with the other members of the household, but devote 
themselves entirely to the work of the sick-room. If there are children in 
the house who have not had scarlet fever, the question will arise what is best 
to be done with them. In the first place, it is clear that they must not attend 
school or mix with other children ; the question of sending them away must 
depend upon various circumstances. Remaining at home unquestionably 
involves a risk, and at any time so long as the house remains infected they 
may be attacked. Sending them away involves the risk of their being incu- 
bating at the time, and of conveying the infection to another household. 
The best course, if it can be taken, is to send them away to some household 
where there are no children, and where they can be brought back if they are 
attacked after removal. To send them away to distant seaside lodgings 
could not be sanctioned under any circumstances : it is better to run the risk 
of infection at home, than have them sicken away from home among" 
strangers, and become the source of an outbreak elsewhere. 

As soon as the diagnosis of scarlet fever is made the child should be put 
to bed, and remain there as long as there is fever, or, still better, for three 
weeks, though this, in mild cases especially, is difficult to enforce in private 
practice. In hospital practice three weeks in bed is the ordinary rule ; the 
object of this being to obviate the risk of catching cold, and it is better to 
be over-cautious in this respect. The diet for the first few weeks should 
consist largely of fluids ; it is most important that the digestive organs should 
not be overtaxed and that the excretory apparatus, especially the kidneys, 
should be active, inasmuch as the waste products are increased during fever, 
and the poison also passes out of the body in this way. During the febrile 
period, milk and barley water or milk and soda water is the best food that 
can be given ; feverish children rarely care for beef-tea, and all jellies and 
meat extracts are unnecessary. One to two pints of milk suitably diluted 
during the twenty-four hours will be quite sufficient ; if more is attempted, 
sickness may not unlikely be produced. Daily sponging with tepid or cold 
water, to which some Condy's fluid or other deodorant is added, is of much 
service. Caution should be exercised in giving baths, and unless the bath 
can be brought to the bed-side, they had better be avoided until convalescence 
is well established. Whilst desquamation is proceeding, after the spongings 
or warm baths the skin should be gently anointed with glycerine and starch, 
carbolic oil, or an ointment containing carbolic acid (1-12). 

The application of topical remedies to the throat and nasal mucous 
membrane is frequently a matter of great difficulty in children, and much 
adroitness and firmness will be often required. In mild cases where there 
is only a slight congestion and swelling of the tonsils, no local treatment 
need be attempted, except perhaps the sucking of pieces of ice or iced milk.. 



252 The Specific Fevers 

In older children the throat spray may be used if the patient is sufficiently 
docile, but young children are almost sure to offer a certain amount of 
resistance when their throat is being attended to, and under these circum- 
stances spraying is useless, as the spray is rarely properly directed. Here 
mopping by means of a large paint-brush or with lint secured at the end of 
a piece of stick will have to be resorted to. Syringing the fauces is also use- 
ful to clear away the mucus which is so apt to accumulate both in the fauces 
and nasal passages. In selecting an antiseptic which is to be used freely as 
in syringing or spraying, it is well to remember that some of it may be swal- 
lowed, and consequently it should not be very poisonous, while for mopping 
or painting a caustic or more active poison may be used. In severe cases 
the frequent cleansing of the throat is a matter of great importance and one 
upon which we are inclined to lay much stress ; it is, however, often attended 
with exhausting struggles for the patient, and can only be done by properly 
trained nurses, the friends rarely having the necessary skill or firmness. 
The actual antiseptic selected is of less importance than the manner of using 
it, the object being to prevent the mucus and products of decomposition from 
accumulating in the fauces and being drawn into the air passages or being 
absorbed. For syringing or mopping, solutions containing chlorine, as liq. 
sodas chlorinatae (1 to 20), sulphurous acid (1 to 10), boracic acid (1 to 15), 
boroglyceride (saturated solution in glycerine), sanitas (1 to 40), permanga- 
nate of potash (1 to 40), answer very well. The sulphurous acid has the 
disadvantage of frequently containing sulphuric acid, and consequently 
giving rise to smarting if there are many cracks in the lips or excoriations 
about the nose. These can be used every four hours, or more frequently 
according to the severity of the case. Where there is much exudation, or 
sloughing of the tonsils or fauces, some strong caustic solution, as glycer. 
acidi carbolici, or chinolin 2 to 5 per cent, in alcohol. Nitrate of silver may be 
applied once or twice a day, having first syringed away the mucus ; a satu- 
rated solution of salicylic acid in sp. vini rect. is a good preparation for paint- 
ing on. There is but little reason to believe that the course of the fever is 
much influenced by internal remedies ; in mild cases a saline such as chlorate 
of potash is useful, giving it only in moderate doses, as 2 to 5 grs. every four 
or six hours ; in larger doses it is apt to be deleterious. In more severe cases 
the treatment must be adapted to the symptoms, stimulants being usually 
required on account of the depression which is so often present. Carbonate 
of ammonia, digitalis, cinchona bark, separately or in combination, are the 
most useful drugs. Diarrhoea, if excessive, must be kept in check by opium 
enemata ; if moderate, it had better be left alone. Sleeplessness, headache, 
delirium, are best relieved by an ice-bag to the head and full doses of bro- 
mide. When the temperature continues high, being 104 to 105 , quinine 
in 1 to 3 gr. doses, and repeated packs, so as to get the skin to act, have 
appeared to us the most useful form of treatment. The child should be 
wrapped up in a sheet wrung out of water at 6o° and rolled up in a blanket 
for an hour. This must be repeated if the temperature continues high. Cold 
spongings are also useful. Cold baths require great care on account of the 
depression they are apt to produce ; if used at all, they should consist of the 
graduated bath — that is, the child should be placed in a bath at 90 , the tem- 
perature being gradually reduced to 6o° by the addition of cold water. Anti- 



Treatment of Scarlet Fever 255 

febrin or antipyrin may be used, but their effect is temporary only, and they 
are apt to be accompanied by considerable depression of the heart. The 
former may be given in 3 to 5 gr. doses in sherry or tincture of orange peel, 
as it is insoluble in water. Oxygen gas has been used with advantage by 
Cresswell, 1 and we have been well pleased with it in some cases in which we 
have tried it. 

It must, however, be admitted that the treatment of the severer forms of 
scarlet fever is disappointing and often disheartening ; in spite of the most 
devoted nursing, stimulants freely given, antipyretics, liquid nourishment of 
all kinds, antiseptics to the fauces, they go from bad to worse, apparently un- 
influenced by all that has been done for them. On the other hand, it some- 
times happens that cases which at first are most unpromising are apparently 
saved by careful nursing and appropriate treatment, and this fact should 
encourage every effort. In rare instances sloughing fauces will mend, pneu- 
monias clear up, temperatures which have been high for two or even three 
weeks gradually fall, and complete recovery ensue. 

The otitis which so commonly occurs is usually suppurative from the 
first, the tympanic membrane quickly gives way and a free discharge follows. 
Earache should be treated by the instillation of warm camphorated oil to 
which a drop or two of laudanum has been added, and hot fomentations 
may be applied externally. A single drop of glyc. acid, carbolici (B.P.), 
carefully dropped into the ear so as to reach the membrane, usually gives 
relief. If, on examination with the speculum, pus is seen bulging the mem- 
brane, an incision should be made ; but nature usually anticipates the 
surgeon in this matter, and so quickly that the operation is seldom necessary, 
except in those cases where the membrane fails to give way early. The pus 
which forms in scarlet fever appears to penetrate the membrane more quickly 
than the pus formed in non-febrile cases. When a discharge exists, care 
should be taken to keep the ear syringed out and some antiseptic powder, 
such as iodoform and boracic acid, blown in. The after-treatment of chronic 
otitis need not be gone into here. 

The preventive treatment of post-scarlatinal nephritis consists in the 
greatest care being taken during the second and third weeks to avoid cold and 
to keep the skin acting, and avoiding a stimulating diet and any overfeeding. 
The child should be sponged daily or bathed, provided there is no risk 
of chill ; the diet should be chiefly fluid, milk, light puddings and sops, and 
the bowels should be acted upon if necessary by laxatives or salines such as 
tartrate of soda or Glauber's salts. On the appearance of albumen a smart 
purge of senna or jalap should be given and the child dressed in a flannel 
night-shirt and placed between the blankets, salines such as citrate of 
potash, liq. ammon. acet., or tartrate of soda, being given. The diet should 
consist entirely of barley water and of milk, or of fluids at any rate. Hot 
packs, a blanket wrung out of hot water being used, or hot vapour baths 
given by means of Allen's apparatus, or warm baths, are always useful in 
acting on the skin and drawing away the blood from the kidneys, and so 
relieving the inflammatory congestion present. The smaller the quantity of 
urine passed the more vigorous should be the packs or baths. Ten grains 

1 Practitioner, October i883. 



254 The Specific Fevers 

of jaborandi leaves, made into an infusion with hot water, or one-tenth 
of a grain of nitrate of pilocarpine subcutaneously, may be given before 
the packs once or twice a day. Children bear pilocarpine well, but its use 
requires care on account of the cardiac depression it is apt to produce. 
Poultices to the loins should be applied between the packs. Dry-cupping 
seems sometimes to be useful and may be tried. If the kidneys fail to act, 
and no urine or only a small quantity is secreted, large enemata of hot 
water will sometimes give relief, urine being passed as the enema is being 
expelled. 

During the course of a nephritis the condition of the heart must be 
-carefully watched, as also must any tendency to muscular twitchings about 
the face or hands. Any attacks of dyspnoea or evidence of cardiac dilatation 
must be met by the administration of digitalis, two to five drops every two 
hours. Solution of nitro-glycerine in drop doses, inhalation of chloroform, 
or nitrate of amyl may be tried if convulsions supervene. 

Quarantine. — Six weeks at least — better two months — reckoning from 
the first day of the fever should elapse before a child convalescent from 
scarlet fever can be allowed to rejoin his companions or go to seaside 
lodgings ; and not then if the desquamation is incomplete or there is a dis- 
charge from his nose or ears. In so important a matter as discharging a 
convalescent scarlet-fever patient, it is wise to err on the side of caution. 

Measles. — Measles is an acute infectious disorder characterised by 
coryza and fever in the prodromal stage, followed by a peculiar papular 
eruption on the face and body. 

Measles, like whooping-cough, prevails in widespread epidemics, though 
its epidemics are of shorter duration ; but sporadic cases are always occur- 
ring in large centres of population. This epidemic prevalence occurs in large 
cities every eighteen months or two years, though the epidemics differ very 
much in their extent and fatality. In these epidemics, when once the 
disease enters a household, or indeed a street or alley, hardly anyone escapes 
who is not protected by a previous attack, the sufferers in nearly all cases 
being young children ; the older children and adults having suffered in pre- 
vious epidemics. Communities removed from frequent contact with civilisa- 
tion, and where there has been no epidemic prevalent for some time pre- 
viously, invariably suffer severely when the poison of measles is introduced, 
adults being affected as well as children. The most notable instance of this 
in recent times is the epidemic of measles in the Fiji Islands in 1875, which 
raged for four months, 40,000 natives dying out of a population of 1 50,000,* 
equal to upwards of one in every four of the population, whereas in London 
in 1886, which may be taken as an average year, the deaths from measles 
were five in every 10,000 living (at all ages). The same virulence of an 
epidemic may be seen in a lesser degree in populations, more especially 
among children, in villages or isolated places where there has been no 
epidemic for some time previously. The susceptibility to measles is exceed- 
ingly great in unprotected subjects ; thus Biedert, 2 in a small epidemic 
in an isolated village, found only 14 per cent, of the children who were 
unprotected escaped after being exposed to the infection. In the Faroe 

1 Corney, quoted by Collie. 2 Jahrbuch fur Kinderheilkunde, vol. xxiv. p. 94. 



Measles 255 

.Islands under similar conditions only 4-5 per cent, and 1 per cent, escaped. 1 
•The same experience obtains in schools and in the wards of children's 
.hospitals, where, if a child has been admitted incubating and remains till 
"the rash appears, an epidemic follows, which it is difficult to stop until nearly 
-all of the unprotected have been attacked. The epidemics are independent 
of season and occur in winter as in summer. 

The disease, like most other specific fevers, spreads by contagion, but the 
.nature of this has not been satisfactorily determined, though micro-organisms 
have been obtained from the breath and secretions of patients suffering from 
measles by A. Ransome, Braidwood and Vacher, and Canon and Pielicke.- 

The poison is apparently given off in the breath and other secretions, and 
may be conveyed to a distance by its adhering to the clothes or person of a 
nutse or others coming in contact with the sick. The infection, however, 
appears to be more diffusible or more readily destroyed than the poison of 
small-pox or varicella, as rarely if ever in our experience is it introduced into 
a ward, except by those who were admitted incubating, it being unlike variola 
or varicella poison in this respect, infection in the latter case appearing to be 
brought in by visitors. The infection is known to be given out from the patient 
very early in the attack — that is, from the first appearance of definite symptoms, 
as coryza and fever — but there is good reason to believe that Mr. Vacher is 
right in believing that measles is infectious during the incubative stage, 
as well as during the febrile and eruptive stages. Several instances which 
point strongly to this conclusion have come under our notice. 

The mortality differs enormously according to the circumstances under 
which the attacks develop and also in different epidemics. In healthy 
children among the well-to-do class the mortality is practically nil ; in the 
tubercular and wasted children to be found in workhouses, hospitals, and 
.among the lower classes the mortality is enormous, no disease more certainly 
heing attended with a fatal result. William Squire places it in crowded wards 
.at 20 to 30 per cent, of those attacked. Among dispensary patients the mor- 
tality generally amounts to 9 or 10 per cent. In our own dispensary, during 
the six years 1 880-1 885, 1,395 cases were treated, with 128 deaths, making a 
mortality of 9 per cent. Of the fatal cases 73 per cent, were under two years 
of age, and 9 per cent, under six months of age. 

Second attacks of true measles are not uncommon. We know one 
family in which one boy has had a severe attack of measles four times, a 
boy and girl three times each, and one girl twice ; all these attacks were 
severe. In many cases where there is said to have been a recurrence of 
measles, one of the attacks has no doubt been rubella. 

Infants are occasionally born with the rash of measles on them. 3 

Incubation. — When inoculated this appears to be seven or eight days, 
when contracted in the usual way it is mostly ten to twelve days, the rash 
appearing on the fourteenth or sixteenth day. 

Symptoms. Prodromal Stage. — The early symptoms are those of a 
feverish cold. The child sneezes, waters at the eyes, there is catarrh of the 
nasal membrane, with usually a hard hacking or perhaps croupy cough. 

1 Mad sen, Panum. - B?it. Med. Jour., April 23, 1892. 

3 See Helm, Medical Chronicle, May 1890, and Brit. JLed, Jour., vol. i. p. 602, 



256 



The Specific Fevers 



Sometimes the symptoms are those of a catarrhal laryngitis or bronchitis. 
On everting the eyelids the palpebral conjunctiva is seen to be red and con- 
gested, and the fauces and tonsils are hyperasmic with excessive secretion. 
The child is feverish, often acutely ill, the temperature rising in the evening 
a degree or two and usually falling again in the morning ; this continues, 
though becoming increasingly marked, till the rash is fully developed. 
Sometimes there is a marked remission on the second or third day (see fig, 
385). Often a blotchy redness about the face precedes the papular eruption. 
Earache occasionally occurs. 

Eruptive Stage. — The characteristic eruption usually makes its appear- 
ance at the end of the fourth day, on the forehead, face and neck, and 
fauces. The child's appearance at this time is so characteristic that in 




Fig. 38. — Temperature Charts of cases of Measles. *, rash present. 

well-marked cases a glance is sufficient to establish the diagnosis. The 
face is flushed, the eyes red and watering, there is a short cough, the fore- 
head, nose, and cheeks are covered with crops of dusky red papules, sur- 
rounded by a zone of erythema which contrasts with the normal skin 
between the groups. The papules can be distinctly seen and felt, and 
though not ' shotty ' to the touch, yet they have often a distinct'feeling of 
hardness. The rash on the face is usually both patchy and discrete, the 
patches being made up of confluent papules, the latter of small groups or 
single papules arranged at times in small crescents or semicircles. In 
the course of a day or two the rest of the body is more or less covered with 
the rash ; it is apt to be confluent with much erythematous redness on the 
dependent surfaces, as the extensor surfaces of the arm and thigh, the back 
and buttocks, and more discrete or spotty on the chest and rest of the body. 



Measles 



257 



By the fifth or sixth day the eruption is at its height, and, commencing to 
fade first on the face and later on the body and limbs, is followed, espe- 
cially on the face, by a fine desquamation. By the seventh or eighth the 
rash has completely disappeared, leaving at most only an indefinite mot- 
tling or staining over the body. The temperature, which has probably 
reached 103 to 105 by the sixth day, quickly falls to normal or thereabouts, 
and the headache and discomfort are gone and the child seems greatly 
relieved. In severe cases in weakly children the crisis may be accompanied 
by much exhaustion, but this rarely happens. The temperature remaining high 
indicates some complication such as bronchitis or pneumonia (see fig. 39). 



HBHHIPBIBDM 

Illlliisiiilll 1! II 



I giliilliiail 




WAX 



iHiiiaiiH 



Fig. 39.— Temperature Chart of a case of Measles, complicated with Broncho-pneumonia. 

*, rash. 

Mild or Ill-defined Measles. — Very often all the symptoms are milder 
than those just described, but at the same time are perfectly characteristic. 
On the other hand, the attack may be so light as to be recognised with diffi- 
culty. There maybe almost an entire absence of symptoms in the prodromal 
stage, or a temperature only reaching ioo° or 10 1°, the coryza and catarrh 
being insignificant, while the rash is represented by ill-defined and character- 
less papules about the neck, back of hands, and thighs. In other cases probably 
the catarrh and laryngeal symptoms are well marked, the child evidently 
suffering from a laryngitis ; this is followed by an indefinite mottling about 
the neck and hands as the laryngeal symptoms abate. 

Severe and Complicated measles.— Epidemics of measles differ greatly 
in the severity of the individual attacks. Most of these fatal attacks are 

S 



258 The Specific Fevers 

characterised by high fever, dry brown tongue, delirium, and convulsions, due 
to an intense hyperaemia of the internal organs, more especially the lungs 
and brain. The heart's action is depressed, the rash ill-defined, the skin 
dusky, and in some cases petechial. In such cases death may take place 
on the third or fourth day, or improvement may commence at the end of 
a week. In the majority of cases measles threatens life through the 
tendency to inflammation of the lungs. The lung symptoms may be pro- 
minent from the first, or the presence of pneumonia may delay convalescence 
or supervene when the acute symptoms have passed away. In the former 
case the symptoms are those of acute broncho-pneumonia, the temperature 
continues high, perhaps 105 or 106 , there is marked dyspnoea, sibilant sounds 
are heard over the whole chest, the air does not enter the bases freely ; the; 
rash is scanty, perhaps only an ill-defined mottling ; delirium followed by 
coma comes on ; the eyelids become glued together with thick semi-purulent 
secretion, sordes appear on the mouth, the tongue is brown and dry, and, 
unless improvement takes place the child sinks. 

Catarrhal or Membranous laryngitis is not uncommon in the pre- 
emptive stage, or as the eruption is receding. Tracheotomy may be required 
if the obstruction to respiration becomes sufficient to threaten life, but it 
must be borne in mind that an amelioration of symptoms generally takes 
place when the rash appears. In those cases attended with membranous ■ 
exudation the laryngitis generally follows rather than precedes the eruption., 
Ophthalmia frequently occurs in anaemic and unhealthy children ; corneitis 
and corneal ulcers may also be met with. Glandular enlargements 
may develop, the deep cervical gland being especially involved, as in scarlet 
fever; abscesses are not common. Otitis is very common during con-, 
valescence, suppuration taking place in the middle ear and the membrane 
becoming perforated. Diarrhoea is not an uncommon complication or 
sequela, especially during the hot weather, though by no means exclusively 
so ; it is apt to become dysenteric in character, mucus, blood, and hard lumpy 
faeces being passed, with prolapse of the bowel. 

The health often remains impaired for a considerable time after an attack 
of measles ; it is during this stage that Acute Tuberculosis and Cancrum 
oris may arise. The tuberculosis very frequently appears to take its rise 
from enlarged and cheesy bronchial glands. 

Diagnosis. — The disease most likely to be mistaken for measles is rubella, 
the latter disease closely resembling mild measles. 

It is possible to confound measles with smallpox, though this difficulty is 
more likely to arise in the case of adults than children. According to Collie 
there are two kinds of smallpox which it is possible to confound with measles, 
the commencement of a confluent case and the commencement of a haemor- 
rhagic case. The papules in smallpox are much harder and more shotty, 
and, moreover, in a confluent case, the headache, lumbar pain, and general 
symptoms would be more severe. Haemorrhagic measles is very rare, and, 
according to the same author, would be difficult to diagnose from ' black 
smallpox ; ' the quantity and quality of the vaccination marks should be 
taken into account. 

Morbid A7iatomy.— There is not much to be said under this head, inas- 
much as there are no post-mortem appearances characteristic of measles, 



Measles 259 

the principal lesion found being catarrhal pneumonia ; the whole of the 
internal organs are gorged with blood, and minute haemorrhages are present 
on their surfaces. The mucous membrane of the bronchi is intensely con- 
gested, the surface of the pleura roughened and perhaps covered with lymph, 
one or both bases being solid from catarrhal pneumonia ; in such case the 
pneumonia resembles that found in septicaemia. In some instances croupous 
pneumonia involving a lobe or portion of a lobe may be present, or there 
may be patches of croupous pneumonia. At other times there is intense 
bronchitis, with patches of catarrhal pneumonia and emphysema. In all 
cases of pneumonia following measles which we have examined micro- 
scopically we have found fibrinous exudation in the air vesicles, in spite of 
the pneumonia being apparently of the catarrhal variety. 

The following post-mortem record taken from one of our note-books 
illustrates a malignant case : — 

Child of eleven months ; death on fourth day. On removing lungs it is noted that the 
upper lobes are emphysematous on their surfaces ; in the lower lobes emphysema alternates 
with collapse ; on section there is intense injection of the trachea and bronchi, yellow 
mucus exudes from the minute bronchi ; the lungs are intensely congested, there are 
patches of broncho-pneumonia in the lower lobes. 

Treatme7it. — No very active treatment is needed during an attack of 
ordinary severity, but much may be done to promote the patients comfort and 
to prevent any complications. He should, of course, be confined to bed as 
soon as measles is suspected, the temperature of the room being maintained 
at 65 F., and if the cough is hard and irritating a steam kettle should be 
called into requisition to keep the atmosphere moist. The diet should con- 
sist of milk diluted with barley water or seltzer ; in mild cases sops or light 
puddings may be allowed. Demulcent drinks, such as barley water, lemonade, 
black-currant or tamarind drinks or jellies, are useful in allaying the irritating 
cough. Frequently spongings with warm water containing a weak solution 
of tar or ' sanitas ' relieve the itching and help to bring out the rash. During 
the pre-emptive stage, when there are high fever, restlessness, cough, and 
frequent pulse, small doses of tr. aconiti, one or two drops every two hours 
—carefully watching the effect, especially after five or six doses have been 
given — will be usually attended with relief. Jelly containing codeia or small 
doses of Dover's powder may be given to relieve the cough. Great care 
should be exercised during convalescence to prevent catching cold, especially 
in those who are liable to bronchial catarrh, as the bronchial mucous mem- 
brane remains for some time in an irritable condition, and exposure to cold is 
exceedingly likely to give rise to bronchitis or diarrhoea. 

In cases of greater severity, especially those in small children which are 
accompanied by a scanty rash, congestion of the internal organs, high tem- 
perature, and broncho-pneumonia, active treatment is required. It is neces- 
sary to get the skin to act efficiently and thus relieve the congested internal 
organs ; to this end tepid sponging, hot packs, or mustard baths may be em- 
ployed. For children under two years of age the mustard bath is the most 
suitable ; the child being placed for three minutes in a bath of ioo° F., one 
table-spoonful of mustard to the gallon of water being about the proper 
strength. The child must be quickly dried and put between blankets ; the 
bath may be repeated in a couple of hours if necessary. The stimulating 



260 The Specific Fevers 

effect of the bath upon the skin is often of great service. Linseed poultices 
to the chest are to be avoided in the case of young children, unless the atten- 
dants are trained nurses ; hot fomentations or bran poultices are preferable in 
dispensary practice and in the hands of the unskilled, as being less heavy. 

In older children the hot pack is to be preferred to baths. In the early 
stages small doses of antimony, pot. ant. tart. T ^ - -£$ of a grain, with some 
tartarated soda or citrate of ammonia, should be given every three or four 
hours, but omitted if there is nausea. Aconite may be useful, but it must be 
carefully watched, on account of the depression it is apt to produce if pushed 
too far. Alcohol in the form of whisky or brandy should be given if the 
pulse is small and rapid and the tongue dry and brown. If the cough be- 
comes loose and there is excessive secretion from the bronchi, ammonia, 
digitalis, and alcohol in combination should be given. The eyes, nose, and 
mouth in severe cases require attention ; they should be bathed or mopped 
out with warm water ; if there are any aphthous patches in the mouth some 
borax in dilute glycerine should be applied. Otitis and glandular inflamma- 
tion may require attention. During convalescence no medicine answers 
better than nitric acid and bark. 

Quarantine. — How long should quarantine be maintained in a case of 
measles ? This is not an easy question to answer, though it is certain that 
the infection is not given off from the patient for so long a period as is the 
case in scarlet fever. In uncomplicated cases hot baths may be given as the 
rash begins to disappear ; they are useful to cleanse the skin and render the 
patient more comfortable. It is well for the patient to keep his bed for ten 
days and his room for three weeks ; then, if he is quite well in every respect, 
there can be little danger in his mixing with his fellows. When a case of 
measles occurs in a house, it is necessary for the other children who have 
not had it to stop going to school or mixing with other children, as it is 
probable they will have contracted the disease ; and as measles is infec- 
tious in its early stages — if not during the incubation period — they may 
readily be the means of giving it to others. For the same reason it is unwise 
to send them away from home, though care should be taken that they do not 
come in contact with the patient at home. The bedding should be stoved and 
the room occupied by the patient disinfected at the conclusion of the illness. 

Rotheln or Rubella. — Rubella is an infectious fever closely resembling 
but distinct from measles ; it is for the most part a milder disorder than 
measles and does not protect from it. 

Etiology. — The resemblance between these two diseases is unquestionably 
a close one, and there is little doubt that not infrequently epidemics of 
rubella — or at any rate sporadic cases — are mistaken for measles. It has, 
however, been clearly shown by those who have had the opportunity of 
watching successive epidemics of infectious diseases in schools and asylums,. 
where the same individuals have been attacked, that rubella does not 
protect from either measles or scarlet fever, nor do attacks of the two latter 
afford any immunity from attacks of rubella. The resemblance, and yet the 
difference, between the two diseases is well put by Dr. West when he says 
1 they resemble each other somewhat as varicella and variola — alike, but not 
the same — not twin sisters indeed, but half-sisters at any rate.' That they 
should be confounded in practice is not surprising, especially when we re- 



Rubella 261 

member that measles is sometimes an extremely light disease and the rash 
by no means characteristic. In mild attacks of measles the coryza is usually 
slight or absent, and the rash little else than an ill-defined mottling. 

Rubella occurs in epidemics, sometimes being prevalent and widespread, 
as it was in this country during 1880 ; at other times sporadic cases crop up 
and there appears but little tendency for the disease to spread. As a result, 
rubella has earned a different character as regards contagiousness from 
different writers who have observed it, some maintaining that its contagious- 
ness is almost nil and others that it is extremely contagious. The truth is 
that susceptibility to its influence seems to vary strangely at different times 
and in different places in a way which it is difficult to account for. Thus in 
one locality there may be an epidemic prevalent ; an individual goes to 
another while incubating, he suffers from an ordinary attack and the disease 
does not spread, though he comes in contact with many individuals. Age 
does not seem greatly to influence predisposition, infants, children, and adults 
suffering alike ; indeed, in some epidemics adults suffer more in proportion to 
their numbers. Thus in an epidemic in the Children's Hospital observed by 
Dr. Hutton and ourselves, out of twenty-seven cases, eight were those of lady- 
probationers or ' sisters,' and nineteen of children ; so that the adults suffered 
far more largely in proportion to their numbers, though there can be no 
doubt that the nurses came in contact with those suffering from the disease 
much more than the children. Considering how much rarer a disease rubella 
is than measles, it would appear that a smaller number of individuals who 
are unprotected by a previous attack are susceptible to its influence. 

The relationship of rubella to measles and scarlet fever is an interesting 
question, and while very few believe it to be a hybrid disease, the attack 
resulting from the reception by the patient of both scarlatinal and measles 
poisons, yet, considering the close resemblance which it bears to measles, 
there is nothing inherently improbable in the idea that the resemblance is 
something more than coincidental, that the poisons may have been derived 
from one another or from the same stock at some distant epoch, and have 
become modified by being cultivated under different conditions. It is in- 
teresting to note that some observers assert that the character of an epidemic 
becomes modified in the direction of either measles or scarlet fever if either of 
these is prevailing at the same time. 

Another question is well worthy of investigation, and that is, Are there not 
really two varieties of rubella, one the common one which mimics measles, 
' Rubella morbillosa,' and another form which mimics scarlet fever, ' Rubella 
scarlatinosa,' and which is less prevalent than the other ? 

Incubation.- — There has been some uncertainty about the length of the 
incubation period. The common period is from two to three weeks, as 
observed both by W. Squire and Lewis Smith. In three cases coming 
under our own observation the time appeared to be sixteen, seventeen, and 
eighteen days respectively. 

Premonitory Stage. — -In children, as a rule, no prodromal symptoms are 
observed, the rash being the first thing to be noticed. In adults who are 
able to describe their feelings, complaint is made of weariness, headache, and 
backache for twenty-four hours before the appearance of the rash. There 
may be vomiting, coryza, slight sore throat, or a tingling sensation of the 



262 The Specific Fevers 

skin of the face. Another noteworthy symptom sometimes present is the 
enlargement of the superficial lymphatic glands situated along the posterior 
edge of the sterno-mastoid, or the submaxillary and occipital being tender 
as well as slightly enlarged, and giving rise to a certain amount of stiffness of 
the neck. On the other hand, it is by no means uncommon even in adults 
that the discovery of a rash is the first thing to call attention to the attack. 
The rash usually appears first on the face and consists of indistinct, ill- 
defined papules, which form irregular patches of a rose-red colour, which 
shade away into the colour of the skin ; there may be simply erythematous 
blotches. The patches of confluent papules vary much in size and shape, 
many perhaps consisting of only a few papules grouped together ; sometimes, 
on the contrary, the whole face is of a red colour. The rash is usually also 
abundant on the neck, chest, back, buttocks, and flexor surfaces of the arms 
and thighs ; in these situations it is usually less confluent and patchy than 
on the face, the rash consisting of groups of papules or of single papules. 
Occasionally the confluence of the papules and the erythema which surrounds 
them gives rise to the suspicion of scarlet fever, especially to that form in 
which the rash is patchy on the limbs, but the rash of rubella always consists of 
papules, and is not diffuse or punctated as is the rash of scarlet fever. Rubella 
rashes undoubtedly vary considerably, especially in the confluence of the 
papules ; as a rule, the colour is of a rose-red when it first comes out, being 
of a brighter colour than measles ; the papules do not so constantly arrange 
themselves in crescents, and they are less distinct than the measles papules. 
The rash is usually most intense on the second day, but remaining visible for 
three or four days ; by the end of this time it has mostly faded, often leaving 
more or less staining of the skin and a light branny desquamation. The 
rash frequently gives rise to much itching. 

The course of the attack may be feverless, though usually there is a slight 
rise of temperature, the highest being on the second day, 99 to ioo° ; in rare 
cases it reaches 102 or 103 . The temperature becomes normal as the rash 
disappears. 

Hyperemia of the conjunctiva and fauces exists in many cases, but it is 
rarely as marked a feature of the attack as it is in measles. Sometimes a 
dryness and soreness of the throat in swallowing is complained of, with more 
or less catarrhal tonsillitis. 

While such may be taken as a typical attack, it must be acknowledged 
that the attacks of this exanthem vary greatly in intensity, and the rash may 
be too ill defined to admit of a positive diagnosis. In some rare cases, such 
as those described by Dr. Cheadle, the course of the disease is that of a serious 
illness, with marked implication of the larynx and bronchi, the cough being 
incessant and crouplike. In two of these broncho-pneumonia supervened, 
in several others earache was a prominent symptom. On the other hand, 
cases may occur of the mildest form, so wanting in character both as regards 
rash and coryza, that they may be looked upon as of a doubtful nature and 
perhaps forgotten, and only when they are succeeded by more typical cases 
does their character become clear. 

Complications and Sequela. — There are usually none ; in the more severe 
cases catarrhal disorders such as coryza, tonsillitis, and broncho-pneumonia 
may complicate and succeed the attack. The prognosis is favourable ; it is 



Rubella 



263 



probably never fatal in healthy children ; in epidemics in hospitals, where it 
attacks children already suffering from and much reduced by pulmonary 
affections, it has appeared to be the immediate cause of a fatal result. Even 
in healthy children the health may remain below par for some time afterwards. 
Diagnosis. — Rubella may at times be mistaken for some of the anomalous 
erythematous or roseolous rashes from which children suffer from various 
causes. In single cases diagnosis may be difficult, but the fact that rubella 
prevails in epidemics often assists in making a diagnosis. The diagnosis 
between measles and rubella in an individual case is at times impossible ; 
often it is difficult, inasmuch as it must be admitted that there is no one 
characteristic symptom of rubella, and moreover the rash differs in different 
cases. The differences between typical cases of rubella, measles, and scarlet 
fever are shown in the table below. 



Rubella 



Measles 



Incubation. 
Premonitory fev. 
Prodromal sym- 
ptoms. 



Rash. 



Desquamation. 
Temperature. 



14 to 21 days. 

1 day. 

Often none. Sometimes 
enlarged glands, 
weariness and slight 
coryza. 

Appears on the first or 
second day. Con- 
sists of indistinct 
papules of a rose-red 
colour confluent on 
the face, usually dis- 
crete on the limbs, 
buttocks, and thighs. 
Often fades from the 
face before it is fully 
developed elsewhere. 
Often much itching. 

Desquamation absent 
or only very fine 
branny scales. 

Often normal through- 
out, rarelv above 
ioo° F. 



8 to 12 days. 
3 to 4 days. 
Sneezing, coryza, 
headache, cough. 



Appears on the 
fourth or fifth day. 
Consists of conflu- 
ent papules of a 
dusky red colour 
on the face, and 
groups of papules 
often in a crescen- 
tic form on the 
trunk and limbs. 



Desquamation ab- 
sent or only in fine 
scales. 

Fever always pre- 
sent, sometimes 
high, reaches its 
maximum when 
the rash is fully 
out, then falls. 



Scarlet Fever 



2 to 5 days. 
1 day. 

Vomiting, head- 
ache, sore throat. 



A diffuse punctiform 
red rash comes 
over neck, trunk, 
and limbs — may 
be patchy on the 
extremities. 



Desquamation usu- 
ally free. 

Fever always pre- 
sent, mostly high, 
disappears as the 
rash fades. 



Rubella is much more frequently mistaken for mild measles than for any 
other disease, and this on account of the papular character of the rash and 
slight coryza ; that it is also not infrequently mistaken for scarlet fever, all 
those who have experience of a scarlet-fever ward can testify. That attacks 
of rubella do in some instances resemble those of scarlet fever more than 
measles we feel certain ; there is a diffuse red rash and slight tonsillitis which 
at first sight looks like mild scarlet fever. The distinction principally rests 
in the character of the rash — in rubella it is not punctiform as in scarlet fever, 
but more erythematous in character, and in places, more especially the neck, 
the backs of the hands, and dorsum of the feet, it is papular or at least raised. 
The difficulty in distinguishing between the two may be very great when the 
rash is fading". 



264 The Specific Fevers 

Treatment. — Every case of rubella and every suspicious case should be 
carefully isolated, and confined to one room, if not to bed. The diet should 
consist largely of fluids and slops. A simple saline such as citrate of potash 
may be given, and other symptoms must be treated as they arise. 

Quarantine. — The patient should be isolated for at least three weeks ; 
better if four weeks elapse before he is allowed to rejoin his companions. 

Diphtheria is an infectious disorder which is characterised by the for- 
mation of a fibrinous exudation on mucous surfaces, caused by the develop- 
ment of a peculiar bacillus ; it is usually accompanied by anaemia and 
albuminuria, and frequently followed by paresis of various muscles. At the 
very threshold of the subject it may be as well to attempt to clear the ground 
by asking — Are we to consider all fibrinous exudations which have the 
characters of a ' false membrane ' as evidence of the presence of diphtheria ? 
Is diphtheria always accompanied by a 'false membrane'? Both these 
questions must be answered in the negative. Recent observations clearly 
show that other micro-organisms besides the D-bacillus are capable of pro- 
ducing fibrinous exudations on the fauces, and, moreover, the D-bacillus has 
been demonstrated in the secretions taken from what were apparently non- 
membranous sore throats. Still, we must admit that membranous exudations 
are usually diphtheritic, and that diphtheria is rarely present in the absence 
of ' false membrane.' 

That diphtheria is a highly contagious disorder is made certain by very 
definite evidence ; it is a matter of common experience that the disease 
passes from patient to nurse, from one patient to another in the wards of a 
hospital, and from a sick child to its playmates or parents in private houses. 
It is certain also that the infection can be conveyed from the sick to the 
healthy by means of a third person, the infective particles travelling on the 
clothes or on the hands of the latter. Direct inoculation has taken place 
accidentally by means of small pieces of membrane or the secretions enter- 
ing the mouth, as in sucking a tracheotomy wound ; false membrane has 
formed within twenty-four hours of an operation at the seat of the wound ; 
and experiments have been successful in transferring the disease from man 
to some of the lower animals by inoculation (C. J. Renshaw and Klein). 
There is little doubt also that the disease has been transferred from animals 
to man through direct contact or by means of milk from cows suffering from 
the disease. The D-bacillus may retain its vitality for many months out- 
side the body, and may be carried any distance in clothes, bed-linen, or on 
surgical instruments. It is possible that the D-bacillus may grow and de- 
velop in sewage, in cesspools, and drains, and re-enter the body by the 
inhalation of sewer-gas. It is a popular notion that there is a close con- 
nection between diphtheria and sewer-gas, and sanitary faults in houses are 
frequently credited with being the cause of outbreaks of diphtheria ; and it 
is quite possible that sewer-gas may give rise to a non-specific sore throat 
which may form a suitable soil for the development of the D-bacillus. 

Diphtheria occurs in epidemics, but it is also endemic in some cities and 
rural districts. It is constantly present in such cities as Berlin, Paris, and 
New York, and in some rural districts in this country. In its distribution 
and in the varying character of its epidemics it is one of the most mysterious 
diseases with which we are acquainted, and there is much about it which 



Diphtheria 265 

requires continued investigation. In this country until recently it has been 
more common in the rural than in the urban districts, though it appears at 
the present time to be more common now in our large towns than formerly. 
It is especially prevalent in the south-eastern and eastern rural districts, 
while some others appear to escape almost entirely. It makes its appear- 
ance at times in isolated farmhouses, or villages remote from other habi- 
tations, and this circumstance has suggested the idea that possibly the 
infective particles have been conveyed thither by means of the wind (Airy). 
It has occurred in Central Africa far away from any source of infection. 
But in connection with these singular cases we must remember that the 
D-bacillus retains its vitality for many months under suitable conditions, 
and may be conveyed any distance on clothes or other articles and thus 
infect persons long distances away from the original source of the infection. 

No age is exempt from its attacks, but children between the ages of two 
and eight years are most often attacked, and children of these ages more 
readily succumb than do older children. The disposition to diphtheria 
seems to run in families, members of the same family being attacked in 
quick succession or at variable intervals. 

The parts which are most often attacked are the fauces, nasal mucous 
membrane, larynx and trachea, glans penis and vulva ; or, maybe, some wound 
or eczematous skin. The bacillus enters the mouth in either air or food, 
and if conditions are favourable for its development the growth of the 
bacillus commences, and membrane forms on the tonsils and soft palate. 
What these favourable conditions consist in it is difficult to say. Cer- 
tainly a slight sore throat or laryngeal catarrh often precedes an attack 
of diphtheria, and it is very probable that any injury to the epithelium or a 
catarrhal state may afford a suitable soil for the development of the bacillus. 
We have known instances in which nasal diphtheria has supervened in a 
-case of chronic ozaena, while other children exposed to infection at the 
same time were not attacked. The fatality of different epidemics varies 
strangely ; sometimes whole families are swept away, as in the epidemic de- 
scribed by Trousseau in Sologne, where in one farm, where the residents 
numbered eighteen, only two, the father and a servant girl, survived. The 
infection seems to vary in intensity, at times and under certain conditions 
becoming attenuated, at other times resuming its virulency. 

Morbid Anatomy and Pathology. — The membranous exudation which is 
present in diphtheria is of a whitish-grey colour, and when first formed is 
firmly adherent to the tissues beneath it. It is in some cases rather yellow- 
ish than white ; in malignant cases it is frequently brown from being stained 
by broken-down blood. In a few days more or less the membrane becomes 
loosened from its attachment and can be removed by means of a brush ; if 
forcibly removed it leaves a raw surface, which quickly becomes again 
covered with membrane. Speaking generally, membrane adheres more 
firmly and is less easily detached from the mucous membrane of the tonsils 
and soft palate than from the larynx and trachea. If a thin section of a 
piece of membrane adhering to the soft palate be stained with methyl 
blue, and examined with a moderately high power, it will be seen that the 
membrane consists of a fine network of fibrin with epithelial cells and 
leucocytes in the meshes ; beneath the membrane the papillae and connective 



266 The Specific Fevers 

tissue of the deeper layers of the mucous membrane will be seen to be in- 
filtrated with leucocytes. On the surface of the fibrinous exudation many 
cocci of various kinds are visible, such as are commonly to be seen in the 
mouth or alimentary canal. Loeffler's D-bacilli are to be seen usually in 
little balls or masses embedded in the superficial layers of the false mem- 
brane ; in some cases they may be seen in the deeper part of the membrane 
or beneath it. Unlike the anthrax bacillus, the D-bacillus remains local,, 
and does not penetrate into the tissues or enter the blood. The D-bacillus 
is a non-motile little rod about the length of the tubercle bacillus, but 
thicker, so that when several are joined together they look at first sight not 
unlike streptococci. When fully developed the ends of the bacilli are 
darker and thicker than their central portions, sometimes only one end is 
enlarged. Two are often joined together, but not infrequently more. They 
vary considerably in shape and size, according to their age and the conditions 
under which they have grown. The chemistry of the membranes and the 
poisons formed in the exudations and in the blood have been studied by 
Roux and Yersin, and more recently by Sidney Martin {Lancet, March 26, 
1892). The latter observer has established the fact that during the growth 
of the bacilli a ferment is formed which is capable of digesting proteids, 
certain albumoses being formed which act as virulent poisons on the system. 
These albumoses are formed locally and are then absorbed into the blood - 
but it appears the ferment is also present in the blood, and by its action on 
the proteids of the blood and tissues albumoses may be formed in the spleen 
and other organs. Similar poisons are formed when the bacilli are cul- 
tivated in blood serum or in gelatine. Roux and Yersin have shown that if 
the nutrient fluids in which the bacilli have grown are, after the bacilli have 
been separated by filtration, injected subcutaneously into guinea-pigs, death 
takes place with symptoms of toxaemia in twenty-four hours. If small doses 
were employed and injected into rabbits, and a fatal result did not take 
place, a paralysis was often left. The poison appears to give rise to de- 
generation of the tissues ; there are changes in the liver cells, the muscular 
fibres of the heart and other organs, and the smaller motor and sensory 
nerves. In the peripheral nerves the white substance of Schwann undergoes 
degeneration, and in places disappears ; the axis cylinder is also affected, 
but in less degree. It is this peripheral degeneration of the nerves which is- 
the cause of the paralysis so often noted after an attack of diphtheria. The 
blood is profoundly altered and its coagulability interfered with ; hence 
the haemorrhages and purpuric condition seen in malignant cases of 
diphtheria. The cause of the albuminuria is uncertain ; it may be caused 
by the altered state of the blood, or be due to the fatty degeneration which the 
renal epithelium undergoes ; the amount of albumen present is in most cases 
a correct index of the severity of the attack. 

From the above facts it would appear that the D-bacillus is the 
primary infective agent, and that during its growth it gives rise to the 
fibrinous exudation ; at the same time a ferment is formed resembling pep- 
sine which is capable of digesting proteids. This proteid digestion goes on 
both in the membranous exudation and also in the blood, albumoses being 
formed, which play the part of virulent poisons, giving rise to rapid tissue 
degeneration and serious changes in the blood. The relation between the 



Diphtheria 267 

diphtheria of man and that of the domestic animals is interesting and im- 
portant. Some of our domestic animals appear to suffer not infrequently 
from diphtheria, and may be the means of giving rise to epidemics of human 
diphtheria. The observations of Klein ' have shown that diphtheria may be 
communicated to cows by subcutaneous injections of cultivations of bacilli 
from the membrane taken from cases of human diphtheria. A soft tender 
swelling forms at the seat of the injection, and in some cases at least a 
number of pimples appear on the udders, which pass through the stages of 
pustules and ulcers. The cows suffer more or less from fever, and an exten- 
sive loss of hair takes place. During the eruptive stage the milk of some 
of the cows was found to contain numerous diphtheria bacilli. In at least 
two epidemics of diphtheria in which the milk coming from a certain dairy 
was suspected of being the cause, it was found on examination of the cows 
that they were suffering from an eruptive disorder on their udders similar to 
that produced in those cows which had been inoculated. Diphtheria has 
been produced by Klein in cats by feeding them with cultures of the D-bacillus 
in milk, and epidemics of diphtheria have been observed in cats. Guinea- 
pigs are the most susceptible of all the domestic animals. Fowls suffer from 
membranous croup which closely resembles, if it is not identical with, human 
diphtheria. 

Pharyngeal Diphtheria. — The tonsils, uvula, and pillars of the fauces 
are the favourite sites for the false membrane in diphtheria, and in by far 
the greater number of cases occurring in practice these parts are affected in 
the first instance. The attack, unlike scarlet fever, usually begins insidiously. 
The friends notice that the child is ailing, it does not care for its toys, it is 
peevish and fretful, and towards evening is feverish. Perhaps there is some 
glandular enlargement at the angles of the jaw, or a discharge from the 
nose, or the child is heavy and drowsy. In older children there is usually 
some complaint of sore throat or difficulty in swallowing ; the child feels cold 
and shivery, and sits over the fire trying to keep itself warm. An examination 
of the fauces, if made within a few hours of the first symptoms, may show 
nothing very distinctive ; there may be some swelling and excessive redness, 
with some whitish or yellowish exudation in points or patches, but it may be 
quite impossible to decide whether the case is one of diphtheria, scarlet 
fever, or other form of tonsillitis. Usually, however, within twenty-four hours 
of the commencement of the illness, patches of membranous exudation may 
be seen on the inner surfaces of the tonsils or soft palate ; these are whitish 
or grey and opaque, adhering firmly to the surface so that they cannot be 
removed by brushing. If removed by forceps, a raw bleeding surface is left ; 
a piece of membrane when removed is seen to be tough and firm, differing 
from the soft cheesy material which is present in scarlet fever or tonsillitis. 
The temperature is rarely high, being mostly ioi°to 103 F. ; the evening tem- 
perature being, as a rule, a degree or two higher than the morning temperature. 
In a day or two, if not from the first, membranous exudation may be seen 
on the uvula or the pillars of the fauces, though the tonsils may be from 
first to last the only part affected. The nasal mucous membrane is apt to 
join in the inflammatory process ; a semi-purulent, often bloody discharge 
makes its appearance at the nostrils ; the child makes a snoring noise when 
1 Twentieth annual report of the Local Government Board. 



268 The Specific Fevers 

asleep, on account of the obstruction caused by the swelling of the mucous 
membrane and the excessive secretion. An examination of the urine during 
the first day or two may be negative as far as albumen is concerned, but if 
a daily examination be made, in the great majority of cases albumen vary- 
ing in amount from a trace to one half will be found. During the next few 
days fresh patches of membrane make their appearance on the fauces, the 
older ones becoming loosened, then detached, by the process of sloughing 
which goes on. In the meantime the glandular enlargement and tender- 
ness become more marked, and the neck is stiff and all movements are 
painful. The patient becomes weak, anaemic, and easily exhausted ; there is 
often marked fcetor of the breath. In favourable cases, after the first few 
days or a week no new membrane forms, while the old patches disappear, the 
swelling of the glands and tonsils becomes less, and the temperature gradually 
falls. The albumen also gradually diminishes in quantity and finally dis- 
appears. The child remains weak for a long time, convalescence being only 
slowly established. On the other hand, in unfavourable cases, instead of an 
improvement taking place at the end of the first week, the symptoms both 
local and general become more pronounced ; the amount of urine increases, 
the pulse is' weaker and perhaps intermittent, the anaemia is profound, the 
breath very offensive, and oozing of blood takes place from the mouth and 
nose. The patient gradually becomes exhausted and refuses his food. 
During the last hours of life there may be total suppression of urine, drowsi- 
ness, and extreme depression of the heart's action. 

Mild cases may occur in which both the local and general symptoms are 
slight. There may be membranous or yellow-coloured patches on the tonsils, 
the nasal mucous membrane remaining free and the glandular enlargement 
absent, and perhaps only a trace of albumen in the urine. Such patients 
may be seen running about with but little appearance of illness ; the local 
lesions may disappear in a few days. It is important to remember that in 
such cases paralysis may follow, or a fatal result may Come about through 
cardiac failure. 

Malignant Diphtheria. — Of severe and malignant cases of diphtheria 
there are several types. The attack may begin insidiously with a day or two 
of slight illness, and then alarming symptoms of cardiac failure may set in 
without there having been any excessive local lesion. In other cases the attack 
is stormy from the very first, perhaps accompanied by vomiting, and closely 
resembling scarlet fever in its mode of attack. Within a few hours of the 
onset there is extensive swelling at the angles of the jaws, with a feeling 
of stony hardness, a foetid, sanguineous discharge issues from the nostrils, 
and it is difficult to get a view of the throat in consequence of the swelling 
and difficulty in opening the mouth. The tonsils are swollen and meeting, 
the uvula and soft palate cedematous and covered with more or less sloughy- 
looking membrane. The temperature is usually high, being 103 to 104 F., 
and the pulse and heart's action exceedingly feeble. In the course of a day 
or two, sometimes less, the cellulitis extends, the cheeks and face become 
cedematous, and the skin pits as low as the clavicle, or even over the sternum 
and chest-walls ; the patient becomes drowsy and cyanotic, and there may 
be an erythematous rash, especially about the neck and chest. Purpuric 
rashes are common in malignant cases. Death usually occurs in a few days. 



Diphtheria 269 

Such cases resemble malignant scarlet fever, and it may be difficult or im- 
possible to distinguish between them in the absence of a characteristic rash. 

Nasal Diphtheria. — In pharyngeal diphtheria the inflammatory pro- 
cess is apt to spread to the nasal mucous membrane, especially in severe 
cases. In some cases, however, the nasal mucous membrane is the first 
seat of the exudation, and it may never spread to the tonsils, though it is 
usually to be found to involve the back of the soft palate and the pharynx 
more or less. In nasal diphtheria no membrane may be distinguished 
during life ; there may be only a purulent discharge with blood, the presence 
of which in the nasal passages obstructs respiration, giving rise to a bubbling 
or sniffling sound, especially during sleep. In nasal diphtheria the general 
symptoms are usually quite as severe as in faucial diphtheria, and a guarded 
prognosis must always be given. In cases in which the soft palate, 
tonsils, and nasal mucous membrane are involved, the general symptoms, 
including the depression and also the albuminuria, are well marked. In 
connection with this form of diphtheria we must bear in mind there is a 
form of membranous exudation occurring on the nasal mucous membrane 
in measles and as a primary disease which is not diphtheria, but which runs 
a much more favourable course, and in some cases at least the membrane 
formed is thinner and less adherent than it is in diphtheria. The term 
' Rhinitis fibrinosa ' has been applied to these cases. In all cases in which a 
child is feverish with a discharge from the nostrils we should be exceedingly 
suspicious of diphtheria, especially if an epidemic prevails at the time. The 
inflammation may spread from the nose to the conjunctiva, and membrane 
may form on the palpebral conjunctiva and much purulent discharge may 
exude, while the eyelids may be much swollen. Membranous conjunctivitis 
is not usually diphtheritic, but due to some local irritative process ; the local 
disturbance may be severe, while the constitutional symptoms are slight. 

laryngeal Diphtheria. — The larynx may be the seat of the local mani- 
festations of diphtheria in the first instance, or may become involved 
secondarily to the fauces or other part. The child may in the first place 
suffer from sore throat and feverishness for several days, and then a metallic 
cough and some dyspnoea will suggest the onset of laryngeal complications. 
Less often some other part is the first to be involved ; thus we have known a 
patch of membrane to make its appearance at the seat of an eczema, and 
then a few days afterwards a diphtheritic laryngitis supervene. We have 
already described (p. 178) the symptoms present in laryngeal diphtheria. 
We must constantly bear in mind that the obstruction to the air-passages 
caused by the presence of membrane in the larynx or trachea may modify 
or overwhelm the symptoms of the disease, but we must not overlook the 
tendency to heart failure or the depression, as well as the possibility of 
uraemia or paralysis supervening. 

Wound Diphtheria. — Diphtheritic membrane may be present on the 
lip, tongue, vulva, and glans penis. The diphtheria bacillus is, however, 
apparently unable to flourish on normal skin ; but when the cuticle is 
abraded, as after blistering or in eczematous conditions when a moist raw 
surface is present, the bacillus readily flourishes. Granulations also afford a 
congenial soil. The bacillus may be inoculated during an operation — as, for 
instance, in excision of the tonsils ; we have seen a case in which membrane 



270 The Specific Fevers 

formed within twenty-four hours of an operation for hypospadias at the seat 
of operation, a fatal result occurring in a few days. We have several times 
seen membrane form on granulations at the external wound in empyemata. 
In one of these cases a fatal result followed. In tracheotomy for diphtheria 
the wound and skin around the wound are apt to become the seat of a 
fibrinous membrane inflammation, the inoculation taking place by the sputa 
coughed through the tube. In newly born infants the granulating surface 
left after the sloughing of the cord may become the seat of a diphtheritic 
inflammation. 

Co7nplicatiojis and Sequelce. — These, though less numerous than those 
occurring after scarlet fever, are hardly less important. There is the ex- 
tension of the inflammatory process from the fauces to the neighbouring 
parts already referred to — viz. to the larynx, nose, middle ear, and lymphatic 
glands ; the latter may suppurate. The most noteworthy are the following : 
1st, albuminuria and uraemia ; 2nd, pneumonia ; 3rd, disturbed innervation 
of the heart ; 4th, paralysis. 

1. Albuminuria can hardly be said to be a complication of diphtheria, 
inasmuch as it is almost constantly present at some time or other of the course 
in faucial, nasal, and laryngeal diphtheria. It is, however, frequently absent 
in mild cases of wound diphtheria. In some epidemics, according to some 
observers, albuminuria is much commoner than in others. Our experience 
certainly has been that albumen is rarely absent from the urine in cases of 
true diphtheria. The albumen usually makes its appearance from the third 
to the eighth day. The urine is mostly normal in colour and in amount, but 
a few blood corpuscles and epithelial casts may be found on microscopical 
examination in many cases. In some malignant cases hematuria may be 
present. The amount of albumen present forms a rough indication of the 
severity of the case ; at least after the disease has existed for a few days. 
The albuminuria is due to the changes effected in the blood or in the renal 
epithelium of the kidney by the albumoses or toxalbumens present in the 
blood, and the amount of albumen in the urine represents to some extent 
the amount of poisoning going on. Suppression of urine and uraemia 
occur at times, though the symptoms present are not so distinctive as in 
scarlet fever, as death mostly takes place before the symptoms become well 
marked. Vomiting, perhaps persistent, should always suggest uraemia ; the 
urine may become scanty and loaded with albumen, and perhaps cease to be 
secreted twenty-four or forty-eight hours before death. (Edema, muscular 
twitchings, or uraemic convulsions are rare. In cases which recover traces 
of albumen may remain for months, but chronic kidney disease as a result of 
diphtheria is rare. 

2. In severe cases of diphtheria, pneumonia in the catarrhal form is 
common, and is the result of an extension of the inflammation from the 
fauces or larynx to the lungs. It is found in nearly all cases of fatal laryn- 
geal diphtheria. It is often haemorrhagic. 

3. In all severe cases at the height of the attack the pulse is feeble and 
for the most part rapid. It sometimes happens at this time that the heart's 
action becomes irregular, intermittent, or abnormally slow. This condition 
is, however, more common during convalescence, or at least when the mem- 
brane is disappearing and the patient apparently improving. There is often 



Diphtheria 271 

dyspnoea on the slightest exertion, an intermittent cantering action of the 
heart, and frequently vomiting. Sudden cardiac syncope is apt to take 
place. This may occur from any unwonted mental disturbance, or from 
some slight exertion, such as getting out of bed or sitting up to use the 
chamber vessel. With an irregular action of the heart there is often dyspnoea ; 
frequent vomiting and slow pulse during convalescence from diphtheria are 
symptoms of great gravity. 

4. A peculiar form of paralysis is apt to follow not only diphtheria, but 
also other febrile disorders, as typhoid fever, measles, and erysipelas ; it is, 
however, very much more common after diphtheria. The paralysis comes 
on in the majority of cases during convalescence, mostly between the third 
and fifth weeks; it appears to follow mild cases as often as it does severe ones. 
Its usual course is to attack the soft palate, the first symptoms being a return 
of fluids through the nose, perhaps only a few drops, and a nasal twang in 
speaking ; an examination of the soft palate shows that its movements are 
less free than usual. In many cases a slight paresis of the soft palate, which 
may pass off in the course of a week or two, is the only evidence of post- 
diphtheritic paralysis. In other cases the paresis is much more decided ; when 
the patient attempts to swallow any fluid, much of it returns through the 
anterior nares, and some may perhaps enter the glottis, giving rise to a fit of 
choking. Other parts may become affected— the pharyngeal muscles and 
oesophagus, so that deglutition is performed with difficulty and the patient 
has to be fed through a soft catheter. The pupils may become dilated and 
irregular from paresis of the circular fibres of the iris, there is impairment 
of vision, and squint from the ciliaris muscle being affected. The paresis 
may extend to any or all of the voluntary muscles, so that the patient is 
unable to stand or sit up in bed or even raise his head. Further, the respira- 
tory muscles, the intercostals, and diaphragm may be affected, in most instances 
speedily producing a fatal result. It must be borne in mind that in post- 
diphtheritic paralysis there is rarely complete paralysis, but rather a partial 
loss of power, combined with numbness and sensations as of prickings with 
' pins and needles.' Both rectum and bladder may also become paralysed. 
It is important to bear in mind that paresis may follow very mild cases, so 
that the patient may be seen for the first time when suffering from the 
paresis and make no mention of sore throat. Such cases, especially if there 
be no paresis of the soft palate, may be very puzzling, and, if there be weakness 
of the legs and staggering gait, may be mistaken for tumour of the cerebellum 
or ataxy. The knee reflex may be absent in such patients, and be many 
months before it makes its reappearance. 

Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of diphtheria in a typical case does not 
present much difficulty, especially if an epidemic is prevailing. The false 
membrane on the fauces, and the presence of albumen in the urine, render 
the diagnosis of diphtheria practically certain. But there may be a fibrinous 
exudation on the fauces with more or less fever ; no urine can perhaps be 
obtained, or, if obtained, it may contain no albumen, and we may be in 
doubt about the diagnosis. There may be a membranous exudation on the 
tongue, lip, nasal mucous membrane, or conjunctiva, with no marked con- 
stitutional symptoms, and we may be in doubt as to the nature of the case. 
In such cases clinical distinctions may entirely fail us, it being uncertain if 



272 The Specific Fevers 

the case in question is one of mild diphtheria or not. We may be entirely- 
dependent for a diagnosis on the detection of the D-bacillus in the membrane 
or secretions. If we can by microscopical examination or by cultivation in 
blood serum demonstrate the presence of Loeffler's D-bacillus in the mem- 
brane, the diagnosis is certain ; if, on the other hand, only streptococci or 
staphylococci are present, the case is not one of diphtheria (see Appendix). 
In cases of ' croup ' or ozsena an examination of the secretions, which may 
be non-membranous, may often decide the diagnosis in favour of diphtheria. 
The disease of the throat most likely to be confounded with diphtheria is 
croupous or membranous angina ; usually, however, in this disease there 
is no tendency to spread to the nasal mucous membrane or the larynx, 
and there is less often glandular enlargement. The onset is more sudden ; 
the urine is free from albumen. It is unnecessary, perhaps, to add a word 
of caution in not excluding diphtheria without very good reason. No 
albumen may be present in the urine at the time of examination, but be 
present later ; there may be a complete absence of constitutional symptoms, 
and yet diphtheria be present. A mild case of diphtheria in a household 
may be followed by a malignant one. Diphtheria is distinguished from 
scarlet fever by the absence of the rash, though an erythematous blush is 
present in a few cases. In malignant scarlet fever the rash may be absent, 
and the glandular swelling and sloughy condition of the throat closely 
resemble diphtheria ; there may also be a fibrinous exudation as well as 
albuminuria. Diagnosis is often impossible. The punctiform rash, however, 
is rarely absent in scarlet fever. 

Prognosis. — Diphtheria is one of the most fatal diseases with which we 
have to deal ; but the mortality differs widely in different epidemics. The 
most fatal is undoubtedly the laryngeal ; of these probably not more than 
one case in ten recovers without operation — by coughing up the membrane. 
In faucial diphtheria the mortality may be as high as 75 per cent. ; the 
younger the child the worse the prognosis. The strong and hitherto healthy 
share the same fate as the weakly. Of especially bad augury are large 
quantities of albumen in the urine, much glandular enlargement, excessive 
nasal discharge, a foetid state of the fauces, vomiting, and suppression of 
urine A sudden fall of the temperature to subnormal, and an intermittent 
pulse, are also extremely bad symptoms. Recovery from a severe attack in 
which there is great depression and much albumen in the urine is excep- 
tional, especially in a child under six years of age. Recovery does, how- 
ever, take place at times in apparently hopeless cases. Suppression of 
urine in diphtheria is nearly always fatal ; though in one case seen by us, 
in which the boy had suppression of urine and nasal haemorrhage, recovery 
finally took place. A fall of temperature in scarlet fever in the absence of 
nephritis is a good sign ; it is by no means in diphtheria, especially if vomiting 
be present and an increasing quantity of albumen. 

Treatment. — The indications for treatment are the following : — 1st. To 
isolate the patient in the most airy room obtainable. 2nd. To apply anti- 
septics to the fauces or affected parts in order to destroy the bacilli and 
other micro-organisms, and to prevent decomposition and fcetor. 3rd. To 
antagonise the poisons absorbed into the system or formed in the blood. 
4th. To support the strength of the patient, and to treat symptoms as they 



Diphtheria 273 

1 st. The patient may be isolated by sending him away to a hospital for 
infectious diseases, and this is often the best and simplest plan, but it is not 
always possible. If the patient is to remain at home, the largest room 
available on the top landing should be selected, or, still better, two rooms 
adjoining one another, so that the patient can be moved from one to the 
other, thus allowing the unused one to be ventilated. The supply of a large 
quantity of fresh air to the patient is of the first importance. All other 
children in the house should be sent away, beari?ig in mi?id, however, that 
they may be incubating the disease, so that they should not be sent where there 
are other children, or to a dista?ice where they cannot be brought back agai?t 
in case they fall sick. Arrangements should be made for disinfecting all the 
excretions and bed-linen of the patient. 

2nd. There can be no difference of opinion as to the importance of 
applying antiseptics to the fauces in order to wash away the mucus, decom- 
posing blood, and remains of food, and to destroy as far as possible the 
micro-organisms. It is needless to say that this antiseptic treatment to be 
of any service should be begun early in the disease ; we can have but 
little hope of influencing the course of the disease by local treatment in the 
later stages, but something can be accomplished even then by cleansing the 
mouth of foetid and decomposing matters. To properly carry out the local 
treatment trained nurses are necessary, as the patient's friends rarely have 
the necessary skill or the firmness to effectually carry out the details 
properly ; unfortunately, it often happens that even skilled nurses may fail 
to accomplish all that we could wish, on account of the fractiousness of the 
patient. The mucus accumulating in the pharynx and nostrils should be 
removed by means of a mop of cotton wool attached to a stick, and the 
antiseptic may then, be applied by means of a steam spray, such as Siegel's, 
or by a hand spray. Failing this, a ball syringe may be used, large enough 
to hold 5 or 6 oz., the child's head being held forward so that the fluid may 
run out of its mouth. It may be impossible without a struggle to apply 
either of these ; in such cases we must be satisfied by the insufflation of 
antiseptic powders, as sulphur or iodoform and boric acid. Ice is useful 
to suck, and the food may be given iced. 

With regard to the success of local treatment in pharyngeal diphtheria, 
we must remember that many bacilli are present in the mucus secreted, and 
also in the epithelium, whilst others are embedded in the fibrinous exuda- 
tion. We cannot reasonably hope for the destruction of all the bacilli 
present, especially those in the membrane, by spraying or washing out the 
throat by antiseptic solutions. To more effectually apply antiseptics, Dr. 
A. Siebert, of New York, has devised a form of syringe provided with a 
number of hollow needles, by means of which some antiseptic fluid can 
be applied into and underneath the membrane. Among the effectual 
antiseptics or germicides are solutions of corrosive sublimate (1 to 1,000), 
carbolic acid (1 to 100), salicylic acid (1 to 1,000), chlorine water, and Condy's 
fluid. Solution of peroxide of hydrogen is also useful, and certainly corrects 
the fcetor effectually. Probably corrosive sublimate is the most effectual of 
all, but it has the disadvantage of being poisonous, and it has an unpleasant 
metallic taste. We have known it when used for mopping ( 1 to 500) produce 
mercurial stomatitis ; there can, however, be little fear of this if used well 

T 



274 The Specific Fevers 

diluted and with caution. For painting the fauces we use glycerin acid, 
carbolici one part, with two parts of tr. iodi. 

Dry applications are preferable to lotions in wound diphtheria, as the 
latter are apt to fret the skin and leave a suitable soil for the bacillus to 
flourish on. Salicylic acid and starch (i in 20), calomel and starch, or 
iodoform and boric acid answer very well. It is a good plan to vaporise 
carbolic acid in the sick-room from time to time. 

3rd. Unfortunately we know of no antidotes which are capable of counter- 
acting the effects of the albumoses in the blood. It is quite possible that 
such antidotes may be discovered, or perhaps the experiments now in 
progress of rendering the issues proof against the poisonous effects of 
albumose may be successful, and capable of application to human beings. 
We have no great belief in the efficacy of either mercuric bichloride or 
potassse chlor. taken internally in diphtheria ; the latter is undoubtedly 
dangerous, as Dr. A. Jacobi long ago pointed out. We prefer to use the 
old-fashioned tr. ferri perchlor. in three to five minim doses every four hours. 
It may be given in lemonade, soda water, or in any way in which the patient 
will take it. Digitalis, caffeine, coca wine, alcohol, should be given from 
the first if there is much depression of the system, and in the worse cases 
alcohol in the form of brandy or port wine must be given with a free hand. 

4th. The diet supplied to the patient must consist of the most concen- 
trated form of nourishment possible, as in most cases there is great difficulty 
in getting him to take food on account of the discomfort and pain in swallow- 
ing ; beef juice, peptonised meat preparations, milk, and nutrient supposr- 
tories may be needed. If there is swelling or cellulitis, the neck should 
be painted with glycerine and belladonna and covered with cotton wool. If 
the glands suppurate, incision and proper drainage must be resorted to. 
The greatest care must be exercised during convalescence to supply the 
patient with suitable food and fresh air, and to prevent any exertion on his 
part. Paresis of the soft palate, general paralysis, and failure of the heart 
may come on at any time within a month or five weeks of the commence- 
ment even in mild cases, and the practitioner should constantly be on his 
guard, and warn the friends against allowing any excitement or unwonted 
exertion. During convalescence quinine, strychnine, and iron should be 
given. The continuous current and massage is of use in the paralysis which 
follows. Change to the seaside after five or six weeks reckoned from the 
commencement of the attack will prove of great benefit. 

Quarantine. — This should be maintained for three weeks in mild cases, 
and a month or more in the more severe attacks. 

Disinfection. — A temperature of 6o° C. in a moist atmosphere is sufficient 
to destroy the D-bacillus. For disinfection the simplest way is to boil the 
linen removed from the patient, and treat his clothes, as far as possible, in 
the same way. The furniture of the rooms in which he has been should 
be scrubbed with hot water and carbolic soap, and the floors and walls 
should be treated in like manner. Wearing apparel which cannot be boiled 
had best be destroyed. 

Pseudo- diphtheria. — Practitioners have long been familiar with a form 
of sore throat which mostly occurs in epidemics, which in many ways re- 
sembles diphtheria but for the most part runs a milder course, and is not 



Epidemic Influenza 275 

followed by the serious sequelae which so often follow diphtheria. Such 
cases have gone by the name of diphtheritic sore throat or 'croupous angina.' 
Recent observations have shown that the D-bacillus is not the only micro- 
organism which is capable of giving rise to fibrinous exudations, but, at the 
same time, no other micro-organism is apparently able to produce the 
•depression, albuminuria, and paralysis which so often accompany true 
diphtheria. Given a suitable soil, several kinds of cocci, especially the 
streptococcus and staphylococcus pyogenes, are able to produce an inflam- 
matory sore throat with more or less fibrinous exudation ; there is also, 
according to Klein, a 'pseudo-diphtheria bacillus closely resembling the 
true bacillus in its histological characters, but incapable of generating 
during its growth the toxic albumens produced by the true bacillus. 
Cases of pseudo-diphtheria may be mild with only slight fever, but, on the 
other hand, they may commence with vomiting, high fever, rigors, and the 
tonsils may be swollen and covered with a membranous exudation. The 
mortality is not high, being very much less than in diphtheria, but fatal 
cases do occur, sometimes from pneumonia. The clinical course of such 
cases may be very much like what has already been described under 
acute tonsillitis. Fibrinous exudation may occur in other places, as on 
the nasal mucous membrane, tongue, lip, vulva, conjunctiva, in connection 
with measles or other diseases, caused by septic cocci as well as by the 
D-bacillus. 

The one important point in connection with these cases is necessarily the 
diagnosis. If we can certainly exclude diphtheria, the relief to all concerned 
will be great. Clinically this may be impossible, and a diagnosis may only 
be made by demonstrating the absence or presence of the D-bacillus in the 
exudation or secretions. But difficulties may occur here as long as the 
question as to the existence of a pseudo-diphtheria bacillus, and its dia- 
gnostic characters, is unsettled. In spite of the greatest care, even the most 
experienced physicians may in some cases remain in doubt as to the presence 
or absence of the diphtheria bacillus in a given case of an uncertain cha- 
racter. The local treatment of pseudo-diphtheria is much the same as that 
for diphtheria, antiseptics being employed to destroy the cocci and to keep 
the fauces and mouth sweet. Carbolic acid, salicylic acid, peroxide of 
hydrogen, and chlorine water, are among the most suitable. On the skin, 
starch and salicylic acid powder answers very well. All such cases should 
"be isolated ; indeed, every case of tonsillitis occurring in children should be 
regarded with suspicion and kept away from its fellows during both the 
febrile and convalescent stages. 

Epidemic Influenza. ' la Grippe.' — During the last two or three 
years the British Isles, in common with the continents of Europe and 
America, have been visited by epidemics of a peculiar zymotic disease, 
which has received various names, but is best known in this country as 
1 epidemic influenza.' These epidemics have been widespread, affecting a 
number of people at the same time, have come to an end in a few months, 
and then reappeared in the following year. It is very infectious, its incu- 
bation is short, and, unlike most zymotic diseases, one attack does not 
protect from attacks in subsequent epidemics. It is very prone to relapse. 
In some epidemics in past times children appear to have escaped to a large 



276 The Specific Fevers 

extent, having been apparently less susceptible than adults. This does not 
seem to have been so in the recent epidemics, for individuals of all ages 
have been promiscuously attacked, children having been attacked in common 
with adults, though the mortality among the former has not been so high as 
among the latter, especially in the pneumonic form. In some epidemics 
children have apparently escaped till late in the epidemic. The incubation 
is usually a short one, often not more than a few hours, though it may be 
longer. Certainly cases occur in which a very few hours after the arrival in 
a household of an infected individual some members of the household are 
quickly attacked. The disease appears mostly to spread by direct contagion, 
and the difficulty of controlling an epidemic arises from the fact that a 
number of mild cases occur which do not confine the patient to his bed or 
to the house, so that while going about his business as usual he readily dis- 
seminates the disease. There is a strong probability that there is an in- 
fluenza bacillus, 1 which, being cultivated in the body, is the cause of the 
symptoms presented by the disease. 

The difficulty in describing the symptoms consists in the absence of any 
very characteristic ones, and in the multiplicity of symptoms which may be 
present. Moreover, the type of attack appears to alter from time to time 
and in different localities. The diagnosis has, in point of fact, often to be 
made by a process of exclusion, aided greatly by the knowledge that an 
epidemic of the disease is prevailing at the time, and perhaps other members 
of the household have recently suffered. As a result of the difficulty of 
diagnosis, there cannot be a doubt that many cases in which the diagnosis 
was doubtful have been described as influenza, inasmuch as the disease was 
prevailing at the time ; and thus it has come to pass that much confusion has 
arisen, and much that has nothing to do with influenza has been included in 
the descriptions of this Protean disease. We are far from denying that 
influenza may not be the cause of diverse forms of inflammatory lesions ; 
we know the so-called pneumonia diplococcus is able to excite not only a 
pneumonia, but also an otitis and meningitis, and it is by no means impossible 
that the influenza micro-organism may at one time excite a pneumonia and 
another time an enteritis or meningitis. The cases in which the greatest 
difficulty in diagnosis occur are in infants and young children. It is so 
tempting to attribute an indefinite febrile attack in an infant to teething or 
dyspepsia, and so difficult to be certain that the attack is due to influenza,, 
unless another case crops up in the same household to give us the clue. In 
infants we have not the advantage of the patient's account of himself as we 
have in adults, so that the diagnosis is often only come to with difficulty. One 
of the commonest forms of the disease in infants and young children is the 
simple febrile type. Practically the only prominent symptom is fever. The 
infant is noticed to be hot, there is a temperature of 102 or 103 F., the 
pulse and respirations are accelerated, it is heavy and drowsy, and then, after 
a few hours or a day or two, the temperature falls, and the infant is prac- 
tically well again. In many cases the course is protracted, the temperature 
going up every evening for a week or more before it finally settles down to 
normal again. In more severe cases the fever suddenly runs up to 104 or 
105 (it may be with a convulsion or vomiting), then for days or weeks there- 
1 Pfeiffer, Kitasato, Canon, Brit. Med. Journ., p. 128, Jan. 16, 1892. 



Epidemic Influenza 2JJ 

may be fever of a remittent or intermittent type, without there being any 
pneumonia or tubercle or enteric fever to account for the temperature. 
Finally, a good recover} 7 is made. These cases are often very puzzling, 
especially the protracted ones, and we may call in question our original 
diagnosis of influenza, and begin to fear there may be an acute tuberculosis 
in progress ; in all such cases it is, of course, necessary to repeatedly examine 
the lungs, and to bear in mind the possibility of an erratic enteric fever being 
present ; there cannot be a doubt, however, that in young children a fever 
of the intermittent type, lasting two or three weeks or more, may be due to 
the influenza bacillus. Convulsions and vomiting are among the frequent 
symptoms in infants and young children, possibly suggesting an acute 
meningitis ; the vomiting is often exceedingly troublesome at times, but 
the worst cases of this type occur in older children. In others there may 
be bronchitis and pneumonia of a depressing and fatal character. We 
have not seen many fatal cases in infants apart from pneumonia, but in 
one case that we know of death occurred in two days as the result of 
an attack which was accompanied by high fever and depression. The 
infant was ten months old, and its mother was suffering from influenza at the 
time. 

In older children the attacks approach more nearly the types of attacks 
witnessed in adults. But as a general rule the neuralgic pains are less 
marked, as also are the rigors and backache. The attack is sudden, the 
temperature running up to 103 or more, there is severe headache, vomiting, 
chilliness, and often sore throat. The conjunctivae are injected and the 
child has a heavy look. Earache is often a marked symptom. After twenty- 
four or forty-eight hours of more or less high fever, the temperature falls to 
normal or it runs a lower course. Some cough remains for a few days, and 
often marked depression ; but this, in our experience, is not so severe as in 
adults. An examination of the fauces will often show them to be injected, 
and the tonsils enlarged and covered with yellow points ; there may be some 
glandular enlargement secondary to the tonsillitis. There may be an attack 
of the simple febrile type, already described as affecting younger children. 
One of the most serious forms which the disease can take is when vomiting 
is a prominent symptom. In some of these cases the fever is high, perhaps 
104 or 105 F., there may be delirium or an excited state of the nervous 
system, the conjunctivae are injected, and the child restless and sleepless. 
Such a case will often suggest an acute meningitis. The vomiting is often 
continuous, and gradually exhaustion comes on. In one fatal case of this 
character which we saw the temperature was not high, not exceeding 102 F., 
and this for a time made the diagnosis of influenza doubtful. In the worst 
cases the vomiting continues unrelieved, and the child dies of exhaustion or 
in a convulsion. At the post-mortem no gross lesion is found, but there is 
usually venous congestion and marked injection of the venous capillaries. 
Another serious complication is pneumonia ; this may be either of the 
croupous or broncho-pneumonic type. The course is often protracted, and 
the mortality is higher than in the ordinary forms of pneumonia. Empyema 
is not an uncommon result. Less commonly there is a catarrh of the small 
or large bowel, giving rise to troublesome diarrhoea and colic. We have 
seen several cases of acute ileo-colitis which occurred during an epidemic of 



278 The Specific Fevers 

influenza, but we could not for certain say they were due to this cause. 
Meningitis has been described as occurring in attacks (G. W. Earle). 
Severe otitis is not uncommon. Relapses are common, and the possibility 
of their occurrence will always have to be borne in mind. We have known 
death to take place in a relapse. As a rule, the depression which so com- 
monly follows an attack of influenza in an adult is much less marked in the 
case of children. 

Treatment. — The patient should be isolated, and confined to bed in a. 
well-warmed room. As long as the fever lasts his diet should consist of 
fluids, such as beef-tea and warm milk. As a routine method of treatment 
we generally prescribe a mixture containing salicylate of soda, antipyrin, and 
spirits of chloroform. If the fever is high, vigorous antipyretic measures 
may be required ; to this end warm or tepid baths, with doses of phenacetin,. 
antipyrin, or antifebrin, may be given. Other symptoms must be treated as 
they arise. The most difficult cases to treat are those in which the vomiting 
is a constant symptom. In these cases antipyrin in an effervescing mixture,, 
iced champagne, and small quantities of raw beef juice may be tried. In 
the continued fever salipyrin and quinine may be given. 

Enteric Pever. — As a general rule it may be said that children and 
young people are more susceptible to enteric fever than are adults, and they 
usually suffer from it in a milder and less complicated form. It is not com- 
mon in children under three years of age, though it undoubtedly does occur 
even in infants, and may be fatal ; it is not easy to say at what period of life 
it is most common, as statistics of fever hospitals are apt to be fallacious, since 
the milder cases are certain to be nursed at home, and children suffering from 
the disease in a mild form will in a great many cases never enter a hospital 
at all. According to Collie, ten years to twenty years of age is the commonest 
time for an attack ; five years to ten years of age ranking next. The mortality 
at all ages from enteric fever, according to Murchison, is 1 5 to 20 per cent. 
In children, according to Barthez and Rilliet and Gerhardt, 10 per cent. In 
our own hospital 592 cases have been treated, with 48 deaths, giving a 
mortality of 8 per cent. It is obvious that too much reliance must not be 
placed upon these figures, as in the different hospitals a different proportion 
of severe cases may be admitted, or the mild and abortive cases may or may 
not be reckoned as attacks. 

Enteric fever spreads by direct contagion, by means of emanations from 
both fresh and stale faeces, possibly also by the breath, by inhalations of 
sewer-gas given off from drains into which the excretions of enteric patients 
have been thiown, and by the taking of drink or food which has become 
contaminated by the poison. There is reason to believe that infection may 
be carried from the sick to the healthy on the fingers or clothes of a third 
person. The evidence that enteric fever is directly contagious, the disease 
being contracted by coming in contact with a patient, is too strong to be 
explained away — notably the evidence produced by Collie at the Homerton 
Fever Hospital ; and in our own hospital hardly a year passes without one 
or more probationer-nurses contracting the fever from patients they are 
nursing ; and we have known it to happen that patients in the same ward 
with cases of enteric fever, who have never been out of bed, have contracted 
the fever, doubtless by the contagion having been brought to them by one 



Enteric Fever 



279 



of the attendants. It appears to spread in this way in the crowded homes 
of the poor, where one member, mostly one of the children, contracts the 
disease, and remains at home, being nursed in a room where others sleep ; 
then in the course of two or three weeks other members are attacked. Indeed 
no disease is more certain to spread in the crowded dwellings of the poor 
than enteric fever. 

Incubation. — Usually fourteen to twenty-one days. 

Sympto7iis and Course.— -In every epidemic cases may be met with which 
are so mild that they can only be recognised as enteric, as they occur in the 
same house with other undoubted cases. In such cases the temperature 
may be from first to last intermittent, being perhaps 102° or 103° in the 




Fig. 40. — Temperature Chart of a case of Mild Enteric Fever in a boy aged 9 years. 



evening, and falling nearly to normal the following morning ; evidently these 
cases were included by the older writers under the term ' infantile remittent 
fever.' Other cases, which begin like an ordinary attack, abort by the end 
of the second week, and are at once convalescent without going through the 
ordinary three weeks' course. In other cases the morning remission is much 
more marked, being perhaps three or four degrees lower than the evening, 
and this tendency is especially shown after the middle of the second week. 
In these mild cases the patient does not appear ill ; in the morning the child 
will be seen sitting up in bed playing with his toys, and but for a heavy look 
about the eyes and a glance at the temperature chart over the bed, it would 
be difficult to persuade oneself that he was suffering from any febrile disease. 
Such patients are often brought to the out-patient rooms of dispensaries, and 



28o 



The Specific Fevers 



are not considered by their parents as anything but ' out of sorts.' There is 
rarely diarrhoea in the milder cases. On the other hand, cases of great 
severity may be met with in children, the fever may run high and last for 
many weeks, or fatal complications may supervene, or death may take place 
early in the disease from the intensity of the poison, as in the case of a child 
of three years coming under our notice who died as early as the eighth day. 
Initial Symptoms.— -These mostly come on gradually, though exceptionally 
there is a somewhat sudden onset ; the fact that the onset in any case has 
been abrupt does not certainly negative the diagnosis of typhoid fever. 
Frontal headache is nearly always complained of, with a feeling of chilli- 
ness, which induces the patient to sit over the fire ; there is usually ' rambling ' 
at night, less often abdominal pain, diarrhoea, and epistaxis. 




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-Temperature Chart of a case of Enteric Fever in a girl aged 9 years. 
* rose spots ; f spleen felt. 



Temperature. — In an attack of ordinary severity the evening temperature 
reaches 104 by the fourth evening, continuing to reach this point or there- 
abouts once daily for about ten days, the diurnal. remissions usually being i° 
to 2°; the remissions then become more marked, amounting to i° or 3 , the 
fever gradually subsiding by lysis, and of an intermittent type, remaining 
normal after the twenty-first day (see fig. 41), though perhaps touching normal 
a day or two before. The highest temperature of the twenty-four hours 
is usually late in the afternoon at 4 or 5 p.m. ; later in the attack it is post- 
poned, and reaches its highest point at 8 P.M. or midnight. In mild 
attacks there is a marked tendency to remit 2 or 3 or more early in the 
attack, and to abort at the end of the second week, in a way which is rare in 
adults. 



Enteric Fever 281 

Hyperpyrexia is the exception in children ; in a few cases a temperature of 
105 or even 106 may be reached, but the usual maximum temperature during 
twenty-four hours in the first ten days is 103 to 104 . 

The temperature curve of a relapse differs very much in different cases ; 
it is usually of a remittent type. It is hardly necessary to insist that the 
temperature should be always carefully taken during enteric fever, as it 
affords the best index we possess of the severity of the disease or the patient's 
progress to recovery. 

Tongue and Mouth. — During the first week there is usually nothing 
characteristic about the tongue ; it is coated with a thin white fur, but is 
clean and moist at the edges ; there is often a glazed clean strip down the 
■centre. It may remain moist and furred throughout, while later, especially 
in cases of moderate severity, the tongue is covered with a brown fur, dry, 
with a brownish glazed central strip. Later the tongue becomes clean, red 
and glazed ; sometimes there are superficial ulcerations on the surface. 
Sordes very readily collect on the teeth, and the mouth becomes foetid if 
not cleansed. 

Abdomen. — The abdomen does not become distended till the end of the 
first week ; during this time the abdomen gradually becomes more and 
more rounded from the accumulation of gases in the small intestines ; at 
the same time a certain amount of pain on deep pressure may be elicited 
and gurgling detected in the iliac fossae. By the end of the third week, if 
the temperature has become normal, the abdomen becomes less rounded, and 
gradually returns to the normal condition. In mild cases the abdomen may 
"be normal from first to last. 

Splee?i. — The spleen usually enlarges during the first week ; the earliest 
•day on which we have felt it to be enlarged was in one case on the sixth day. 
It continues enlarged and somewhat soft during the pyrexia ; according to 
Jacobi, if the spleen remains enlarged after the temperature has fallen, a 
relapse is to be feared. In some cases there is no enlargement to be felt 
•during life, and the post-mortem has revealed a spleen of normal size. 

Bowels. — Typical 'pea-soup' stools are the exception in children, certainly 
diarrhoea is not usually a prominent symptom. The bowels may be con- 
stipated or normal, they may be simply loose, or there may be the watery 
pea-soup stools characteristic of the disease. As a rule it is the severe cases 
which have troublesome diarrhoea, but cases may be severe with high tem- 
perature and prolonged course without diarrhoea being present. During con- 
valescence constipation is apt to be troublesome, on account of the atony of 
the bowel left by the disease. 

Cerebral Symptoms. — Slight delirium at night with a tendency to talk 
and chatter nonsense is common ; acute delirium like that present in typhus 
or acute pneumonia is rare. After a severe attack the mind sometimes 
remains weak, a condition of dementia existing for some weeks ; sometines 
aphasia is left ; more often the loss of speech is due to mental weakness. 
The prognosis is good, the mind recovering as the system gathers strength. 

Eruption. — The characteristic rose spots are present in about 75 per cent, 
of the cases. The spots may be detected by the end of the first week, rarely 
•earlier ; fresh spots appear daily till towards the middle of the third week ; 
they may go on longer, into the fourth or even fifth week. They often re- 



282 The Specific Fevers 

appear during a relapse. Their numbers vary from two or three to many 
hundreds, so that the child has a freckled appearance. 

Urine. — If the temperature is high and continuous, albumen in slight 
quantity is mostly present. Indican is often present. The urine is high- 
coloured and concentrated. 

Complicatio7is. — The same complications that occur in adults are found 
also in children. There is the same tendency to relapse, there may even 
be more than one. Not infrequently the relapse is more severe than the 
primary attack ; death from perforative peritonitis may take place in a 
relapse. The interpyrexial period is very variable. Thus in a severe case 
the temperature touched normal on the twenty-first day, was then intermittent 
till the thirtieth, then normal till the thirty-fourth, then a relapse occurred, 
the temperature varying from 102 to 104 , till it reached normal again on 
the fifty-third day ; recovery followed. In another case the primary fever 
ended on the nineteenth day, a relapse occurred on the thirtieth, lasting till 
the fiftieth. In another the primary fever ended on the twentieth, the relapse 
occurred on the twenty-eighth, and lasted till the forty-second. In another 
the primary fever ceased on the twenty-fifth, and a relapse occurred lasting" 
from the twenty-seventh to the forty-sixth. 

Epistaxis is not uncommon as an early symptom, and is of no importance. 
Small quantities of blood in the stools are common during the second and 
third week, and if small in quantity need not be a cause of alarm. Smart 
haemorrhage from the bowels is rare, though serious when large in 
amount, yet we have not seen a fatal case result from it in a child. We have 
seen severe haemorrhage in three cases, all, however, ending in recovery. 
In one case, a girl of eleven years, there was a fall of temperature on the 
twenty-seventh day, from 103-2° to 98-8°, followed by a haemorrhage of 
10 oz. of blood per rectum ; another haemorrhage occurred on the thirty- 
first day, and again on the thirty-second day some 12 oz. were passed ; she 
eventually recovered. In another case, in a boy of twelve years, who was 
admitted after having been ill a month, the same evening there was a larger 
haemorrhage per rectum, sufficient to blanch his lips, and for the time he was- 
nearly pulseless ; he finally recovered. 

Bronchitis and pneumonia come on in many of the severe cases ; they 
occur quite independently of a chill or from taking cold ; they are due rather 
to stasis of blood in the lungs, mostly at the bases, and possibly also to the 
local working of the specific bacillus of enteric fever. Diminished resonance 
with rales and rhonchi are detected at one or both bases if pneumonia is 
present. The temperature is usually high and the pulse and respiration are 
increased. We have seen death take place from this cause on the nineteenth, 
twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-third, and thirty-fifth days. The pneumonic 
lung is of a purplish colour, has a solid airless feel, and is often more or less- 
collapsed on section ; the cut surface is not granular like croupous pneu- 
monia, but smooth and dark red. The lung is airless, and sinks in water. 

Pyaemia, with secondary abscesses in the lungs and elsewhere, the result 
of septic embolism from the ulcers in the intestines, occasionally occurs. In 
four of such cases dying in the Children's Hospital, the course of the disease 
was acute, with hyperpyrexia and an intermittent temperature towards the 
close ; one died on the nineteenth day with suppuration in the parotid, the- 



Enteric Fever 



:83 



others on the twenty-fifth, twenty-ninth, and thirty-seventh day respectively. 
At the postmortem pyemic abscesses due to infarcts, and pneumonia were 
found. 

The most dreaded complication in enteric fever is perforation of the 
intestine followed by peritonitis, in consequence of an ulcer penetrating: 
through the wall of the intestine. This complication is fatal with very few- 
exceptions, though it is difficult to say if it always is, as cases with 
symptoms of peritonitis sometimes recover, and it is not unreasonable to 
suppose that at times no extravasation may take place, the affected portion 



IB UDE] SBB 

IBHBDH 

illllllilililiiilli 

niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 



iSilll 1=11= 1=1 

iliiliiililKHHHHHii: 




iilllijlf ii ill 



iiiiiiiii 

iiii 

IJH'l-ill Iiii 

II 



S SBSSSSSESSSSS B SB BBS 





Fig. 42. — Temperature Chart of Enteric Fever ; Peritonitis ; death sixteenth day ; 
in a girl of 9 years. 

having become glued by means of lymph to another piece of intestine. In 
four of our cases death occurred on the sixteenth, twenty-second, thirtieth, 
and forty-eighth days respectively. In the case in which death occurred on 
the sixteenth day, it was not certain if it was the sixteenth day of the primary- 
fever or of a relapse, as there was a history of indefinite illness before ad- 
mission. The temperature on admission was normal, though there was some 
rhonchus and rales were heard in the chest ; the disease ran an acute course 
(fig. 42) for fifteen days, when suddenly there was collapse, the temperature 
falling abruptly, with vomiting and abdominal pain ; the temperature rose 
again to 104 , death occurring next day. A perforation in the ileum, three 



284 The Specific Fevers 

inches from the caecum, was found, with extravasated faeces and general 
peritonitis. In all the cases there was abdominal pain and collapse a day or 
two before death. In the case in which death occurred on the forty-eighth 
day, the girl had been ill three weeks before admission, and the attack 
treated in the hospital may have been a relapse. There was hyperpyrexia 
and intermittent fever. 

Some cases of enteric begin with tonsillitis and membranous exudation 
on the tonsils ; occasionally sloughing tonsillitis supervenes in the course of 
the attack ; this was so in one fatal case, in another a membranous laryngitis 
occurred causing death on the twenty-first day. otitis may occur, and occa- 
sionally a fatal result follows from thrombosis of the lateral sinus and pyaemia. 

Tuberculosis may complicate the course of enteric fever, or it may 
follow as a sequela. In one case a child died of pneumonia on the twenty- 
first day ; tubercles were present on the pleura and in the lung. In another 
case a girl recovered from enteric, the temperature becoming normal on the 
twenty-sixth day ; it remained normal for a few days ; she continued to im- 
prove for a month, though the temperature went up occasionally at night. 
Then hectic fever came on, with vomiting, and she died comatose three weeks 
after ; the post-mortem showed tubercular meningitis and a few tubercles in 
the lungs. 

Diagnosis. — During the first few days the diagnosis of enteric is difficult, 
often impossible, and especially in children, typhoid may be confounded with 
the feverishness which so often accompanies dyspepsia and intestinal catarrh. 
Children are frequently brought to the out-patients' room of children's 
hospitals with indefinite symptoms and feverishness ; a tentative diagnosis 
of enteric is made, but in a few days the symptoms disappear and the child 
is practically well again. Such attacks may be more severe, and it may be 
impossible to say whether the patient has had an abortive enteric attack or 
not, unless there are undoubted enteric cases in the household. In all doubt- 
ful cases, in the early stages, the temperature should be carefully taken every 
four hours and a careful examination made for rose spots and enlargement 
of the spleen. The diagnosis in small children and infants is extremely 
difficult, on account of the many causes, such as patchy catarrhal pneumonia, 
intestinal catarrh, dentition, and tuberculosis, which may give rise to an in- 
termittent or remittent fever ; but, as enteric rarely attacks an infant first in 
a household, we are often able to practically exclude it, even when the 
symptoms are suspicious. 

Acute S^iliary Tuberculosis and enteric may be very similar, and for 
a week or two the diagnosis may have to be held in abeyance. Careful 
temperature-taking every four hours will often greatly aid the diagnosis. In 
acute tuberculosis the fever is mostly intermittent, the diurnal ranges being 
perhaps 3 to 5 ; there are no true spots, rarely diarrhoea ; miliary tubercles 
may occasionally be detected in the choroid, crepitation may be heard in the 
lungs, or there may be some want of resonance at one apex ; the abdomen 
is not usually rounded. Tubercular RXeningitis in the early stages may 
simulate enteric. 

A child who is seen for the first time, recovering from typhoid fever, being 
anaemic, wasted, and having perhaps some cough with rhonchi heard on exa- 
mining the chest and possibly bedsores, might readily be thought to be suf- 



Enteric Fever 285 

fering from Chronic Tuberculosis. If there is diarrhoea and abdominal 
tenderness, the two diseases at this stage may be still more alike. A careful 
examination of the lungs would generally distinguish between the two, as in 
chronic tuberculosis some consolidation at the apices or elsewhere would 
usually be found. 

Pyaemia may resemble enteric fever, especially in those cases where the 
pyaemia is secondary to some bone disease without any external wound. A 
case of pyaemia secondary to Pott's disease of the spine, with abscesses in 
the lungs, which came under our care, was thought for a few days to be 
enteric fever ; but the daily ranges of temperature are more extreme, the 
type more markedly intermittent in pyaemia than typhoid. A rounded dis- 
tended abdomen, with a pimply rash, may certainly occur in other diseases 
than enteric, though when true rose spots are present they are character- 
istic. 

Treatment. — The management rather than the medicinal treatment of 
typhoid fever is of the greatest importance. The patient must of course be 
put to bed in a cool room, and arrangements made for both night and day 
nursing : it is needless to emphasise the importance of a trustworthy nurse 
at night to feed and attend to the patient's wants and soothe him to sleep. 
Sponging with warm water to which some Cond^s fluid or Sanitas has been 
added should be performed every evening before settling the patient for the 
night, great care being taken to cleanse the buttocks and anal region, 
especially if the patient is suffering from diarrhoea, as the stools are apt to 
be smeared about. To keep the patient's back scrupulously clean is a matter 
of importance in the prevention of bed-sores. The patients mouth must be 
carefully attended to, being cleansed, by means of a paint-brush or rag, of 
decomposing food and foul secretions ; the more ill and insensible the 
patient is, the more important does this become. Condy's fluid or dilute 
solution of boro-glyceride may be used for the purpose. The diet should 
consist of milk diluted with barley water or soda water and in amount should 
be suited to the age. During the pyrexial period milk is better taken than 
beef-tea or other savoury foods, which as a matter of fact are quite unneces- 
sary. The more thirsty the patient is, the more must his milk be diluted, 
lest too much curd remain undigested in the stomach and intestines and give 
rise to flatulence and discomfort ; a pint and a half to a quart of milk will 
be sufficient. An excess may give rise to diarrhoea or accumulate in the 
large intestine as hardened faeces. In the later stages, when the tongue is 
cleaning, beef-tea is usually taken well and forms a pleasant change of diet. 
Where milk does not agree, or when the diarrhoea is troublesome, peptonised 
milk or Benger's food should be given. It is well to continue the fluid diet till 
a full week after the temperature has become normal. Our usual practice is to 
allow sops in the milk or beef-tea on the thirtieth day, at once discontinuing 
it if the temperature rises. In mild or medium cases alcohol is unnecessary. 
No medicine is required ; a simple saline may be given. The treatment of" 
hyperpyrexia must depend upon the effect which it has upon the patient, 
though in any case, if the temperature rises to 104 , sponging the head, trunk, 
and limbs with water at 6o° should be resorted to, or the cold pack may be 
given, provided there is no immediate risk of peritonitis. If the temperature 
is not kept in check by these means, but the fever is not making the patient. 



286 The Specific Fevers 

drowsy or delirious, no other means need be taken, except perhaps applying 
an ice-bag to the head. Other means are however available, such as the 
administration of antifebrin or quinine, and the graduated bath. Antifebrin 
may be given in a large dose or in small doses of two or three grains, 
frequently repeated, so as to keep the hyperpyrexia in check, rather than to 
reduce it suddenly, as the latter is mostly attended by more or less collapse ; 
in any case both antipyrin and antifebrin are apt to be depressing, and can 
only be safely used in the early stages, and not for too long a time together. 
In the early stages, with due care, the graduated bath is useful in reducing 
temperature ; in the later stages it is contra-indicated, on account of the dis- 
turbance to the patient which it entails. The patient may be placed in it at 
a temperature of ioo°, and cold water added so as to reduce it to jo° or 8o°, 
though it is rarely wise to allow the child to remain in longer than five 
minutes. Excessive diarrhoea should be checked by starch and opium 
•enemata, or Dover's powder by the mouth ; sleeplessness and delirium by 
a wet pack or small doses of nepenthe, the latter being more useful than 
bromides, chloral, or urethan ; abdominal pain or tenderness is best treated 
rjy nepenthe in free doses by the mouth, and opium fomentations, while the 
food and liquids taken are reduced to a minimum compatible with safety ; 
pneumonia by stimulating applications, such as mustard poultices or turpentine 
stupe, the latter being used with great care on account of the sores apt to be 
produced. Any signs of cardiac depression must be combated by alcohol in the 
form of mist, vini gallici, champagne, caffeine, ammonia, ether, or digitalis. 

It is often an anxious question to decide as to whether a laxative should 
be given when the bowels are constipated, inasmuch as a patient is rendered 
more comfortable by a free action of the bowels, and the distention and dis- 
comfort are lessened. On the other hand, one fears that the peristalsis set up 
"by a purgative or even an enema may do irretrievable damage by converting 
an ulcer into a perforation or tearing down adhesions of lymph which have 
formed. At the same time it must be remembered that hard lumps of fasces 
irritate the bowel and fret and rub the ulcers, and in some of the worst instances 
of extensive ulcers in fatal cases we have found numerous hard lumps of 
faeces in the lower part of the ileum and large bowel. Some doses of castor 
oil during the first ten days are often beneficial if the bowels are confined ; 
after this time enemata are safer, though they are not free from risk, and should 
certainly be avoided if there are signs of peritonitis. If severe haemorrhage 
from the bowel occur, the greatest care must be taken to give the child only 
the smallest quantities of food by the mouth and to keep him as quiet as 
possible. An ice-bag should be placed on the abdomen and a grain of ergotin 
given subcutaneously and repeated every two or three hours. Opium should 
be given in small doses if there is much restlessness. Turpentine or terebene 
in two or three drop doses in mucilage is useful as a stimulant and haemo- 
static. During convalescence dyspepsia and constipation are frequently 
troublesome ; flatulence and a rise of temperature are very apt to follow any 
excess of starchy or any indigestible food, especially in early convalescence. 
The food should consist of meat essences, of broths, jellies, pounded meat, 
chicken, and fish, with small quantities of toast or stale bread. Good sherry 
with a grain or two of pepsine and some liquid malt extract, such as that of 
Allen and Hanbury's or Hoff's, are often very useful. The constipation is 



Typhus 287 

usually slow in disappearing ; purgatives should be avoided, as the constipa- 
tion is simply due to wasting of the muscular fibre of the bowel and weakened 
secretions. In this condition the mineral acids, strychnine, cascara sagrada, 
and bitters are of most use. 

Typhus. — During an epidemic of typhus children suffer equally with 
adults, though the mortality is exceedingly small. It is probable that the 
fact that children usually suffer from the disease in a mild form, and but few 
die, has given rise to the general belief that children are less susceptible 
to the typhus poison than are adults. That this is not the case has been 
shown conclusively by Dr. Buchanan, who, after referring to the slight- 
ness of the fever in children, says : ' When inquiry as to age is made to 
include every case of attack, children and adults are found to be equally 
susceptible ; the actual incidence may even be observed to be strongly upon 
the young, partly because of their greater numbers and partly because adults 
are frequently protected by previous attacks.' That many children are 
attacked with typhus is shown by the statistics of Homerton Fever Hospital 
{given by Collie), for out of 711 admissions of typhus to the hospital during 
the period 1 871-1880, 24 were under 5 years of age, 54 from 5 to 9 years, 113 
Averefrom 10 to 14 years of age ; it is more than probable that the proportion 
really attacked as compared with adults was much greater, but on account of 
the mildness of the fever they were nursed at home and not sent to hospital. 
Only two deaths took place among the 191 children under 14 years of age ad- 
mitted, while the total mortality was ten times greater, being nearly 20 per cent. 

Symfito7ns and Course. — The symptoms and course do not differ from 
those seen in adults, with the exception of their usually greater mildness. 
The attack commences with headache, pains in the limbs, drowsiness, more 
or less shivering, sometimes vomiting, rarely diarrhoea. This history closely 
resembles that often obtained in scarlet fever, and this should be borne in 
mind, as a hasty conclusion as to the nature of an attack may be a wrong 
one. If seen for the first time at the end of three or four days, there is a 
listless expression on the face ; it is flushed, the eyes suffused, the conjunctivae 
injected ; the child may answer questions if spoken to sharply, but is drowsy, 
semi-delirious and irritable if interfered with. The tongue is dry, coated 
with a brown fur and protruded with difficulty, the lips are black, there 
are sordes on the teeth, while the gums easily bleed. An examination of the 
lungs reveals the presence of rhonchi, perhaps rales, and some loss of reso- 
nance at one or both bases. On the fourth or fifth day the rash usually 
appears ; the skin has a dusty congested appearance, with an indistinct mottling, 
in addition perhaps to petechial points, due to flea-bites ; for our patients 
with typhus usually come from the dirtiest and most squalid quarters. 
Perhaps a dusky mottling is all that can be seen, but in more typical 
cases the rash is more definite, consisting of rose-coloured spots or maculae 
larger than typhoid spots, and with more ill-defined margins, scattered over 
the body. According to Collie they are first seen on the sub-clavicular 
regions, along the lower border of the pectoralis major, on the wrists, back of 
the hands, and epigastrium. We have sometimes noted the rash especially 
well marked on the dependent parts of the body, sides of the thighs, and 
arms, and back, extending along the neck on to the cheeks, and present also 
on the dorsum of the feet. The temperature is usually continuously high, 



288 



The Specific Fevers 



\of to 104 , the pulse small and weak, perhaps 120 to 130, and there is some 
cough, and frequently much delirium or wandering at night. The fever may 
last for the whole two weeks ; more frequently the symptoms undergo marked 
amelioration after the first week, and possibly the temperature declines to 
normal by the 8th or 10th day, all the symptoms becoming milder and the 
rash disappearing without becoming petechial, as it often does in adults. 
The rash may be only visible for a few days or may fade as the fever becomes 
less. While the above description applies to a typical case in a child, very 
severe ones may sometimes be met with, though far oftener the symptoms are 




iilllllllliiiii 




1 11 sir 



Pi 

HI 



§s iiiiiiilisl 

sssssss ss ssssssi 




Fig. 43. — Temperature Chart of Typhus Fever, ending in recovery. Eliz. G., aged 7 years. 

decidedly milder. The tongue may never be brown, only coated with a white 
fur ; the rash may consist of a dusky mottling only ; there may be drowsiness 
without active delirium. Dr. Tomkins observed in some of his cases at 
Monsall Fever Hospital that there was marked torpor and lethargy during 
the first few days, so that the child was with difficulty aroused to take food. 

It is obviously important to recognise typhus, though the attack may be 
mild, as such cases are of course infectious and may spread the disease. Dr. 
Tomkins records the case of a woman who contracted a fatal attack by 
sleeping with a child suffering from mild typhus, the cause of the child's 
illness not having been recognised. 



Varicella 289 

Diag7iosis. — The fact that typhus occurs in epidemics and is apt to prevail 
in the overcrowded and poverty-stricken quarters of a large city often helps 
the diagnosis ; but occasionally an epidemic breaks out in a school or in the 
homes of the well-to-do. The onset of the attack may suggest scarlet fever ; 
the high fever, drowsiness, and dusky condition of skin present in a malig- 
nant case of the latter disease might render the diagnosis doubtful at first ; 
but the condition of the tonsils would usually clear up a doubt if the 
characteristic rash of scarlet fever was not present. Nevertheless we have 
seen a case fatal in two or three days that gave rise to some doubt, and in 
the absence of a post-mortem was never cleared up. The disease most likely 
to be mistaken for typhus is acute pneumonia (Collie); this is in accord with 
our own experience, as we have seen cases of acute ' cerebral pneumonia ' 
with physical signs delayed, sent into hospital as typhus ; the mistake is 
likely to occur, as in most cases of typhus some rales or rhonchi are to be 
heard. 

In ' cerebral pneumonia ' the lesion is often at the apex of the lung ; if 
seen on or after the fourth day of illness, and there is bronchial breathing 
or dulness, or some high-pitched resonance over a portion of lung and no 
rash, the disease is almost certainly acute pneumonia. A dusky or mottled 
skin, brown dry tongue, rales or rhonchi scattered over the whole lungs or 
bases, would indicate typhus. Enteric fever may be mistaken for typhus, 
especially when acute, but the insidious nature of the onset, the absence 
of marked delirium or torpor, the tenderness on pressure over the abdornen, 
and the rose spots usually suffice to make a diagnosis. We have seen some 
cases of typhus where there was a good deal of general hyperesthesia and 
muscular tenderness, where pressure on the abdomen evoked expressions of 
pain. 

Prognosis. — This is mostly good, but fatal cases sometimes occur, the 
children succumbing in the first few days of the fever from the intensity of 
the poison. 

Treatme?it. — That of fever generally. Sponging with Condy's fluid should 
be resorted to daily ; the apartment should be large, air}', and warm ; stimu- 
lants are required in all but the mild cases ; milk and other liquid nourish- 
ment must be given in suitable quantities. Directly convalescence has set 
in a more liberal diet may be allowed. 

Varicella. — Varicella is a specific infectious disease closely resembling 
modified small-pox, though perfectly distinct from it. There are still a few 
who believe varicella to be a variety of small-pox, notwithstanding the many 
facts which point in a contrary direction ; these may be summed up as 
follows : the two diseases are not mutually protective, children who have 
recently had small-pox may contract varicella ; during epidemics of one 
disease the other is not unusually prevalent ; small-pox affects all ages, vari- 
cella affects children almost entirely ; inoculation with the virus of small-pox 
produces small-pox, inoculation with the contents of the vesicles of varicella, 
when successful, produces only chicken-pox. 

Varicella occurs in epidemics in schools, workhouses, children's hospitals, 
and among the poorer classes of society where there are many children in 
constant contact with one another ; its epidemics, however, are not so wide- 
spread as those of measles or whooping-cough, nor does it affect so large a 

U 



290 



The Specific Fevers 



proportion of the unprotected. It affects children almost entirely ; thus in 
584 cases observed by Baader in Bale, 98 per cent, were under the age of 
ten years, and 65 per cent, below five years of age. Adults do, however, 
occasionally take it. We have several times seen nurses contract the disease 
from children suffering from it. 

Varicella can be communicated from the sick to the healthy by inocula- 
tion, by simple contact, or by infection being carried by a third person. 
Trousseau failed in his attempt to inoculate ; Steiner seems to have been 
more successful, succeeding in eight cases out of ten. The disease is most 
usually communicated directly from children suffering from or convalescent 
from an attack ; it is also certain that the infection can be carried by means 
of a third person, and remain in an active condition in clothes for many weeks, 
inasmuch as sporadic cases of the disease will occur in hospital wards in 




BBS! SRSHiSS BSBSSBSB! iBSSSSSSHS. 1 

EiiEBiSaliE ssslilifBi-Sisi 




I — ■ 



Fig. 44. — Temperature Charts of two cases of Chicken-pox in children of 
2,\ years and 18 months. 

patients who have been in for months, and where no cases had occurred 
previously in the ward for a long interval. 

Symptoms. — The incubation period in the inoculated cases reported by 
Steiner was eight days ; when contracted in the ordinary way it is usually 
about fourteen days, sometimes a day or two more. We have on several 
occasions had an opportunity of verifying this. There are usually no pre- 
monitory symptoms the discovery of papules and vesicles on the body is 
usually the first thing noted by the friends. In a few cases there is a diffuse 
redness of the body resembling the roseolous rash which sometimes precedes 
small-pox, and which has given rise to the suspicion that the case is one of 
scarlet fever ; in one case a measly rash, preceding the vesicular eruption, 
made it look as if the child was suffering from both measles and varicella, 
but of this there was no confirmatory evidence. Frequent micturition was 



Varicella 



291 



observed in one of our cases before the rash appeared. The premonitory 
fever if present is of short duration, varying from a few hours to twenty-four 
hours, and in this respect varicella presents a marked contrast to variola. 
The temperature is not as a rule characteristic, and varies with the acuteness 
of the attack, mild cases with only a few vesicles being feverless, severe 
cases with a great number of vesicles being accompanied by a temperature 
of 104 or more. The most frequent type is the intermittent (fig. 44). 

The rise of temperature is accompanied by an accelerated pulse, coated 
tongue, and restlessness, though in mild cases these may be absent ; in 
a few hours rose spots, resembling the rash of typhoid, appear and quickly be- 
come vesicular. Probably at the time the first examination is made there 
will be both rose papules and minute 
blebs or vesicles containing clear fluid 
and surrounded by a zone of redness. 
By the next day a fresh crop of papules 
and vesicles will have appeared, the 
vesicles of the previous day are larger, 
perhaps some of them have aborted and 
commenced to dry up. Fresh crops 
appear on the third, fourth, fifth days, 
and perhaps later still, so that when the 
attack is at its height, as it usually is on 
the third or fourth day, the trunk and 
extremities are thickly covered with 
vesicles and scabs, probably also a few 
pustules where there has been some 
scratching and the vesicles have burst. 
The contents of the vesicles are at first 
quite clear; as they enlarge their contents 
become more cloudy, but not purulent 
unless the vesicle has been injured and 
part of its contents has escaped. The 
vesicles are mostly unilocular, their upper 
surface is convex and collapses as soon 
as it is pricked, though in some cases a 
few vesicles may be seen more or less 
flattened, umbilicated, and multilocular, 
closely resembling small-pox or vacci- 
nation vesicles. The number of vesicles varies greatly ; in some cases only 
a few being present, in others there may be many hundreds. They are 
never confluent. In the majority of cases the vesicles dry up and scabs are 
formed at their site ; these fall off in the course of a few days, leaving 
clear and healthy skin beneath. In some of the worse cases this is not so ; 
an ulcer, which may be some weeks in healing, forms beneath the scab, 
and thus a scar is left not unlike those following severe small-pox. The 
vesicles make their appearance on the trunk, limbs, and scalp ; they are 
generally more sparely present on the face, tongue, and soft palate. 

The prognosis in varicella is uniformly good, as it is apparently never 
fatal in a previously healthy child. In weakly and tubercular children the 




Fig. 45. — Varicella Gangraenosa. Child aged 
2 years. From a photograph taken after 
death. The patient died of tuberculosis ; 
she had had an attack of Varicella two 
months before death. 



292 The Specific Fevers 

varicella vesicles are apt to be followed by spreading ulcers, which, joining- 
one another and taking on an unhealthy action, sometimes assist in bringing- 
about a fatal result. Such cases have been described by Mr. Hutchinson 
under the name of varicella gangrenosa; they are not uncommon in the out- 
patient room (see fig. 45). The gangrenous action is usually associated with 
tuberculosis, and it is curious that in all fatal cases of this affection — as has 
been remarked by Dr. J. F. Payne — tubercle has been found post niorte?n. 
Eustace Smith has known acute tuberculosis to follow varicella, and we have 
also seen several such cases. Nephritis is an occasional sequela, as first 
noted by Henoch. 

Diag?iosis. — The disease with which chicken-pox is most likely to be 
confounded is mild or modified small-pox, but as a rule no difficulty is ex- 
perienced. The points of most importance in making a diagnosis are the 
absence of premonitory symptoms and the character of the rash ; the fol- 
lowing table shows these : — 

Varicella. Varioloid, or modified Small-pox. 

Incubation. — Thirteen to sixteen days. Twelve days. 
Premo?iitory Fever. — A few hour's. Two or three days. 

Premonitory Symptoms. — Mostly nil. May include headache, backache, 

drowsiness, vomiting, delirium, 
convulsions. 
Rash. — Red spots becoming vesicular Red shot-like papules appearing on 
in a few hours and drying up in face, wrists, body, limbs, and soft 

three or four days leaving crusts ; palate ; in the course of a day or 

coming out in crops on four or two the papules becoming vesi- 

five successive days on the scalp, cles, and developing into pustules 

trunk, limbs, face, and mucous by the eighth day, or they may dry 

membranes. The vesicles are up leaving only scabs, 

mostly unilocular. 
Temperature. — Intermittent in cha- Sudden rise, reaches its height when 
racter. the papules are fully out ; then 

comes a speedy fall. The secon- 
dary fever is slight or absent in 
modified cases. 

Occasionally a vesicular syphilitic eruption may simulate varicella, though 
such eruptions are rare in congenital syphilis, and when present take the form 
of bullae of various size rather than vesicles. In one case which came under 
our notice, a vesicular syphilide closely resembled varicella, but there was no 
fever, and some brown staining followed the rash. 

Quarantine. — How long does the infection last in varicella? No case 
should be considered past the infection stage until all the scabs have cleared 
away and the skin is quite smooth and normal. This is usually accomplished 
in three or four weeks. In one case which was admitted to hospital, 
suffering from psoriasis, which had succeeded the eruption of chicken-pox, 
and where some unhealed ulcers were present, the admission into the ward 
was followed by an outbreak of the disease some fortnight afterwards. The 
child admitted had had chicken-pox five weeks before. 



Vaccinia 293 

Treat?ne?it. — Not much treatment is necessary. The child should be 
isolated, and preferably be kept in bed if there is a copious eruption. A 
light diet should be given, and ointment containing some tarry or carbolic 
compound_.will be useful to apply to the scabbing vesicles. 

Vaccinia.— Performance of Vaccination. — The safest age for vaccinating 
infants has been in dispute, some preferring to vaccinate within a few weeks 
of birth and before the monthly nurse leaves, while others much prefer post- 
poning the operation till three or even six months. Inasmuch as unvacci- 
nated children under one year if they contract small-pox almost certainly die, 
no time should be lost in vaccinating infants, if there is any chance of their 
being exposed to contagion — as, for instance, if small-pox exists in the house 
or is present in the neighbourhood in epidemic form. On the other hand, if 
the risk of their being exposed to contagion is small, it is unwise to vaccinate 
during the first few weeks of life, on account of the disturbance of the general 
health liable to follow ; infants of three months or six months old bear the 
operation better than infants a few days or weeks old. It is of importance 
to postpone vaccination beyond the end of the third month if the infant is 
not robust, or suffers from diarrhoea, malnutrition, eczema, intertrigo, or if 
erysipelas is prevailing in the neighbourhood. Revaccination should be 
performed at or before puberty. If human lymph cannot be obtained from 
an infant of an undoubtedly healthy family, fresh calf lymph should be 
obtained, and if the latter is used, any objection to the performance of 
vaccination on the ground of transmitting syphilis and other diseases is 
obviated. Calf lymph answers usually very well ; it is more viscid than 
humanised lymph, and consequently may fail to take unless care is taken to 
work it well in. The cuticle should be removed by a few scratches of a 
needle or lancet at the spot where a drop of lymph has been applied. After 
vaccination nothing is usually to be seen till about the third day, when there 
is some itching and a slight redness surrounding the spot, or there may be 
a tiny papule. By the seventh or eighth day there is a flattened vesicle at 
the seat of puncture, containing clear fluid in various loculi. During the 
next few days a red areola forms round the vesicle and its contents become 
cloudy ; by the tenth or eleventh day the fluid oozes out and forms a scab 
on the surface, which, becoming detached, leaves a superficial ulcer, which 
takes a variable time to heal ; a permanent cicatrix, which is circular, de- 
pressed, pale, and pitted, is left. The size and distinctness of the scar will 
depend upon the ulceration which has followed the pustule ; if the latter 
dries up without an ulcer forming, there will be hardly any scar left. There 
is often some febrile disturbance from the fifth to tenth day. 

What are we to regard as the finest vesicles for " obtaining lymph from ? 
According to Dr. Hugh Thompson, 1 ' they are such as, at the beginning of 
the eighth day (the day usually chosen for taking lymph, although not always 
the best), show the punctures made in vaccinating well healed with no 
scabbing, the vesicles depressed in the centre and elevated at the margin, 
containing a moderate amount of lymph, not accuminated ; that is, flat in 
proportion to breadth, and not having lost the inequalities — bosses and foveae 
— resulting from some of the connections between the epidermis and corium 

1 ' Inoculation for Small-pox,' by Hugh Thompson, M.D. ; Glasgow Medical Journal, 
vol. xxvii. 



294 The Specific Fevers 

still remaining intact, the areola incipient or only slightly developed. The 
lymph which exudes from them, on being pricked, is nearly if not quite 
limpid, somewhat viscid, moderate in quantity, and does not tend to run down 
the arm. 

' As a general rule it is the finest children— those, at least, who are such 
in the eyes of the vaccinator : " children of dark complexion, with a thick, 
clear, smooth skin," as Seaton remarks — indications of a strong vigorous 
constitution — who furnish the finest vesicles. At the same time care must 
be taken to see that the child is in perfect health, and especially, by a thorough 
examination, that it is free of all skin diseases, and more particularly all 
indications of syphilis, among the most persistent and obvious of which 
(excepting, of course, manifest syphilides) are chronic coryza, generally from 
birth ; a depressed nose, open fontanelles, hydrocephalic head, turgid veins 
of scalp, tumid lymphatic glands. Many of the manifestations of syphilis 
disappear under treatment, and it is possible they may have thus disappeared 
without the disease being thoroughly eradicated ; but it is rare that one or 
more of the above may not be found if searched for. It is superfluous to 
caution against the smallest admixture of blood. 5 

Complicatio7is and SequelcB. — These are fortunately few, though numerous 
and important in the eyes of prejudiced persons, and a lengthy list could be 
easily compiled if all the evidence collected by such were to hold good. The 
most important are the following : (i) Syphilis (see infra) ; (2) Erythema 
and Erysipelas. There may be an unusual amount of redness and hardness 
surrounding the pustules, as a result of the lymph causing more irritation 
than it commonly does ; this may spread down the arm, and give rise to some 
glandular enlargement without there being any erysipelas present. Ery- 
sipelas does occasionally occur. The erysipelas coccus may gain entrance 
into the wound at the time of vaccination ; in this case symptoms will pro- 
bably arise within a few days, the incubation period being a few hours to two 
or three days. It is impossible to say for certain that it may not be longer. 
In a case which came under our notice the seat of the vaccine punctures 
began to become inflamed nineteen or twenty hours after vaccination. In 
such cases the vesicles and pustules often mature earlier than in normal cases, 
and a vesicle may be present on the second day, with more or less redness 
around the punctures. The patches of redness and oedema are migratory > 
as in other forms of erysipelas — that is, they do not necessarily remain in 
the immediate neighbourhood of the wound, but may affect the face, trunk, 
or any other part. The mortality of vaccine erysipelas is very high, most of 
the cases being fatal, death occurring in one to three weeks. It has un- 
fortunately happened that the vaccine has been taken from an infant suffer- 
ing from or incubating erysipelas, and has communicated erysipelas to infants 
vaccinated with it. Erysipelas may supervene at any period between 
vaccination and the healing of the pustules if the infant is exposed to 
the infection, the cocci becoming accidentally implanted into the wound. 
(3) Glandular enlargement. The axillary and cervical glands may enlarge 
and suppurate during the maturation of the pustules, or more commonly in the 
second week. We have seen several cases in infants with chronically enlarged 
and caseating superficial cervical glands of the left side, which had commenced 
to enlarge shortly after vaccination, and it appears likely that in infants of a 



Varioloid 295 

tubercular or ' strumous ' tendency vaccination may be the exciting cause. 
The lymphatics passing over the shoulder connect the lymphatics of the 
arm with the supra-clavicular and cervical glands. (4) Cold abscesses and 
boils may form in various parts of the body, as they will at times after all 
suppurations, especially in tubercular or ' strumous ' children. (5) Various 
rashes occasionally make their appearance, mostly towards the end of the 
week, when the vesicle is maturing. A roseolous rash over the body and 
arms, which is fugitive, disappearing mostly in twenty-four hours ; a vesi- 
cular rash, consisting of a few pimples becoming vesicular ; a lichenous 
rash ; and patches of erythema may be sometimes present. We know of 
no evidence which directly connects eczema with vaccination ; it is very 
common during infancy in one form or another, and it is not surprising that 
vaccination often gets the credit of producing it. An impetigo is not un- 
common, having been produced by inoculation of the secretions from the 
pustules by means of the finger-nails. 

Varioloid or Post-vaccinal Small-pox. — Unvaccinated children suffer 
from small-pox in as violent a form as do unprotected adults ; indeed, ac- 
cording to Collie, ' small-pox is very fatal in unvaccinated children under 
five years of age, more than half dying, and nearly all infants under one 
year.' 

Children who have been vaccinated in infancy and take small-pox usually 
suffer from it in a modified form ; there may be no rash at all, or more often 
the attack aborts and the vesicles dry up without passing through the pus- 
tular stage, the secondary fever being absent or only slight. Sometimes 
the attacks, according to Collie, are so slight that diagnosis is impossible, 
except from the fact that they occur after exposure to infection or in associa- 
tion with cases of undoubted small-pox. The premonitory symptoms may 
be present — headache, feverishness, backache — which disappear before the 
rash appears, the attack coming to an end without any papular eruption. It 
is much more common for the attack to abort immediately after the rash 
appears, secondary fever or pustulation being absent. The premonitory 
symptoms may be severe — headache, backache, the temperature rising to 103 
or 104 on the third or fourth day, a copious eruption of papules appearing, 
perhaps being confluent on the face, to be followed by a sharp fall in the 
temperature of perhaps 4 or 5 . The papules become vesicular and dry up 
with but slight if any pustulation, and the child is convalescent at once. 

The temperature chart (fig. 46) was that of a child aged ten years who 
was convalescent from scarlet fever, and who contracted small-pox while in 
the scarlet-fever ward ; the only source of infection which could be traced 
was a visit of her mother twelve days before, the latter coming four miles 
from a district where small-pox was prevailing. There was marked head- 
ache but no pain in the back ; on the third day an erythematous rash was 
seen on the body, which suggested that her illness might be scarlet fever, 
though she had passed through a typical attack some weeks before ; on the 
afternoon of the same day a few tiny papules like the rose-spots of typhoid 
were seen on the abdomen and arms, the headache was severe and the eyes 
suffused. The spleen was enlarged, being felt 1^- inch below the ribs. On 
the fourth day the face, neck, trunk, and limbs were covered with well- 
defined papules, many confluent. The same evening the temperature fell 



296 



The Specific Fevers 



from 104 to 97 . On the fifth day the eruption was copious, some of the 
papules were beginning to be vesicular ; the vesicles quickly began to dry 
up and scab, no true pustules appearing. The girl made a good recovery 
and was not permanently pitted. 

Diagnosis.— The fact that small-pox is at times a very mild disorder 
makes it important that it should not be overlooked, inasmuch as a mild case 
as well as a more severe one may be the means of spreading the disease. 
Diagnosis is hardly possible in the absence of a papular eruption, or the 
purpuric spots of the malignant form. 

Treatment. — The treatment is that of fevers generally. 




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Fig. 46.— Temperature Chart of a case of modified Small-pox in a girl aged 10 years. 
Papular rash on the third day, becoming vesicular on the fifth. 

Whooping: Cough. — Etiology ^c. — Whooping cough is an infectious dis- 
ease which is characterised by a catarrh of the air-passages and a peculiar 
spasmodic cough. It prevails in epidemics which are both widespread and 
prolonged, though sporadic cases are generally present in large centres of 
population. There is no disease which is more certainly infectious than 
whooping cough, in the sense that if those who are unprotected by a previous 
attack come in contact with those suffering from it, they are almost certain 
to take it. If one member of a household is attacked, all the other members, 
both children and adults, who are unprotected, take the disease. If it enter 
a court or alley, it is tolerably certain that all the unprotected inhabitants will 
suffer. It is almost certain to spread in a similar way in a school or conva- 
lescent home. It is, however, a curious fact which we have often noticed that 



Whooping Cough 297 

whooping cough does not appear to spread to any great extent in hospital 
wards in which the children are in bed and the cubic space great (the same 
fact has been noticed by Dr. Sturges and Dr. Goodhart), and it would almost 
appear that close contact with the infected individual so as to inhale his 
breath was necessary to give the disease. It is impossible dogmatically to 
deny that the poison of whooping cough cannot be conveyed on the person or 
by clothes to a distance and so infect the healthy ; but it is certainly excep- 
tional ; the common way in which it spreads is by direct contact with the 
sick. A very short contact is all that appears to be necessary — such, for in- 
stance, as a child meeting another for a moment in the street or in a shop ; 
several instances of attacks contracted in this way have come under our 
notice. The epidemics, like those of measles, appear to occur in large 
cities every eighteen months or two years. It has been asserted that there 
is some definite relation between these two zymotics, as they frequently pre- 
vail epidemically together or one immediately preceding or following the 
other; it is very doubtful if this association is anything more than accidental, 
-as they both are apt to recur every eighteen months or two years. The 
whooping cough epidemic lasts longer and more slowly reaches its height than 
the measles epidemic. Like measles, whooping cough seems to prevail at all 
seasons of the year; but, as one would naturally expect, it is more fatal in the 
colder months of the year than in the warmer months, in consequence of the 
broncho-pneumonia which is so apt to supervene if the child takes cold. 
The mortality is mostly high among very young and weakly children, while 
in older children it is rarely fatal. During the decade 1 878-1 887, 3,669 cases 
of whooping cough were treated in connection with the children's dispensary, 
with 281 deaths, or a mortality of 7*6 per cent. Of these, 217 or 77 per cent, 
were under two years of age, '63 or 13 per cent, were from two to five years 
of age, and only one fatal case occurred in a child over five years of age. It 
is certain that these figures do not represent the total mortality, as they do 
not necessarily include those who die some months later of tuberculosis 
and gastro-intestinal atrophy. 

Incubation. — It is difficult to fix the latent period with precision, as the 
onset is gradual and the symptoms so often indefinite. It is usually seven to 
fourteen days before the child begins to cough and another week or ten days 
"before the characteristic ' whoop ' is heard. This makes an interval of two to 
three weeks between being infected and commencing to ' whoop.' 

Symptoms and Course. — The course of the disease is marked by three 
stages : — (1) The catarrhal or premonitory stage ; (2) The convulsive or 
spasmodic stage ; (3) The stage of decline or convalescence. These stages, it 
is needless to say, are not well marked, but one gradually succeeds the other, 
and this is especially true with regard to the third. 

The catarrhal stage begins with the symptoms of a feverish cold and 
tickling dry cough, which is not readily relieved by ordinary remedies. The 
cough is especially apt to recur at night, and it is remarked on by the friends 
as being more than usually troublesome, the child coughing and straining as 
if to relieve a persistent irritation in the throat. The cough keeps it awake 
at night, or it wakes up coughing and fails to get to sleep for some hours. 
During the day the child may appear well, or, on the other hand, the appetite 
fails and he looks pale and poorly. The cough, if not paroxysmal from the 



298 The Specific Fevers 

first, becomes so in the course of a few days, before the actual whoop is heard. 
There is usually some degree of fever at night, and dry rhonchus may often 
be heard on listening to the chest. The first stage may be complicated with 
bronchitis or pneumonia. 

The Convulsive Stage. — The cough now comes not only in paroxysms, 
but there is a distinct whoop ; there are a number of short forcible expiratory 
efforts, as if an attempt was being made to expel some irritating matters, 
followed by the long-drawn characteristic inspiration which is technically 
called a ' hoop ' or ' whoop,' or in some parts of the country a ' chink.' It 
is perhaps hardly right, at any rate when the second stage is well established, 
to speak of the expiratory coughs as ' efforts ; ' the child, prompted by a 
peculiar tickling sensation in the throat, attempts to relieve it by coughing, 
but in a moment the coughing goes on in spite of any voluntary effort to 
repress it, so that the child's face becomes congested and the facial veins 
distended, before the inspiratory act takes place and the air rushes into the 
air-passages and lungs through the narrowed glottis. Fit after fit of cough- 
ing will often follow one another, till the child vomits or a rush of stringy 
mucus, perhaps streaked with blood, pours out of its mouth and nose. 
In the worst cases the distress occasioned by these fits of coughing 
is extreme, and the child dreads their recurrence, not only on account of 
their discomfort, but from the aches and pains it suffers from, by reason of 
the over-strained and weary respiratory muscles. To a weakly child the 
disease is necessarily a formidable one ; the exhaustion produced by the 
constant muscular efforts, the frequent vomiting which prevents a proper 
amount of food from being assimilated, together with the intestinal catarrh 
which in a greater or less degree accompanies it, often reduce the child to a 
feeble and emaciated condition. It can easily be imagined that forty or 
fifty attacks of coughing every twenty-four hours produce great muscular 
exhaustion, and affect the child's vital powers. In milder cases, where the 
fits of coughing do not exceed twelve, the child may appear quite well 
between the paroxysms, and, though perhaps vomiting after the cough, it is 
quickly ready for another meal, with sharpened appetite. Fever is mostly 
present in the second stage in variable degree, especially at night. An 
examination of the chest will generally disclose bubbling rales in the larger 
tubes, the secretion being freer than in the first stage. 

The Stage of Decline. — After a variable period of four to six weeks, during 
the latter portion of which the attacks of coughing have been diminishing, 
the characteristic whoop disappears, and convalescence may be said to be 
established. Mostly the paroxysmal character of the cough remains, and 
often the vomiting ; gradually the bronchial catarrh disappears, and the cough 
ceases, though it is very likely to return, and the whoop along with it, whenever 
fresh cold is taken. 

Complications. — By far the commonest is some form of broncho-pneu- 
monia; pleurisy and empyema are not uncommon. There is nothing 
specially characteristic about the broncho-pneumonia of whooping cough ; it 
is usually double, is very apt to be generalised rather than ' patchy,' and 
tends to resolve, slowly passing into a subacute or chronic state. Croupous 
pneumonia is not uncommon in older children who take a chill during con- 
valescence, and may be followed by empyema. Empyema and atelectasis 



Whooping Cough 299 

are very apt to occur in connection with bronchitis in small and rickety 
children. Young children are sometimes convulsed, the convulsions perhaps 
being due to asphyxia, and perhaps meningeal haemorrhage ; drowsiness 
and coma are usually due to the same causes. Cerebral symptoms, whether 
convulsions or drowsiness, are of grave import. Intestinal catarrh and 
diarrhoea of a mucous character are also common ; the catarrhal condition 
of the air-passages extends to the intestines, and large quantities of mucus 
are secreted, which prevent the digestion and assimilation of food and cause 
a rapid passage of the food through the intestines. The child passes small 
mucoid stools many times a day, is feverish and rapidly wastes. Sometimes 
the diarrhoea is of a dysenteric character. Tuberculosis, especially of the 
bronchial and intestinal glands, is a sequela rather than a complication, and 
usually follows some months later. A wasting during the third stage is 
oftener due to intestinal catarrh or chronic broncho-pneumonia than to 
tuberculosis. Among the lesser complications are ulceration of the fraenum 
linguae, stomatitis, and sores about the nose and lips. Small conjunctival 
haemorrhages are very common. The child often remains for a long time in 
a weakly state of health, and may take long to regain its former strength. 
Permanent deformity of the chest may remain as a legacy left by an attack 
of whooping cough. 

Diag?iosis. — Often no diagnosis can be made in the early stages, and this 
is the more unfortunate as there can be no doubt that the disease is infectious 
during this stage. The fact that whooping cough occurs in epidemics will 
often aid us in coming to a conclusion. Difficulty may often arise in more 
chronic cases in which there is a paroxysmal cough followed by more or less 
of a stridulous sound, as to whether such are specific and are to go into 
quarantine. The diagnosis will turn largely on whether any cause for the 
spasmodic cough can be discovered as well as the history ; if there has been 
previous wasting, and there is some evidence of tuberculosis of the lungs, 
enlarged mediastinal glands would be suspected as the cause of the spas- 
modic cough. Diagnosis is often difficult in infants, as also it sometimes is 
in older children, who may have whooping cough without any characteristic 
'whoop ;' the ' whoop' may also cease when pneumonia supervenes. 

Prognosis. — The fact that the mortality is vastly greater in children 
under two or three years of age than it is in older children must be borne in 
mind in forming a forecast of results. The prognosis in the case of an infant 
or a weakly child of eighteen months or two years of age is very uncertain, 
and death may occur suddenly during a fit of coughing from convulsions 
or spasm of the glottis. The prognosis is always rendered grave by the 
presence of broncho-pneumonia ; the latter when it follows whooping cough 
is more fatal than when non-specific. Whooping cough during the winter 
months is always more likely to be complicated with chest disease than in 
the summer, and while this is especially true of the poorer classes, it holds 
good also to a lesser extent in the better housed classes of the population. 
The presence of rickets affects the prognosis unfavourably. The diagnosis 
between chronic broncho-pneumonia and tuberculosis and between chronic 
intestinal catarrh and mesenteric disease is very difficult, but the tubercular 
diseases are much more likely to follow at a distance with a period of com- 
parative health intervening, while the simpler forms are more likely to 



300 The Specific Fevers 

complicate or immediately follow. A chronic pneumonia often clears up, 
and the child recovers, and a subacute intestinal catarrh may not improbably 
do the same. 

Quarantine. — Six weeks is usually stated as the time the infection lasts, 
dating from the commencement of the whoop ; but in all cases it is wise to 
keep up the quarantine till all cough has ceased and the child is quite well. 
If the cough or even whoop recur after a period of undoubted health, there 
is no fear of infection. 

Pathology and Morbid Anatomy. — The epidemic prevalence of whooping 
cough and its infectious character would suggest its cause being due to 
some micro-organism. Letzerich and others have described such micro- 
organisms in the sputum of patients suffering from whooping cough ; but it is 
doubtful if the actual specific bacillus has been isolated from the numerous 
micro-organisms found in the secretions of the mouth and fauces. From 
the observations of Von Herff and others who have watched the larynx with 
a laryngoscope during a paroxysm of coughing, it would appear that a 
small flake of mucus secreted from the posterior wall of the larynx was the 
excitant of the spasm. The entire larynx and trachea was in a condition 
of catarrh, the greatest irritability being in the inter-arytenoid region and the 
under part of the glottis. Some believe that the nasal mucous membrane 
rather than the lower respiratory tract is the seat of irritation, and that it is 
here that local remedies should be applied. 

No characteristic appearances are found on the post-mortem table ; the 
lesions found will vary according to the mode of death. The brain is 
usually congested, especially the veins ; there is often some subarachnoid 
fluid on the convexity and much fluid in the lateral ventricles. Various 
lesions may be found in the lungs, such as injection of the mucous mem- 
brane of the larynx and bronchi, with excessive secretion, emphysema, 
collapse, and various stages of broncho-pneumonia. 

Treatment. — The most important part of treatment consists in confining 
the patients to well-aired rooms which are free from draughts and maintained 
at an equable temperature. Two large rooms should, if possible, be set 
apart for the treatment, the one occupied being maintained at a temperature 
of 6o°, while the other is being thoroughly aired or disinfected, the latter 
being again warmed before the patients are removed. There can be no doubt 
that the attack is rendered more intense and protracted by rebreathing the 
infection as well as by a fresh catarrh being set up. Except in the warmest 
weather, the patient should be confined to his rooms in the house the whole 
time the disease lasts, as long as any ' whooping' is present, and as long as 
any rales or rhonchi are heard in the chest. Too great care cannot be 
exercised here ; the bronchial tubes and lungs remain exceedingly sensitive 
to cold, and many severe attacks of pleuro-pneumonia have resulted both in 
old and young from a chill caught at outdoor games or from having gone to 
the seaside for change of air. Children are much better at home until 
well over the attack, not only for the sake of others but for themselves; and 
the pleadings of the friends for change of air must be sternly resisted until 
six weeks at least from the commencement of whooping. With regard to 
medicinal treatment, there is no lack of remedies which have been 
tried, and no disease has been more ineffectually though diligently drugged. 



Whooping Cough 301 

It is quite safe to say that no specific has as yet been discovered. During 
the catarrhal stage, when the cough is hard, the expectoration scanty, and 
there is fever, the best remedies include small doses of antimony, ipecacuanha, 
liq. ammon. acetatis, or nitrate of potash. At night, when the cough is 
especially troublesome, hot mustard poultices should be applied to the chest, 
and hot demulcent drinks, such as black-currant tea, or barley water, or 
lemonade, may be taken. Beef-tea is often of service for the night, and 
a dose of hot brandy-and-water will sometimes induce sleep. The room 
should be kept moist with hot steam if there is much bronchial catarrh 
or laryngitis. In the spasmodic stage, when the secretion is free, the ex- 
pectorants should be stopped and sedatives and small doses of narcotics 
substituted. At this stage the diffusion of carbolic-acid vapour through 
the apartment is frequently of great service ; this may be done by vapor- 
ising strong carbolic powder in one of Calvert's carbolic vaporisers ; it is 
not certain how this acts ; no doubt to some extent it soothes by acting as 
an anaesthetic to the fauces. In a similar way cocaine or resorcin may be 
used in the form of a spray or mopped on to the fauces with a brush, but the 
effect is usually only temporary, as the anaesthesia produced by cocaine is 
too short to be of much service. Internally we are inclined to believe that 
antipyrin, antifebrin, and phenacetin are among the most useful remedies ; 
from two to eight grains of the former being given every four hours according 
to age, and half this dose of the last two. Of other drugs at this period, 
belladonna, chloral, bromides, opium, cannabis indica, quinine, take the first 
place, but all at times fail to give any appreciable relief. Tr. belladonnas is 
best given in small doses every* four or six hours, increasing the frequency 
rather than the size of the dose. The combination of belladonna and 
cannabis indica is a favourite one ; they may be combined as in F. 28. 

The bromides and quinine dissolved in syrup of lemons with syrup of 
Santa Yerba is also a good combination. Croton chloral is highly praised 
by Dr. Webb ; he orders a drachm of this drug to be dissolved in two ounces 
each of tr. cardamomi and glycerine, giving half a teaspoonful to two tea- 
spoonfuls every four hours to children of one to ten years. Dr. Ringer 
advises tr. lobeliae, and gives doses of five to ten minims every hour even to 
young children. Opium is of all drugs the most certain to relieve ; but it is 
perhaps best reserved to be given in one dose at night ; one to five drops 
of nepenthe or half to two grains of Dover's powder will often secure a fairly 
good night. The bowels should be carefully attended to, and a laxative will 
frequently be required. Unless the secretion is very copious, poultices or 
fomentations in this stage give more relief than do liniments. 

In the later stages, when the secretion is copious and the cough less and 
less spasmodic in character, nitric acid, alum, quinine, are most likely to be 
of service. Alum may be given with some sedative as conium or hyoscyamus, 
the old formula of Golding Bird's being a good one : — Alum. gr. j, succi 
conii it\v, syrup, rhceados lT\x, aq. anethi ad 5j ; 5J~5iij every four hours. 
Of external applications there are a goodly number which have been em- 
ployed with varying success. Equal parts of lin. camph. co., lin. saponis, 
and lin. belladonnas, used cautiously to tender skins, make a good stimu- 
lating liniment. Some have great faith in oil of amber, as in the following : 
01. succini 5ij, tr. opii 5ij, sp. camph. 3SS, ol. amygdalae gss. The liniment 






302 The Specific Fevers 

of iodide of potassium and soap is useful. The diet both in the spasmodic 
and catarrhal stage should be carefully arranged, and is difficult on account 
of the vomiting so frequently present. It will often be necessary to feed little 
and often to make up for food vomited. The complications, such as broncho- 
pneumonia and intestinal catarrh, must be treated on the general principles 
given elsewhere. 

Mumps, Parotitis. — Mumps is an infectious disease which is apt to 
prevail in epidemics ; sometimes these extend over wide areas, though at 
other times cases occur and there is little tendency to spread. We have 
never noticed an extensive epidemic in hospital, but the nurses are apt to 
catch the disease from children who have been admitted incubating mumps, 
and it would seem that close contact, perhaps inhaling the affected person's 
breath, was the commonest way in which an attack was contracted. It 
sometimes happens that there is no spread of the disease in the ward where 
the affected child was, but cases have occurred in other wards, the infection 
being carried by a nurse, or perhaps by a nurse who has herself had a slight 
attack. 

Incubation. — According to Dr. Dukes, fourteen to twenty-five days. In 
some cases observed by us, it was fourteen, seventeen, and twenty-one days 
respectively. 

Sympto7iis and Course. — Mumps is usually a mild disease attended by 
discomfort rather than serious illness. The attack usually begins with chilli- 
ness, stiffness about the jaws, local tenderness, often neuralgic pains ; there 
is often no fever, sometimes the temperature goes up suddenly to 102 or 
103° The swelling is at first one-sided, involving the region of the parotid, 
which is prominent and tender ; deglutition is difficult and painful. Both 
sides are usually swollen in a day or two, and the patient presents a cha- 
racteristic appearance. The fauces and tonsils are normal. While the 
parotids are usually affected, in some cases the swelling is entirely confined 
to the sub-maxillary salivary glands on one or both sides ; it is in these 
cases that the nature of the attack is likely to be overlooked. The attack 
lasts, as a rule, from a few days to a week. Orchitis occasionally occurs in 
boys about puberty. Hemiplegia has been known to follow (Gowers). 

Diagnosis. — We have known cases of mumps sent into a scarlet-fever 
ward as cases of scarlet fever, and we have also seen a case of tonsillitis with 
enlarged cervical glands, probably scarlatinal, which was diagnosed as mumps. 
In all cases of doubt as to the nature of the external swelling, the appearances 
presented by the tonsils should be decisive. The swelling due to mumps in 
the majority of cases corresponds to the parotid region, the swelling of 
cervical glands secondary to tonsillar affections is at the angle of the jaw 
or just behind it. There is rarely much fever or illness with mumps ; in 
diphtheria or scarlet fever, where there is much external swelling or cellulitis, 
the child is evidently gravely ill, and if a satisfactory view of the fauces can 
be obtained, they will be seen to be swollen, cedematous, and perhaps covered 
with exudation. In adenitis, attended by fever, it is the lymphatic glands 
rather than the parotid which are affected. In spite, however, of these dis- 
tinctions, difficult and doubtful cases may occur. 1 

1 Suppuration in a parotid gland may take place in enteric or pyaemia, but this can 
hardly be mistaken for mumps. 



Malarial Fever 303 

Treatment. — Not much is required except hot fomentations or belladonna 
liniment to the parotid regions and a saline followed by a tonic. Three or 
four weeks, according to the severity of the case, should elapse before the 
patient returns to school or mixes with his fellows. 

Malarial Fever. — Children who live in malarial districts suffer from 
malarial attacks as frequently as do adults ; indeed, according to Holt, they 
are peculiarly susceptible. In this country many opportunities do not occur 
of seeing the disease in its early stages ; the cases which mostly come 
under observation are those which are chronic ; having acquired the disease 
abroad and having been invalided home. In these cases marked anaemia 
with enlarged spleen, and perhaps intermittent fever, form the commonest 
symptoms. The anaemia is frequently profound and the spleen attains to 
an enormous size. Nephritis as a sequela of aguish attacks is sometimes 
seen in this country. Such a case we saw with Dr. Massiah, the attack 
having been contracted in Brazil ; there was marked anaemia, enlarged 
spleen, the urine was highly albuminous, and contained fatty and fibrinous 
casts. According to Lewis Smith, intermittent fever when it affects those 
over 3^ years differs little from the adult form, while below that age it presents 
some peculiarities. Malarial fever may be hereditary, being derived from 
the mother. In one case, recorded by Lewis Smith, an infant showed dis- 
tinct symptoms a week after birth ; the mother had suffered from tertian 
ague at intervals during the two years prior to her confinement. In the 
infant the type is quotidian, rarely tertian ; there are three stages presented 
by an attack ; the second or febrile is well marked, the temperature rising to 
104 to 106 ; the first and third less so. The spleen soon enlarges, and 
after a week or two, if the attack continues, there is marked anaemia. The 
enlargement of the spleen fails to take place in some of the cases. Dr. 
Emmett Holt, of New York, in making an analysis of the symptoms of 184 
cases of malaria in children, has pointed out how much more insidious the 
invasion of the disease is in children than in adults, and consequently there 
is more liability to overlook it and attribute the symptoms to other causes. 
Even the periodicity of the recurrence may not be regular, which would 
still more throw the physician off his guard. In his cases with a gradual 
invasion he noted anaemia, frontal headache, constipated bowels, muscular 
weakness, vomiting, furred tongue, drowsiness, and epigastric pains ; these 
symptoms usually recurring in the afternoon. The spleen was enlarged, but 
there were exceptions to this. The fever noticed by this author assumed three 
types : the first in which the fever remained high for twenty-four to seventy- 
two hours, when a marked remission took place, the temperature then assum- 
ing a remittent type ; secondly, the fever is at first slight and only present 
at one period of the twenty-four hours, but gradually increases in intensity 
and assumes a remittent type ; thirdly, assuming a distinctly remittent 
or intermittent type from the outset. Cerebral symptoms are common ; 
there are frontal headache, drowsiness, and apathy, occasionally convul- 
sions ; pains in various parts of the body ; various spasmodic disorders, 
as torticollis and motor paralysis, are less common, but sometimes take the 
form of paraplegia. Dr. Holt has also pointed out that the malarial poison 
may complicate and modify other diseases ; of these bronchitis and pul- 
monary congestion are common, the latter closely resembling pneumonia in 



304 . The Specific. Fevers 

the onset, but subsiding in a few hours, to come on again in the course of 
twenty-four hours. Spasmodic asthma of malarial origin may occur. Various 
gastro-intestinal disorders, as vomiting and diarrhoea, occur periodically at a 
certain time daily. The diagnosis in these cases depends upon : (1) Perio- 
dicity of the symptoms ; (2) the co-existence of splenic enlargement ; 
(3) failure of the usual remedies to relieve ; (4) ; their prompt disappearance 
under the use of antiperiodics. 

Treat7iient. — The treatment consists, as in adults, in the administration of 
antiperiodics, such as quinine, cinchonine, and arsenic. 



305 



CHAPTER XV. 

DISEASES OF THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM. 

Diseases of the Heart. — The most interesting point to clinicians in 
connection with the topographical anatomy of the heart in infancy and child- 
hood relates to the position of the cardiac impulse, inasmuch as in several 
morbid conditions the position of the heart is likely to be altered, and this 
altered position of the impulse is often of the greatest importance in making 
a diagnosis. The most recent and complete observations of the normal 
position of the heart in infancy and childhood have been made by Symington, 
who has examined a large number of frozen sections of the thorax at various 
ages, and thus was enabled to state more positively the actual position than it 
is possible to do by observations made upon the living subject by palpation 
and percussion. He comes to the conclusion that the cardiac impulse in 
infants and children usually takes a more external position than in adults ; 
for while in the latter the impulse is usually about an inch internal to the 
nipple line, in children it is usually either in the nipple line, or it may be a 
quarter of an inch external to it. This is attributed by Symington to the 
greater relative narrowness of the infant's chest in the transverse diameter, 
while, at birth at least, the heart is relatively larger than in the adult. It 
has been asserted that in children the impulse is usually raised and visible 
in the fourth space instead of the fifth space, as it usually is in adults. No 
doubt this is true, but it is due to the frequency with which the stomach and 
bowels are distended with gas during childhood, the diaphragm, and there- 
fore the heart, being pushed up. According to Symington's observations, 
the position of the heart and great vessels is normally practically the same as 
far as the. vertical position is concerned. 

Diseases of the Pericardium. — In a few cases a congenital absence of 
the pericardium or some defect in the pericardium has been recorded. In 
some cases a hernia or diverticulum has been present ; these congenital de- 
fects are of little practical interest. 

Pericarditis. — Etiology. — In children, as in adults, the most important 
association of pericarditis is with rheumatism, acute or subacute, as it arises 
more often during a rheumatic attack than under any other condition. An 
exception to this dictum must, however, be stated ; for in children under two 
years of age rheumatism is an uncommon ailment, and pericarditis when it 
occurs is most frequently the result of an extension of the inflammation from 
a pleuro-pneumonia or pleurisy, or arises in association with such an attack. 
It is by no means uncommon to hear a pericardial friction sound during an 
attack of pneumonia in young children, or perhaps to discover post mortem 
that a pericarditis has taken place in a case which was looked upon during 
life as one of simple broncho- or pleuro-pneumonia. In such cases, if they 

X 



306 Diseases of the Circulatory System 

recover, a chronic pericardial effusion may remain after the pulmonary lesion 
has been recovered from. 

Pericarditis occasionally occurs during an attack of scarlet fever, either 
being associated with synovitis, or it may be in the absence of any joint 
complications. It occurs also during the course of post-scarlatinal nephritis, 
as a result of a uraemic condition, and under such circumstances must be 
looked upon as of extremely evil augury. It may occur during septicaemia, 
to whatever cause this may be attributed, or in periostitis and ostitis, and we 
have known it supervene in an attack of influenza. But, with the exception 
of children under two years of age, pericarditis is most frequently associated 
with the rheumatic state. Not that it only occurs during an attack of acute 
rheumatism, for it may supervene when there is no joint pain whatever, or 
when the joint pain is slight ; but it occurs in a rheumatic individual, one 
who has already suffered from an attack, or who suffers from some of the 
associations of rheumatism, such as chorea, erythema nodosum, or endo- 
carditis. Pericarditis is apt to crop up in an unexpected and unexplained 
manner, and it should be carefully looked for whenever indefinite precordial 
or epigastric pain is complained of. It must be borne in mind that, like 
pleurisy, it occurs in an extremely mild form ; a pericardial rub may be heard 
unexpectedly in the absence of any definite symptoms in children who are 
going about and make no complaint of pain or dyspncea. These attacks 
pass away, and presumably leave more or less of adhesions between the 
visceral and parietal layers of the pericardium. 

Cases of pericarditis occurring during fcetal life have been recorded by 
Billard, Bednar, and others. It also occurs in the septicaemia of the newly- 
born, secondary to an inflammatory condition of the cord. 

Symptoms. — The subjective symptoms are usually ill ' defined, especially 
in young children, and are of comparatively little importance as helps to dia- 
gnosis ; pain referred to the precordial or epigastric region is usually com- 
plained of. The type of respiration is thoracic, the diaphragm being used 
as little as possible, as excessive movement of the diaphragm gives pain. The 
fever is only moderate, dyspncea is present, especially where there is much 
effusion, or in cases of advanced heart disease. The symptoms mostly to be 
relied upon are : (i) The presence of a pericardial friction sound. (2) An 
increased area of cardiac dulness proportionate to the effusion present. 
(3) The disappearance of the apex-beat, or the apex-beat is raised and its area 
extended. (1) A pericardial friction sound can hardly be overlooked if care- 
fully listened for, and is not likely to be mistaken for valvular murmurs, ex- 
cept, perhaps, in the case of infants the subject of congenital heart disease, 
the murmur in such cases being often harsh and superficial. It must not be 
forgotten that the presence of a friction sound is not incompatible with a 
moderate amount of effusion into the pericardial sac. It mostly, however, 
disappears as effusion takes place, and reappears as the liquid becomes ab- 
sorbed. (2) As effusion takes place into the sac, the area of cardiac dulness 
is necessarily increased in proportion to the amount of fluid present. The 
pericardium of a healthy child (age 6-9 years) when fully distended contains 
about 6 oz. (Sibson) ; the effect of distention with fluid is to increase the 
cardiac dulness laterally, the lungs, especially the left, being pushed on one 
side and in an upward direction, so that the dulness extends to the second 



Pericarditis 3 07 

left costal cartilage, or even higher, and over a corresponding portion of the 
sternum. In lesser effusions the fluid tends to accumulate in the lowest 
part, and so modifies the dulness in a lateral direction. (3) The cardiac 
impulse disappears and the sounds become faint if the effusion is large, as a 
layer of fluid is interposed between the heart and the chest-walls. Instead 
of the apex-beat disappearing, it may be diffused and raised so as to be 
palpable or visible in the third and fourth spaces, as pointed out by Sibson. 
While the above are the usual symptoms in a hitherto healthy subject, it 
must not be forgotten that many of the cases of pericarditis with which we 
have to do occur in children who are the subjects of long-standing heart disease, 
and whose hearts are hypertrophied and dilated. It is evident that in such 
cases pericarditis becomes an extremely grave and dangerous complication, 
and a small amount of effusion may seriously affect a heart which is already 
labouring under such severe disabilities. Moreover, the physical signs, 
especially the cardiac dulness, will be modified, and the question will arise, 
if the case is seen for the first time, as to how much of the dulness is due to 
hypertrophied heart and how much to effused fluid. In such cases the car- 
diac impulse will remain unaltered and will be palpable in its old position — 
namely, outside the nipple line in the fifth or sixth space. In old-standing 
cases there may be bulging forward of the chest-walls in consequence of the 
hypertrophy of the left ventricle ; this can hardly be present, or not to the 
same extent, in simple effusion. The existence of a bruit and the history of 
the case would help in the diagnosis. The diagnosis is of importance in 
cases where there is much dyspnoea and distress, and the question of para- 
centesis has to be considered. 

Course. — The discovery of a friction sound is usually the first thing to call 
attention to the attack. There may be only a slight rub or a loud grating 
sound heard all over the chest. At this stage, where there is no fluid present, 
presuming there is no valvular disease or dilatation, there is no, or but little, 
dyspnoea, probably more or less pain in the chest, quickened pulse and 
moderate fever. The amount of fever present is variable, seldom very high — 
101 F. to 103 F. in a severe case ; the temperature usually falls by lysis 
towards the end of the week. The rub may disappear in a few days in con- 
sequence of adhesions being formed. On the other hand, the friction sounds 
may entirely or in part disappear in consequence of effusion taking place ; 
as the effusion increases dyspnoea becomes more marked ; at first it is 
slight, but if the effusion becomes large the dyspnoea increases, coming on 
in paroxysms accompanied by cyanosis, and a small irregular pulse. It 
must not be forgotten that a considerable effusion may be present, and yet a 
loud friction sound be heard. A loud friction sound may be caused by a small 
portion of the roughened layers of pericardium coming in contact. Death 
may be sudden at this stage, especially in those cases where pericarditis 
supervenes on old heart mischief, and the cardiac walls have become 
degenerated. This tendency to sudden death must always be borne in 
mind. In other cases the fluid is gradually absorbed, the friction is again 
heard more or less intensely, and finally disappears as adhesion takes place. 

Chronic Pericarditis. — In many cases of old heart disease the pericar- 
dium is more or less adherent and much thickened, sometimes to as much as 
a quarter of an inch, or even more. This appears to be due, in some cases 

x 2 



308 Diseases of the Cii'culatory System 

at least, to repeated attacks of a slight character. This thickening of the 
pericardium clogs and impedes the action of the ventricles. An effusion 
into the pericardium, like an effusion into the pleural cavity, may be chronic. 
It sometimes happens, especially in young children, that a pericardial and 
pleural effusion takes place, the latter becomes absorbed, and adhesions form, 
while the pericardium remains distended with fluid. If the child is seen for 
the first time when this has occurred, an error in diagnosis is very easy, as 
the dulness caused by a distended pericardium shades away into the im- 
paired resonance given by a compressed and adherent left lung We have 
several times seen in young children fluid aspirated from the pericardium by 
a needle passed into the axilla, when it was believed the fluid was being 
drawn from the left pleural cavity. In these cases the needle had passed 
through the compressed left lung and entered the distended pericardium. A 
chronic pericardial effusion is sometimes present in tubercular subjects, after 
the manner of a peritoneal effusion ; this may be of long standing, and the 
diagnosis may be difficult, as the effusion may be associated with a medi- 
astinitis and may suggest the presence of mediastinal tumour. This was so 
in the following case : — 

Chronic Pericarditis and Peritonitis, General Miliary Tuberculosis. — John Hy. P., 
aged 7 years. Mother states he has always been a healthy boy till four months ago, 
when he had bronchitis ; has been wasting ever since ; his belly has been swelling since. 
Admitted August 27, 1885. Is an anaemic, flabby boy with distended abdomen, evi- 
dently containing much peritoneal fluid ; right side of chest is normal ; the left is quite 
dull in front, reaching to the clavicle above, and shading away in the stomach resonance 
and into axilla, which is also resonant ; the whole cardiac area is included in the dull area, 
the dulness extends to the right just beyond the right sternal line ; posteriorly the percus- 
sion note is normal ; over the dull area there is bronchial breathing both with ex- and 
inspiration ; there are no moist sounds ; the cardiac impulse is not visible or palpable ; 
cardiac sounds distinct ; the veins on the chest are enlarged and tortuous ; there is 
marked ascites ; the liver is enlarged ; the spleen not' felt ; urine not albuminous. Sep- 
tember -24. —Boy continues much in same state; less ascites; the temperature con- 
tinues normal or subnormal ; he does not appear ill or in any way uncomfortable ; the 
glands in the neck under jaw are enlarging. November 11. — Went home for awhile ; the 
physical signs in the chest are much the same ; the cardiac impulse npt palpable ; sounds 
faint ; has a bluish tinge about the face ; temperature has continued about normal or sub- 
normal since admission ; cervical glands have enlarged. Readmitted December 10, 
1886. Has been fairly well at home, except he has bad cough and his belly has swollen 
more; physical signs in chest much the same; there is, however, more dyspnoea; the 
face has a bluish tinge, and the superficial veins on chest .more distended ; exploration of 
chest in dull area with a hypodermic syringe ; some straw-colour coagulable fluid like 
serum was withdrawn. January 22. — Has been getting worse for some weeks past ; tem- 
perature has since December 13 been 99°-ioi -io3° ; the physical signs have not materi- 
ally altered, except there is some impaired resonance now at base of left lung behind. 
January 24. — Has been vomiting; pulse 96, irregular and intermittent ; temperature 
98°-io2°. January 25. — Continues to vomit; the ascites has much diminished. Died 
January 27. 

Post-mortem. — Some emaciation; some bulging over cardiac area; on opening chest 
it is seen the pericardium is distended, pushing the left lung away to the left out of sight, 
the edge of the right partly overlapping pericardium ; there is a complete matting together 
of the pericardium and mediastinal glands with excess of fibre-tissue ; the mediastinal 
glands are enlarged, containing miliary tubercle ; some are shrunken and pigmented ; the 
right lung is normal ; the left is compressed, surrounded by old adhesions and recent 
miliary tubercle ; on section it is condensed ; recent pulmonary apoplexy ; the pericardium 
is adherent to the parts around ; on cutting into it its walls are nearly £ inch thick, con- 
tains 2 or 3 oz. of serum and much loose granular lymph ; heart somewhat small, lymph 



Pericarditis 309 

on the surface ; mitral valve only admits fore-finger ; tricuspid, 2.1 fingers ; edges of 
mitral valve hard and sclerotic ; left auricle wall thickened ; left ventricle cavity small ; 
right ventricle dilated ; a few ounces of fluid in peritoneum ; omentum indurated, covered 
with recent miliary tubercles ; large and small intestines covered with miliary tubercles ; 
no ulcers internally ; liver adherent to the diaphragm and covered with miliary tubercles ; 
section fatty ; kidneys, a few cheesy tubercles ; spleen normal ; brain, lymph in Sylvian 
fissures, around cerebellum, and in interpeduncular space ; fluid in the ventricles ; tubercle 
on the vessels. 

Chronic pericardial effusions are apt to become purulent, and in rare cases 
the pus may find its way to the surface after the fashion of an empyema ; this 
happened in one of our own cases, a child of eighteen months, the abscess 
pointing near the tip of the sternum ; after the abscess was opened the child 
died of exhaustion, and the diagnosis was verified post mortem. In such 
cases there is much difficulty in deciding as to the origin of the pus ; as to 
whether the abscess pointing is a collection of pus finding its way out from 
the mediastinum or from the pericardium. It may also be a local empyema 
or periosteal abscess. 

Results of the Pericarditis. — When acute pericarditis supervenes in a case 
of old cardiac disease, such as mitral regurgitation with dilatation of the left 
ventricle, it generally marks the beginning of the end. The pericarditis not 
only imposes greater work on already overworked ventricles, by the friction 
which it causes, but it is apt to damage the cardiac walls themselves by the in- 
flammation, giving rise to acute dilatation and a condition of asystole. In such 
cases death is often sudden, or perhaps the patient lingers for a few weeks in a 
state of great discomfort, with all the symptoms of a dilated and weakened 
heart. The results of an adherent pericardium are necessarily also prejudicial 
to the work of the heart, presuming the adhesions to be strong and complete. 
Its effects are slowly but surely to give rise to dilatation and inefficient con- 
tractions of the cardiac walls, a result in which it is often aided by mitral 
regurgitation, and it maybe difficult to apportion the divided responsibility. 
But sometimes cases occur in which there is marked dilatation of the ven- 
tricles, a closely adherent pericardium, and mitral valves with no trace of 
old endocarditis, but which acted inefficiently in consequence of a primary 
dilatation of the ventricle ; in such cases the aorta and its branches are often 
remarkably undersized as compared with the heart — a result doubtless due 
to their being inefficiently supplied with blood and their growth thus checked. 
A chronic effusion may become purulent, as already stated. 

Complications. — In rheumatic pericarditis, endocarditis is exceedingly 
likely to occur during the attack. Pleurisy or pleuro-pneumonia may be 
present ; more rarely peritonitis and meningitis. 

Diagnosis. — A pericardial friction sound is not likely to be confounded 
with anything else, unless, perhaps, it is an exo-cardiac sound, such as is pro- 
duced by the external surface of the pericardium rubbing against a roughened 
pleura ; but this latter is heard only, or at any rate more loudly, during 
inspiration. The difficulty most likely to occur is, in a case in which there 
is admittedly old cardiac mischief, to distinguish between dulness due to the 
presence of fluid and that due to a dilated heart. To anyone who has care- 
fully watched a case from the commencement of the heart disease this diffi- 
culty may be small ; but in cases which are suffering from great dyspnoea 
and distress, in which pericarditis and dilated ventricles exist together, it is 



3 1 o Diseases of the Circulatory System 

often difficult to decide when seen for the first time what amount of fluid is 
present and what share it takes in the production of the cardiac distress. 

Mediastino-pericarditis, Pleuro-pericarditis. — An inflammation of 
the serous membrane which is reflected over the anterior edges of the lungs 
and surrounds the pericardium, sometimes takes place, mostly in association 
with a more general pleurisy or with pericarditis. At times the pleurisy 
appears to be local, being confined to the serous membrane covering the 
pericardium and lung adjoining it. The symptoms of such an inflammation 
are necessarily indefinite, almost the only definite sign being a pleuro-peri- 
cardial friction sound — that is, a rubbing sound which is synchronous with 
the cardiac beats, and which is more intense during inspiration as the lung 
expands and its edge passes in front of the heart. The rub may disappear 
entirely during expiration. The deeper the inspiration the more intense the 
friction sound becomes. As a result the edge of the lung becomes adherent 
to the pericardium, the space between the two becoming obliterated. In 
some cases a subacute or chronic inflammatory process goes on in the 
mediastinum, involving the serous membranes, connective tissue, and per- 
haps the mediastinal glands, so that a matting of all the parts takes place, 
the edges of the lungs, pericardium, and great vessels being firmly bound 
together. The pericardium may be adherent to the walls of the heart, there 
maybe extensive pleuritic adhesions of one or both lungs, and the adhesions 
in some cases are tough and firm and of almost cartilaginous hardness. 

The etiology of these cases is uncertain. Most cases are associated with 
chronic tuberculosis of the lung or with caseous mediastinal glands ; in 
others no evidence of tubercle can be found, a simple chronic inflammation 
of the connective tissue going on, ending in cicatrisation. The immediate 
result of this process is to hamper the action of the heart, preventing its 
complete systole, to interfere with the filling of the lungs during inspiration, 
and to compress the large veins entering the chest. The liver becomes 
constantly engorged, the hepatic system of veins dilated, and a secondary 
cirrhosis results. 

Symptoms. — The course of this curious affection is very chronic. In 
well-marked cases the symptoms are those which are likely to be caused by 
an obstruction to the flow of blood into the chest. Dyspnoea on exertion, 
cyanosis of the face, clubbing of the fingers, distention of the veins of the 
neck, chest, and abdomen during inspiration, and, later, oedema of the face, 
arms, feet, and abdomen. There may be signs of pulmonary tuberculosis. 
The ' pulsus paradoxus ' — i.e. an exaggeration of the normal dicrotism of the 
pulse during inspiration if the aorta is compressed or dragged upon — may 
be present ; or the pulse may intermit or disappear if a deep inspiration be 
taken. In other cases the most marked symptom is ascites, with an enlarged 
liver, suggesting a primary cirrhosis of the liver ; such cases are exceedingly 
chronic, and they improve if the fluid in the abdomen is removed by tapping, 
and will go on for months or even years ; gradually the portal obstruction 
becomes greater and the patient dies of exhaustion. 1 

The following case may be taken as an example of this affection, running 
an acute course : — 

1 See ' Mediastino-pericarditis in Children,' by H. R. Hutton, St. Thomas s Hospital 
Reports, vol. xiii. 



Congenital Heart Disease 3 1 1 

Mediastinals, Ascites. — John E. , aged 2 years. Admitted September 9, 1891. 
Mother states that her first five children are dead. No history of syphilis ; patient had 
convulsions at six months of age. Last May he had a cough and was attended by a 
doctor. A month later his abdomen began to swell, and soon after his feet ; this has 
gradually increased. On admission his face is puffy, the abdomen is distended with fluid, 
his legs are much swollen. Temperature 101 , pulse 130, respiration 40. Ltwgs. — There 
is some diminished resonance over the right upper lobe in front ; over both lungs there 
are fine bubbling rales. Heart. — Apex-beat in third interspace sounds normal. Abdomen 
is greatly distended, dulness in both flanks and in epigastrium, thrill plainly felt. Liver.— 
Edge not readily felt, spleen cannot be felt. September 10. — Temperature is 103 , varies 
from 99 to 103 . Crepitation in lungs on both sides. September 14. — Child evidently 
dying ; abdomen relaxed ; edge of liver, both right and left lobe, felt below umbilicus ; a 
nodule about the size of a marble felt in the left lobe. Temperature io5°-io6° before death. 

Post-mortem. — Lungs not adherent ; right lower lobe semi-solid with pneumonia ; 
upper lobe of left solid \\\\h graines jaunes — i.e. yellow points — but no tubercle. Much 
yellow fluid in abdomen and some lymph on liver, spleen, diaphragm, and great omentum. 
Heart not enlarged ; pericardium thick and adherent, but can be peeled off, leaving a 
granular surface adherent to the diaphragm. In the middle and posterior mediastinum 
there are enlarged glands and fibrous tissue. The glands are much enlarged and case- 
ating, one size of filbert, several with putty-like contents. Abdomen. — Lymph and 
tubercle between liver and diaphragm, some lymph on surface of liver. Liver much 
enlarged and granular, one boss size of a marble on anterior surface of right lobe near 
broad ligament, creaks when cut, section nutmeg appearance. Spleen enlarged, dis- 
tended with blood. Kidneys pale. 

Congenital Heart Disease. — The different forms of malformed hearts 
are exceedingly numerous and defy any attempt at classification, but as 
many of these, though of great interest to the anatomist as illustrating 
the various stages of development, are of little practical importance to the 
clinician, no detailed description is needed here. The principal causes 
at work in producing these malformations may be classified as follows : 
(1) Persistence of foetal openings, more particularly the foramen ovale, in con- 
sequence of the lungs remaining in part in the foetal state after birth ; there 
is obstruction through the lungs and overfilling of the right heart. (2) Endo- 
carditis, occurring during foetal life, affecting the pulmonary, the tricuspid, 
and less often the aortic or mitral valves, producing stenosis at the valvular 
orifice, and as a secondary effect the persistence of the foramen ovale, or 
ductus arteriosus ; or the septum ventriculorum may remain incomplete. 
(3) An arrest of development at sortie period of foetal life or the results of a 
false step, as it were, as when a transposition of the aorta and pulmonary 
artery occurs. 

Symptoms. — Cyanosis and the presence of a bruit are the only reliable 
signs of congenital heart disease. Cyanosis is mostly, but not universally, 
present, and it varies considerably in intensity. It is most marked, and is 
sometimes only present, when the infant cries, the face being dusky, the lips 
and tongue and extremities becoming of a bluish tinge. We must, however, 
bear in mind that some cyanosis may be present in prematurely born infants 
when the lungs are but partially inflated, and remain in the foetal state. If, 
however, the cyanosis persists for many weeks, it is probably due to mal- 
formation of the heart. In a certain proportion of cases murmurs are heard. 
These are apt to be of a rough, rasping, superficial character, and the rhythm 
is often exceedingly difficult to determine, on account of the rapid action of 
the infant's heart. The differential diagnosis is very frequently impossible, 



312 Diseases of the Circulatory System 

and only a sort of guess can be made. The position of greatest intensity 
should be determined ; but this is not always easy, as many of the murmurs 
are so loud that they are heard all over the chest. Note should be taken as 
to whether the bruit replaces or is only heard through, as it were, the heart 
sounds. A thorough examination cannot, perhaps, be made at first, as it is 
unwise to expose a weakly infant too much, and, moreover, the possibility of 
a pericardial friction sound in newly born infants must not be forgotten. 

The prognosis is, of course, bad, but much uncertainty must necessarily 
exist, as the diagnosis of the exact form of lesion present often cannot be 
made. The more cyanosis present the worse is the prognosis, as, in infants 
at least, there is a great liability to meningeal haemorrhage taking place, 
either slowly or during a fit of crying, vomiting, or coughing. Convulsions 
may at any time supervene and quickly prove fatal. The venous state of 
the blood interferes with the secretion of the digestive juices, and the whole 
system is worked at a disadvantage. In older children the amount of hyper- 
trophy and dilatation must be taken into account in making a prognosis ; the 
larger the heart, the nearer is it to the end of its tether. The extent to which 
clubbing of the fingers is present must also be considered. 

Patent Foramen Ovale. — The foramen ovale allows of the passage of 
blood from the right to the left auricle during foetal life (see fig. 47), but closes 
up shortly after birth if there is no obstruction to the circulation of blood 
in the pulmonary system, and consequent increased blood pressure on the 
right side of the heart. If, on the other hand, the lungs are only partially ex- 
panded, remaining in part in the foetal condition, a portion of the blood which 
under normal conditions would enter the pulmonary circulation escapes it by 
passing directly from the right heart to the left through the foramen ovale. 
Repeated attacks of bronchitis after birth may have a similar effect in pre- 
venting the closure of the foramen ovale. The further history of such cases 
is uncertain, but there is reason to suppose that, if the child remains free 
from the pulmonary trouble, the foramen ovale may close, or at least allow 
of little mixture of the blood of the auricles, and be therefore of but slight 
detriment to the patient. It is not uncommon to meet with such cases in 
children a year or two old, who come under medical treatment for bronchitis, 
and in whom a loud systolic basic bruit is heard, which varies in intensity 
according to the amount of pulmonary trouble present. In one of our own 
cases, a child of thirteen months, there was much bronchitis, anaemia, and 
oedema ; the child recovered for a while, but died of diphtheria nine months 
later. The post-mortem showed the foramen ovale to be the size of a 
shilling, partly closed by membranous bands crossing it ; possibly these had 
produced the bruit heard during life. The pulmonary artery was dilated. 
An open foramen ovale is usually present in cases where there is stenosis of 
the pulmonary artery or tricuspid orifice. The murmur produced by the 
passage of blood through an unclosed foramen ovale is heard best at the base 
of the heart in front, and is also heard well behind. In position the foramen 
lies at the posterior aspect of the heart, on a level with the fifth costal carti- 
lage where it joins the sternum, being behind the sternum and somewhat to 
the right. Posteriorly it lies just in front of the seventh vertebra. There may 
be an open foramen and yet no bruit be heard, as, if there is no pulmonary 
obstruction, there may be little or no rush of blood through the orifice. As 



Congenital Heart Disease 



313 



the passage of blood from auricle to auricle takes place during the auricular 
systole, presumably the bruit should be ' presystolic ' in rhythm, immediately 
preceding the first cardiac sound. It can readily be understood that it is not 
easy to distinguish between a presystolic and systolic bruit in an infant or 
young child, especially if there is some pulmonary trouble. 




^iZLzzim^^ 



L. Auricle 



Aort " """*■ 
Ductus Venosus 



Umbilical Vein- 



Umbilicus -Jrf 



Cord 



Hypogastric I 
Artery 




.Placenta 
Fig. 47. — Plan of Fcetal Circulation (Gray's.' Anatomy.'). 



Patent Septum Ventriculorum. — Unlike the inter-auricular partition, 
the septum between the ventricles becomes complete during fcetal life, usually 
during the third month. If, however, there is any obstruction at the pul- 
monary orifice, or any malformation which renders unequal the pressure of 



314 Diseases of the Circulatory System 

blood in the two ventricles, the ventricular septum remains incomplete and 
allows of the passage of blood from one ventricle to the other. The spot 
which remains open, or is the last to close up, is the so-called 'undefended spot' 
at the base, where the septum intervenes between the mitral and tricuspid 
valves, and is normally the thinnest and most membranous. An incomplete 
septum is usually associated with pulmonary obstruction, or is found in 
cases where the aorta arises from both ventricles, or where there is trans- 
position of the great vessels. In some few cases it appears to be a primary 
defect arising from arrest of development or some unknown cause. In such 
cases the child may live several years, the heart becoming enlarged, more 
particularly on account of the left ventricle undergoing dilatation and hyper- 
trophy in its efforts to maintain sufficient tension in the arteries during the 
systole, while under the disadvantage of its contents being in part forced into 
the more feebly acting right ventricle. The murmur produced is loud and 
rough, replacing the first sound ; it is heard loudest over the lower part of 
the sternum, but is well conducted to the seat of cardiac impulse. It is also, 
if loud, heard both in the axilla and posteriorly. 1 

Stenosis of the Pulmonary and Tricuspid Orifices. — If an endocarditis 
occur during fcetal life, especially during the early period, it is apt to affect 




Fig. 48. — Congenital Heart Disease, from a child aged 19 months. Stenosis of the pulmonary 
artery, a, aorta ; b, pulmonary artery ; c, patent ductus arteriosus. 

the pulmonary and tricuspid valves, the liability of the valves on the left side 
being greater towards the end of fcetal life, as more and more work is imposed 
upon the left heart. In some cases a complete stenosis of the pulmonary 



1 See case reported by Hutton in the Abstracts, i< 
Arch, of Pediatrics , p. 134, 1887. 



;, p. 45 ; and Keating and Edwards, 



Congenital Heart Disease 



315 



and tricuspid orifices takes place, the heart becoming trilocular. Thus in the 
•case of an infant, markedly cyanotic during life, but who lived for four 
months, it was found that the pulmonary orifice was completely closed, the 
tricuspid only admitted a crowquill, and the right ventricle was contracted and 
diminutive. There was an open foramen ovale, and the pulmonary circula- 
tion had been maintained by an open ductus arteriosus, the lungs being thus 
supplied by the aorta. In other cases where the stenosis of the pulmonary 
artery is only partial, the patient may live for years or even reach adult life ; 
there is usually an open foramen ovale, or ductus arteriosus, or defective 
interventricular septum ; cyanosis is mostly present, of a more or less high 
grade ; the child easily gets out of breath, is backward in talking and 
getting on its feet, and is incapable of any great amount of exertion. The 




Fig. 49. — Same heart as fig. 48. Right ventricle opened, a, aorta arising from both ventricles ; 
b, pulmonary artery, valves adherent, only admits a large probe ; c, incomplete interventri- 
cular septum ; d, tricuspid valve?. 



murmur present is usually loud, superficial, and rasping, being best heard 
over the pulmonary valves, over the second left costal cartilage near the 
sternum. There may be signs of dilatation of the right ventricle, such as 
epigastric pulsation. 

This is perhaps the commonest form of congenital heart disease found in 
children who have survived infancy and early childhood. Such children 
may live to grow up, but are apt to suffer from tuberculosis or to be carried 
off by bronchitis or pneumonia. Post-natal endocarditis is sometimes 
superadded. The diagnosis is not always easy between pulmonary stenosis 
and open foramen ovale without other lesion, especially as the bruit heard 
may result from the presence of both lesions. In pulmonary stenosis there 
is more likely to be cyanosis and a dilated right ventricle, and the murmur 
to be confined to and heard loudest in the pulmonary area. Cadet de 



316 Diseases of the Circulatory System 

Gassicourt has reported a case where a bruit was produced through en- 
larged glands pressing on the pulmonary artery. 

Stenosis of the Aorta or IVIitral Valves, — In some cases there appears 
to be a congenital smallness of the aorta and arterial system, though it most 
probably is the result of undergrowth, being secondary to some other cardiac 
lesion, by reason of which the arterial system is imperfectly supplied with 
blood. An endocarditis occurring late in fcetal life sometimes affects the 
aortic valves, and an endocarditis may also occur after birth, and still further 
deform or pucker the valves. In such cases, if there is marked obstruction 
at the aortic valves, the ductus arteriosus may remain open, and some of the 
blood may pass, as it does during fcetal life, from the pulmonary artery into 
the aorta, without passing through the lungs. The left ventricle will become 
hypertrophied. When the stenosis is only moderate life may be prolonged 
for many years. Stenosis of the mitral valves may also occur. 

Transposition of the Aorta and Pulmonary Artery. — This curious 
malformation is not uncommon ; the foramen ovale and ventricular septum 
remain open. Life is rarely prolonged for more than a few months ; there 
is much cyanosis, but no bruit is present. A diagnosis during life is hardly 
possible. Of the many other malformations or arrests of development, such 
as a heart consisting of single auricle and ventricle, or a three-chambered 
heart, it is unnecessary to speak. 

Endocarditis. — Inflammation of the membrane lining the heart, more 
especially that part which covers the valves, occurs at all periods of life. It 
may attack the foetus, and then usually it is right-sided ; but if it occur in the 
last few weeks of fcetal life it may affect the mitral and aortic valves. It may 
also occur during the two or three years succeeding birth ; it is, however, 
less common at this period than in later life, though it is probably often over- 
looked. It is common during the later periods of childhood and youth. 
Like pericarditis, its usual association is with the rheumatic state, not that 
there is necessarily marked joint-tenderness and high fever, but the patient 
exhibits some of the symptoms or associations of rheumatism, such as chorea, 
or erythema nodosum, or he has suffered from undoubted joint troubles in 
the past. During an attack of rheumatism, children are especially prone to 
suffer from endocarditis, and the proportion of those who do suffer is greater 
than in the case of adults, being in the case of children perhaps 75-80 per 
cent. ; in adults the proportion must be far less than this. Endocarditis also 
occurs in scarlatinal synovitis ; the heart does not so often suffer here as in 
simple rheumatism. In nephritis, in pyaemia, and during attacks of any of 
the zymotic fevers, especially diphtheria, endocarditis may occur. In all 
febrile conditions a difficulty may arise in the diagnosis, in distinguishing 
murmurs due to organic disease from haemic murmurs. During fever the 
circulation is disturbed and the cardiac beats increased in number, the first 
cardiac sound being wanting in sharpness, or there may be a ' murmurish J 
sound heard ; if this disappears during convalescence we are hardly justified 
in saying that an endocarditis has existed. That endocarditis does occur at 
times during an attack of scarlet fever or during convalescence is certain ; it 
is, however, rare to find the valves affected in a fatal case of scarlet fever. 

Malignant or ulcerative endocarditis arises in some instances in connec- 
tion with the rheumatic state, being engrafted on to an ordinary rheumatic en- 



Endocarditis 



317 



docarditis ; it occurs in connection with acute nephritis, suppurative periostitis, 
and osteomyelitis. It appears sometimes to follow scarlet fever. Recent 
observations have shown the presence of septic micro-organisms, such 
as streptococci pyog., staphylococci, and Fraenkel's pneumonia diplo- 
cocci on the valves in malignant endocarditis, and it would appear as if a 
simple endocarditis afforded a suitable soil for the development of these 
pyogenic micro-organisms. 





i! f m If 





Fig. 50. —Acute Endocarditis of Mitral Valves in a case of Chorea. (See Fatal Case of Chorea). 



The symptoms of simple endocarditis, such as occurs during rheumatism, 
are. not distinctive. There is often precordial pain, perhaps some dyspnoea, 
usually some fever of an intermittent type (see fig. 51), though this, in some 
instances, may be due to the rheumatism present ; indeed, the only symptom 
upon which any reliance can be placed is the presence of a bruit ; it is certain, 
however, that endocarditis may exist without a bruit being present. In the 
vast majority of cases it is the mitral orifice which is affected, a murmur 
being heard which replaces the first sound at the apex. The constitutional 
disturbance is but slight, or at least it is impossible to separate the sym- 
ptoms produced by the endocarditis from those produced by the rheumatism. 
When an attack of endocarditis takes place in a case of old heart disease, 
where there is 'mitral regurgitation and a bruit present, it is rarely possible 
to make a definite diagnosis. 

When the endocarditis is of the malignant or ' ulcerative ; variety, the 
constitutional symptoms are usually much more marked, and are those of 



3i 



Diseases of the Circulatory System 



septicaemia engrafted on to heart disease. It may supervene in a subject 
already suffering from rheumatic heart disease, post-scarlatinal nephritis, or 
periostitis. In some cases the symptoms are very like those of acute tuber- 
culosis, and in one case which came under our notice a death certificate to 
that effect was given, a subsequent post-mortem showing the real nature of 
the disease to be acute endocarditis. In such cases the bruit may be of a 
musical character and accompanied by a thrill ; the aortic valves may also 
be affected and be the seat of a bruit. There is usually precordial pain, often 
pain in the left shoulder ; a hectic temperature rising to 103 or 104 in the 
evening and falling in the morning, and enlargement and often tenderness of 
the spleen. The urine is usually albuminous, often highly so. There may 
be joint pain and some of the phenomena of embolism. In one of our own 
cases there was aneurism due to embolism of the middle cerebral artery ; in 
another embolism of the lenticular-striate artery. 

In any case of undoubted heart disease with intermittent pyrexia, malig- 
nant endocarditis should be suspected, especially if there is enlargement of 




Fig. 51. — Temperature Chart of a case of Endocarditis supervening on the sixth day of a mild Scarlet 
Fever ; there were no joint lesions, the bruit persisted, and dilatation of the left ventricle followed. 

the spleen. The aortic, tricuspid, and pulmonary valves are often affected 
in malignant endocarditis ; the fact that an aortic bruit is heard in a case of 
acute cardiac disease may help us to decide in favour of malignant endocarditis. 
The following case of malignant endocarditis may be taken as an example : — 



Malignant Endocarditis — Embolism of Brain and Spleen.— -Sarah E. C, aged 11 years. 
Mother has had rheumatic fever. Four children have died of wasting and convulsions. 
Last Christmas child had chorea for three months and also rheumatism. A month ago 
child complained of pains in limbs. She has a cough and is short of breath, but has 
been going to school up to a fortnight ago. Admitted August 20, 1891. Heart. — Apex- 
beat in sixth space, outside nipple line, no thrill, musical systolic murmur at apex, does 
not replace the first sound ; second sound accentuated, no bruit. Lungs, normal. Urine, 
trace of albumen. August 27. — Child has improved. There is a presystolic as well as a 
systolic bruit ; slight presystolic thrill. Temperature goes to ioo° at night. Sep- 
tember 9. — No presystolic murmur now ; rough systolic at the apex well conducted into 
axilla. Temperature 99 to 103 . At 7 P.M. last night child complained of pain in right 
arm and leg. An examination this morning shows complete hemiplegia, the right arm 
and leg are paralysed ; there is also facial paralysis of the same side ; knee-jerk diminished ; 
plantar reflex present ; slight dropsy of right eyelid ; hemi-ansesthesia of the same side. 



Chronic Heart Disease 319 

Child not unconscious ; tongue protruded to right ; speech indistinct and thick ; no certain 
loss of memory for words ; she will give the names of common objects ; no optic neu- 
ritis ; spleen much enlarged, no albumen. September 19. — Systolic murmur very loud ; 
paralysis about the same. September 23. — Temperature 98 to 102 ; pulse 108 ; spleen 
and liver much enlarged. September 26. — Systolic murmur about the same. There is 
ankle clonus on right side and exaggerated knee-jerk ; some wasting of the arm and leg. 
November 24. — Patient has been getting weaker since last note and more anaemic, her 
face becoming quite pallid. Temperature has varied from 99 to 103 ; the paralysis is 
much the same, except that contracture has become more marked during the last few- 
weeks, and the knee-jerk more pronounced. Early on the morning of November 24 she 
became unconscious, the breathing stertorous ; she lingered a few hours in this state and 
then sank. 

Post-mortem. — Lungs. — Both lungs studded with pale infarcts, hypostatic pneumonia 
bases of both lungs. Heart. — Much enlarged, extending from nipple to nipple ; some 
two ounces of fluid in the pericardium ; no pericarditis. Left ventricle dilated and con- 
taining much dark clot ; mitral valve covered with large warty granulations which can be 
readily detached ; posterior surface of left auricle is the seat of numerous granulations ; 
there is also a small patch on the surface of the ventricle, where there has been friction or 
where a flap of the mitral valve has impinged. All other valves are normal. Liver. — 
Congested, nutmeg, and much enlarged. Kidneys. — Right kidney contains an infarct of 
some standing ; left also. Spleen. — Very large, contains two large infarcts. Brain. — 
Brain appears firm and healthy. There is an embolus at the junction of middle and 
anterior cerebral arteries on the right side ; there has evidently been embolism of one of 
the branches of the middle cerebral of the left side in the Sylvian fissure, as it is white 
and apparently plugged. Making horizontal sections through the brain, the first section 
shows some surface softening of the left ascending parietal convolution. Section made 
through the roof of the lateral ventricles shows softening of the convolutions of the island 
of Reil and caudate nucleus. Section through internal capsule shows a patch of softening 
involving the lenticular nucleus and anterior limb of the internal capsule. Section below 
this shows a lenticular-striate artery plugged with clot and impervious. The softened 
parts are of a rusty colour. The hemiplegia was no doubt due to an embolus in the left 
lenticular-striate artery, and the softening on the surface to embolism of branch of left 
middle cerebral (see fig. 92). 

Chronic Heart Disease. — The immediate result of endocarditis is to 
cause a swelling and roughness of the endocardium which prevents the com- 
plete closure of the valves and thus allows of regurgitation ; puckering and 
thickening of the valves takes place as time goes on, especially if there are 
recurrent attacks, and the valves become permanently damaged. In children 
it is the mitral which almost constantly suffers. In some cases the valves 
become adherent at their edges, and thus stenosis is produced. Gradually 
other and compensator}* changes take place ; if the regurgitation occurs at the 
mitral orifice, the left ventricle gradually dilates and becomes hypertrophic d. 
At first the compensatory changes which take place are sufficient to prevent 
the patient from feeling any inconvenience, and both he and his friends may 
be ignorant of the existence of valvular disease ; but sooner or later dyspnoea 
on exertion and precordial pain are complained of, which direct attention to 
the heart. Such patients often suffer from bronchitis — a result of the con- 
stant congestion of the lungs which is present in mitral regurgitation. If a 
physical examination of the heart is made at this period, a bruit is detected 
heard loudest at the apex, but well conducted into the axilla and to the 
angle of the scapula ; the click of the pulmonary valves is accentuated, while 
the aortic sounds are weak. The apex-beat is diffused and situated outside 
the nipple line, the cardiac dulness is increased to the left and frequently also 



320 Diseases of the Circulatory System 

to the right, as the right ventricle is apt to be dilated on account of the con- 
gested state of the lungs. In some cases the heart becomes enormously 
enlarged, so that the area of cardiac dulness extends from nipple to nipple, 
and the apex-beat occupies perhaps the fifth, sixth, and seventh spaces outside 
the nipple line, while the whole of the precordial region is bulged forward 
by the hypertrophied heart. Often the left bronchus is pressed upon and the 
lower lobe becomes collapsed. During the last stages, which may be short 
or prolonged for many months or even years, the liver becomes congested 
and enlarged, there is albuminuria from congested kidneys, while the belly, 
scrotum, and legs become dropsical. Attacks of dyspnoea with pain resem- 
bling angina pectoris are not uncommon. Such cases may be very chronic, 
and even repeated attacks accompanied by much orthopncea, cardiac dis- 
tress, bronchitis, and dropsy may be recovered from and the patient once 
more be patched up. In such cases, however, probably no fresh endocarditis 
Occurs, and the attack is due more to the engorged state of the lungs and a 
temporarily overworked heart, the latter recovering by rest in bed, and the 
symptoms' disappearing as the bronchitis passes off. Should, however, peri- 
carditis occur in a case of old-standing heart disease, the end is not far off, 
as the muscle becomes damaged and further work is imposed on an already 
burdened heart. In these large hypertrophied hearts the systolic bruit pre- 
sent is apt to be accompanied by an ill-defined pre-systolic or post-systolic 
bruit of uncertain origin, but it may in some cases be endocardial or due to 
muscular sounds. 

The aortic valves are far less commonly affected than the mitral, but 
both aortic and tricuspid valves may be affected secondarily, especially in 
malignant endocarditis. In the former case a bruit, either systolic or double, 
is heard to the right of the sternum in the third interspace ; but in some cases 
where the aortic valves are affected, the bruit is heard best to the left edge of 
or behind the sternum, and closely simulates a murmur produced in the pul- 
monary artery. If this is not borne in mind, a diagnosis of disease of the 
pulmonary valves is made when in reality the aortic valves alone are affected. 
A water-hammer pulse may be present, but it is usually less marked in 
children than adults. Capillary pulsation may be present, and pulsation 
may be readily observed in the retinal arteries. 

Endocarditis of the tricuspid valves, less often of the pulmonary, may be 
observed secondarily to endocarditis of the mitral. 

Dilatation of the cavities of the heart takes place in children apart from 
valvular disease, under two circumstances — an excess of blood pressure, as in 
acute nephritis, the force acting from within and bulging the heart walls as it 
were ; and a chronic pericarditis, with adherent pericardium interfering with 
the systole, and so tending to dilatation ; perhaps this may be aided by a de- 
generation of the cardiac walls. Acute dilatation rapidly takes place in some 
cases of acute nephritis following scarlet fever ; the apex-beat becomes 
diffused, and is seen outside the nipple line ; there may be a bruit, due to the 
imperfect closure of the mitral valves, and symptoms of cardiac failure and 
perhaps sudden death. Dilatation due to chronic pericarditis is a cause of 
chronic rather than acute heart disease ; a pure case of this is rare, as 
endocarditis mostly occurs also ; but sometimes cases may be found in 
which the heart is enlarged and the cavities dilated, with a thick pericardial 



Acute Myocarditis 321 

attachment outside ; the valves are normal or perhaps more or less thickened, 
and have evidently been incompetent during life. 

Acute Myocarditis. — Acute myocarditis is not a common affection at 
any time of life, and much difficulty exists in stating what it consists in, as 
any general acute process affecting the heart must quickly bring a fatal 
issue. Changes in the cardiac muscles of a coarse description do occasion- 
ally occur. In rare cases children have been attacked with an acute illness 
with fever and delirium, and at the posi-morte?n an unsuspected abscess has 
heen found in the muscle of the heart ; such cases are probably septicemic, 
as also are those where minute abscesses are found. Acute myocarditis 
appears also to occur in diphtheria ; there is a general dilatation of the heart, 
more or less local pain, and dyspnoea followed by a fatal issue, changes being 
found in the muscular fibre of the heart, the muscular fibres being distended 
with fine granules of fat obscuring the striae. It is well known, however, that 
sudden death may occur in diphtheria from paresis of the respiratory 
muscles, as well as from disturbed innervation of the heart, so caution is re- 
quired in coming to a conclusion that a myocarditis exists. Steffen has de- 
scribed a form of local myocarditis occurring in the course of typhoid, 
accompanied by symptoms of cardiac failure during life. Such cases must 
he rare. Myocarditis or a degeneration of the cardiac muscle may accompany 
both pericarditis and endocarditis. 

Prognosis. — The prognosis is usually favourable in pericarditis if it occur 
in a hitherto healthy heart ; the rub gradually disappears from adhesion 
taking place. There is, of course, the danger of an endocarditis occurring at 
a future time, and also the danger of the injurious effects of an adherent peri- 
cardium. Pericarditis occurring in a heart which is hypertrophied from old- 
standing valvular disease is an exceedingly dangerous and fatal affection, and 
generally marks the beginning of the end. Death may be sudden at the 
last. In endocarditis occurring in the course of rheumatism there is, of course, 
great danger that permanent damage may be inflicted on the valves and the 
patient be handicapped for life. On the other hand, there is abundant evidence 
to show that bruits due to endocarditis may disappear, and there is no reason 
why the endocardium may not return to its normal condition without crip- 
pling the valves ; there is, however, the constant fear of a fresh attack at the 
old spot. The prognosis in malignant endocarditis is eminently unfavour- 
able, though cases which apparently belong to this category occasionally 
recover. In chronic heart disease the amount of hypertrophy and dilatation 
present may be taken as an index of the damage the heart has suffered. The 
prognosis in dilated hearts secondary to nephritis is favourable if the ne- 
phritis subsides and no valvular disease remains. 

Treatment. — The treatment of pericarditis and that of endocarditis have 
so much in common that they may be taken together. It is needless to in- 
sist that the child should be put to bed and religiously kept quiet, all exertion 
and excitement being zealously guarded against. Too much stress cannot be 
laid upon the importance of this, and of maintaining rest in bed long after the 
acute symptoms have passed away. To keep the heart as quiet as possible, 
and to impose the lightest work on it, during and after the attack, are points 
of the highest moment. The diet given must be suited to the rheumatic state, if 
peri-endocarditis is associated with it, milk and fluids will form the principal 

Y 



322 Diseases of the Circulatory System 

part. Of the local treatment during the acute stage, applications which 
soothe are better than counter-irritants. Ext. of belladonna moistened with 
glycerine may be spread on' lint or flannel, and applied to the precordial 
region, and covered with a layer of cotton-wool, or spongio-piline wrung out 
of hot water and sprinkled with laudanum may be applied. If there is much 
pain, a light mustard poultice (one in four or six) kept on for some hours so 
as to redden the skin will usually relieve. Lin. aconiti and lin. iodi, equal 
parts, may be painted over the precordial region. Local bloodletting by 
applying one or two leeches over the sternum is often useful in appropriate 
cases. Of medicines, salicylate of soda, with liq. ammon. acet. if the in- 
flammatory lesion is dependent on the rheumatic state, may be prescribed, 
tinct. digitalis being substituted and given in 3 to 5 minim doses every four 
hours if there is much dyspnoea or sign of cardiac failure. 

Small doses of opium are usually required, and are often of the greatest 
use in relieving pain and quieting the heart's action. Half to two grains of 
Dover's powder may be given at night, and repeated once or twice in the 
twenty-four hours, according to circumstances. 

In pericardial effusion, if extensive, tapping of the pericardium may have 
to be resorted to, to relieve the pressure on the heart. Before this is done 
as accurate a diagnosis as possible must be made, to ascertain how much 
the symptoms present, dyspnoea, orthopncea, and cyanosis, are due to pres- 
sure of fluid, and how much to a dilated or hypertrophied heart ; as many, 
perhaps most, of the cases of children with which we have to deal are in 
reality cases of pericarditis supervening on chronic heart disease. In the 
latter case, if there is much cardiac dilatation and comparatively little fluid, 
paracentesis cannot relieve to any extent, and the cardiac walls may be 
wounded, though, if a fine exploring needle be used, no great damage can be 
done. The spot selected for paracentesis is usually the fourth or fifth inter- 
space, halfway between the left nipple line and the left edge of the sternum, 
the finest or second aspirating needle being used. It is preferable to use 
one in which the trocar can be withdrawn when the pericardial sac is 
entered ; l the needle should be directed upwards. Care should be used to 
ascertain the position of the apex-beat as nearly as possible. In chronic 
pericardial effusion the inunction of blue ointment or counter-irritation by 
flying blisters may be tried. In chronic purulent effusion, aspiration should 
be first tried ; if this fails to prevent reaccumulation, incision and drainage 
by an indiarubber tube should be resorted to ; this is occasionally successful, 
as in the case recorded by Dr. S. West. Symptoms of cardiac failure should 
be treated by digitalis, ammonia, ether, or alcohol. Ether may be injected 
subcutaneously or a few drops may be inhaled. The treatment of malignant 
or ulcerative endocarditis is unsatisfactory, and no drugs appear to influence 

1 On one occasion we tapped the pericardium with an exploring syringe armed with a 
sharp-pointed hollow needle, and withdrew some two ounces of serum ; this was followed 
by pure blood. After the needle was withdrawn the child became rapidly worse, and died 
in a few minutes. The post-mortem showed the pericardium full of blood and a punctured 
wound through the right ventricular wall close to the septum. The wall was very thin at 
this spot and almost fibroid. Had a trocar and cannula been used, this accident could 
not have happened. The needle had entered the pericardial sac in the first instance, and 
then entered the right ventricle. 



Treatment of Heart Disease 323 

its course. The most likely to be useful are quinine, digitalis, and the sulpho- 
carbolates. The treatment of congenital or acquired heart disease must be 
directed to saving the heart all unnecessary work and to strengthening it as 
much as possible. Such children need to be guarded most carefully against 
the effects of cold, as bronchitis is easily contracted in such, and a little 
bronchitis adds materially to the work of the heart, which is, perhaps, at 
best labouring under great mechanical disadvantages. The parents and 
friends of a child with chronic heart disease must be cautioned against allow- 
ing the child to overtire itself ; it is no uncommon thing for such a child to 
go for a while to the seaside or convalescent home and come back worse, 
for the simple reason that it has been on its legs all day, enjoying the novelty 
of its newly found pleasures ; whereas a moderate amount only of exercise, 
insufficient to overwork the heart, would have secured an improvement. All 
active exercise should be forbidden, rough games, riding ' cycles/ and gym- 
nastics. The medicines of most use to control and regulate the cardiac con- 
tractions are digitalis, belladonna, iron, and strychnine. Digitalis is of the 
greatest value, but must not be too continuously given ; any intermittency in 
the beat should be the signal for its omission. When dropsy sets in, digi- 
talis with diuretics like iodide of potassium, acetate of potash, and squills 
will be required. In excessive dropsy Southeys cannulas may be used with 
advantage. 



324 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DISEASES OF THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM — Continued. 

Naevus. — Naevus is perhaps the commonest congenital disfigurement 
met with in children ; ] usually it is nothing more than a blemish, though 
occasionally it becomes more serious, either from danger to life or serious 
interference with its subject's welfare. Nsevi are probably always congenital, 
though not always noticed at birth, since they may not be large enough to 
be conspicuous until some time later. 

Nasvi belong to the class of the angiomata, and are defined as ' tumours 
consisting of newly formed blood-vessels,' though it is obvious that they are 
not always tumours in the sense of there being any definite mass of tissue — 
e.g. ' port-wine stains ; ' still this is merely a question of a diffuse as con- 
trasted with a circumscribed growth. 

These growths may be classified as : — 

I. (a) Simple angioma^ telangiectasis, congenital naevus, mother's mark or 
port-wine stain. The vessels composing the new formation are identical in 
structure with normal arteries, veins, and capillaries, (b) Cavernous cmgioma, 
lacunar or erectile angioma. The blood circulates in a lacunar system as in 
normal erectile tissue. (Cornil and Ranvier.) 

II. Nasvi may be considered as (i) arterial, (2) venous, (3) capillary, 
(4) lacunar, blood vascular growths. 

III. Or, considered from their locality, the naevi may be divided into 
(1) cutaneous : (a) a mere staining or port-wine mark, (b) a distinct mass 
with larger vessels. (2) Subcutaneous. (3) Mixed — i.e. both cutaneous and 
subcutaneous. The different forms of naevi are readily distinguishable. 

Stellate Naevus. — The so-called ' stellate' naevus, which is doubtfully a 
new formation, and very probably only a dilatation of pre-existing vessels, 
resembles in appearance the venae stellatae on the surface of the kidney of a 
carnivore. It is most common in the face, disappears on pressure, and is 
closely allied to the mere weather marks of those exposed to wind and cold ; 
it is sometimes seen about the faces of children. 

Port-wine mark consists of a diffuse stain, varying much in size, form, 
position, and colour ; usually there are no obvious dilated vessels, though these 
can be made out on more minute examination. These marks occur, perhaps 

1 Depaul is quoted by Cornil and Ranvier as saying that one-third of the children 
born at the Clinic of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris have nasvi, and these mostly dis- 
appear spontaneously during the first few months of life. 



Ncevus 



325 



most commonly on the face, often on the hands, and occasionally else- 
where : they may cover very large surfaces, such as the whole side of the 
face. There is no elevation of the growth above the level of the skin, only the 
superficial layers of which are involved, and pressure completely obliterates 
the stain for the time. 

Cutaneous Naevus. — The common cutaneous naevus is usually small, 
not covering more than a square inch of surface at most ; it is somewhat 
raised above the level of the surrounding skin ; the individual vessels can 
often be distinctly made out, though not always ; the colour of the growth is 
usually vivid red, and on pressure the colour and much of the swelling dis- 
appears, but a slight thickening remains and the skin is ' granular.' ] These 
growths lie in the corium, and are 
usually sharply defined, but not en- 
capsuled. 

Subcutaneous Naevus. — The 
growth lies entirely beneath the co- 
rium, and forms a distinct tumour ; 
the skin over it is natural in colour, 
or only shows a faint bluish tint ; the 
swelling does not entirely disappear 
on pressure, and is often encapsuled 
more or less perfectly. - 

Mixed Naevus. — This is a com- 
moner form than the last ; it has the 
characteristics of the cutaneous and 
subcutaneous varieties combined — 
i.e. there is a subcutaneous naevus 
with a cutaneous patch on its sur- 
face ; corium and subcutaneous 
tissue are both involved. It is seldom 
that the cutaneous part is as exten- 
sive as the subcutaneous, and in this 
and the last form there is often some 
cavernous formation. 

After removal from the body and 
escape of its blood, a subcutaneous or mixed naevus consists of a tough, 
spongy, or stringy mass, often somewhat lobulated, and always much smaller 
than might be expected from its size before removal. If encapsuled, it will 
be found that only a small number of vessels, and those of considerable size, 
feed the growth and enter it at various parts— a very important fact as regards 
the treatment of these cases. 

Simple Naevi consist of newly formed vessels having the structure of 
capillaries, and presenting ampullar or cirsoid dilatation ; the vessels are sup- 
ported by a framework of connective tissue, and often fat. 

Cavernous Naevi consist of an irregular network of fibrous tissue, en- 
closing freely intercommunicating spaces like the channels in a sponge ; there 

1 Sir J. Paget. 

2 A good account of the structure of naevi will be found in Cornil and Ranvier's 
Histology, to which we are indebted for part of our description. 




Fig. 52. — Extensive ' Mixed ' Ncevus of the Face, 
involving the lower lip and both cheeks up to 



326 



Diseases of the Circulatory System 



is occasionally unstriped muscular fibre developed in the septa, as well as 
vessels and nerves. The endothelium lining a naevoid lacuna is exactly like 
that of a vein. These naevi are formed by dilatation of newly developed 
capillaries and subsequent absorption of their barrier walls, so that free 
openings are made between adjacent vessels. 

Importance of Ncevi.— Usually naevi are simply disfigurements ; some- 
times, however, they may give rise to serious bleeding from rupture of vessels 
by injury or ulceration, as in a case of our own where the soft palate and 
uvula were the seat of a large naevoid'growth and frequent bleeding occurred ; 
similar trouble has been met with in the case of rectal naevi. Internal naevi 
may possibly be dangerous from haemorrhage, or from extravasation of blood 

setting up peritonitis, &c. ; but 
this must be very rare. Some 
very extensive naevi are of im- 
portance from interference with 
the action of the muscles or the 
growth of bones, or from pro- 
ducing unwieldy hypertrophy of 
skin. We have seen fracture 
of the thigh due to weakening 
of the femur from an extensive 
naevus growth in the limb. 1 Un- 
wieldy overgrowth of limbs may 
occur also from the presence of 
naevi ; and in the case figured 
(fig. 53) the man was unable to 
obtain work on account of his 
disfigurement. We have seen a 
case of pyaemia having its origin 
in a suppurating naevus, and 
another where pyaemia followed 
puncture and partial removal of 
a naevoid growth. 

Changes occurring in Nozvi. 
Naevi sometimes grow rapidly 
from the first and spread over considerable areas ; in many cases, however, 
they grow very slowly, alternately grow and remain stationary, or disappear 
altogether, the last result being especially common in the cutaneous form 
As Mr. Holmes and others have pointed out, and as we ourselves have seen, 
an illness, especially apparently whooping-cough, often seems to bring about 
the cure of a naevus ; possibly the straining in coughing may produce extra- 
vasation and thrombosis in the naevus, and so obliteration. 

Naevi undergo spontaneous cure by fibroid change, the vessels becoming 
obliterated and shrinking into fibrous cords. Such result may follow treat- 
ment, or accidental irritation by friction of the clothes, or pressure in lying, 
and so on. In other instances calcareous degeneration or thrombosis takes 
place. Cystic change in naevi is very common ; the cysts contain serum, 
more or less deeply coloured, and arise from the shutting off of a lacunar 
1 The patient was under the care of our colleague, Mr. T. Jones. 




Fig- 53- — Naevus of the face in a man of 50. The 
growth was steadily but slowly increasing. The whole 
skin of that side of the face was deep crimson, the lip 
and tongue were involved, and the lower jaw distorted 
and everted by the weight of the enormous lower lip. 
The man died of aortic aneurism. The specimen is 
in the Owens College Museum. 



Ncevus 327 

space or dilated vessel from the blood stream ; the cystic is often combined 
with the fibrous and fatty degeneration. 

Suppuration and ulceration of a nasvus is an important condition ; for, 
on the one hand, it may produce a cure by obliteration of the vessels, or, on 
the other hand, as already pointed out, septic absorption or bleeding may 
result ; happily obliteration is the common termination. Various combina- 
tions of these changes may be found going on in a naevus at the same time ; 
pigmentary changes are also found, and sometimes an overgrowth of hair, 
especially in the lipomatous form 1 {vide p. 293). 

Sites of Ntevi. — Nasvi may be found almost anywhere over the body, but 
there are certain markedly favourite positions. External nasvi are most 
common on the head, and of all places we should say the most frequent is 
over the anterior fontanelle ; the lips, cheeks, eyelids, or any part of the 
face may be involved. The trunk and limbs are less commonly affected 
than the face, but perhaps this is partly to be accounted for by the mothers 
being less anxious about nasvi on the body ; the labia are not uncommonly 
affected. Different forms of nasvi often occur in the same patient — e.g. a 
port-wine mark on the face or hand and a mixed nasvus on the scalp. Nasvi 
occurring inside the mouth, in the cheeks, tongue, or inner surface of the lip, 
more rarely in the palate, are of course more serious than external ones ; 
they are also much less common. 

Visceral nasvi are often seen on the liver, and less often on the kidneys, 
spleen, and other organs; the muscles and bones are also sometimes affected. 
It is common to see nasvi on the skin of meningoceles both cerebral and 
spinal — a fact noticed by Mr. Holmes, and one of some importance from a 
diagnostic point of view. 

Several cases of rectal nasvi are on record, among others one mentioned 
by Mr. Barker which caused death by hasmorrhage.' 2 We have met with a 
case which exactly simulated piles, and was cured by ligature. The extent 
of tissue involved is sometimes very great, as already stated ; thus we have 
seen the whole lower extremity nasvoid, and Mr. Barker has recorded a case 
of the whole upper extremity being so affected 3 {vide also fig. 53). 

Treatmc?it of Ncevi. — It should be a rule of practice not to interfere with 
nasvi unless they are growing or have been stationary for some time, since, 
as already pointed out, very many disappear of themselves. The important 
points to consider for each nasvus are whether it is cutaneous, subcutaneous, 
or mixed, and what is its relation to important adjacent structures, which 
may be endangered by treatment or by the resulting scar. It is unnecessary 
to mention all the methods proposed for treating these growths ; only the 
most efficient will be described here. Stellate nasvi may readily be cured 
by puncturing the centre of the star with a hot needle. Port-wine marks 
require careful consideration as to whether the resulting white scar will not 
be as disfiguring as the red mark, and it must be remembered that in cases 
where a large surface is involved a long course of treatment is required to 
remove the mark. 

Linear scarification, multiple puncture, the actual cautery or a caustic, 

1 Mere pigmentary maculae are sometimes called naevi, but it is better to restrict the 
name to the vascular growth. 

2 Brit. Med. Jour., 1883. . •> Clin. Soc. Trans., 1884. 



328 Diseases of the Circulatory System 

such as fuming nitric acid, and in some cases electrolysis, 1 will succeed. If 
large, the patch should be treated in sections so as not to have too large a 
sore surface at once. 

Cutaneous nasvi are best treated with the actual cautery ; if small, a heated 
needle is sufficient ; in larger growths Paquelin's cautery is the most useful 
instrument. Narrow lines may be scored across and across the naevus, or 
multiple punctures employed ; after using the cautery once, as soon as the 
wound is healed, it will often be found that little patches remain unoblite- 
rated : these should be watched for some weeks before reapplying the cautery r 
as they often shrink subsequently without further operation. The cautery 
should be at a dull red heat, and should be applied deeply enough to reach 
through the naevus. Ethylate of sodium is fairly efficient, but usually requires 
several applications, and is not, we think, better than the cautery ; it has the 
advantage of not requiring the use of an anaesthetic, though it is followed by 
a good deal of temporary smarting. For port-wine stains the ethylate may 
be applied every two or three days according to the effect produced, and 
then, if required, fresh applications may be made after two or three weeks. 
Vaccination on a naevus is not a good plan. For subcutaneous or mixed 
naevi we cannot recommend injections of any kind ; they are often efficient,, 
but always dangerous, extensive thrombosis or embolism, causing immediate 
death, having followed their use ; if they are employed, a temporary ligature 
should be put round the naevus and removed a few minutes after injection. 
Ligature of naevi is uncertain as well as tedious and troublesome. We think 
treatment by excision, by multiple puncture with the cautery, and in suitable 
cases by electrolysis, is the most generally useful. 

Excision is applicable to well-encapsuled growths of small or moderate 
size, not involving important structures. There are certain essential points 
in the operation : first, the incisions must be carried well wide of the growth 
and not within its capsule ; there will then be only a few well-defined vessels 
to secure, and not a freely bleeding cavernous tissue, as is the case if the 
growth is cut into ; next, the skin in a mixed naevus, if the cutaneous part 
is very small, should be removed as far as it is involved, provided always 
the edges of the wound can afterwards be brought together easily so as to 
obtain primary union. If the skin is widely involved, it should not be taken 
away, but, as suggested by Mr. Teale, dissected off the naevus and preserved : 
this, however, necessitates opening up the naevoid tissue, and complicates the 
operation ; sometimes also the cutaneous naevus continues to grow afterwards. 
A bloodless method of excising naevi is that of passing long needles or 
harelip pins beneath the base of the growth crosswise, then winding an 
elastic thread round the needles and excising the growth after dissecting back 
skin flaps ; the needles are then withdrawn and the vessels are secured. 
There is no bleeding until the elastic is removed. 2 Degenerated naevi should 
nearly always be excised if they are treated at all ; in some instances, where 
there is cystic degeneration, a seton passed through the cyst causes it to 
shrink ; but there is a certain amount of danger in this plan if any part of the 
naevus remains undegenerated. 

The little galvano-caustic apparatus devised by Mr. Golding Bird for 

1 From five to twenty or more cells of a Stohrer's or Weiss' battery should be used. 

2 A plan devised, we believe, by Mr. Davies Colley. 



Ncevus 



329 



enucleating lymphatic glands we have used with good effect for large mixed 
nasvi not removable by excision. 

In using the actual cautery the fine or middle-sized point of the Paquelin's 
cautery is entered through the skin and made to traverse the nasvus in several 
directions from one puncture ; if the naevus is large this is repeated at another 
spot, and so on ; a little vaseline is then applied to the cauterised surface and 
the effect is watched ; after all contraction has ceased another portion is, if 
necessary, attacked, until the whole mass has shrunk. 

Pressure is occasionally successful as a means of treating nasvi, but is 
chiefly applicable to cases where other treatment is impracticable, as in very 
extensive naevus of a limb ; 1 it may be employed successfully sometimes in 
naevus of the scalp, where the 
underlying skull forms a firm 
basis ; especially if combined 
with subcutaneous breaking up 
of the nsevus with a tenotome. 
In cases of ulceration of naevi, 
and in some severe cutaneous 
forms, scraping away the growth 
with a sharp spoon will some- 
times do good. 

Importance of Ncevi in spe- 
cial Localities. — Nasvi occur- 
ring in certain localities have 
more than ordinary importance, 
either from the difficulty of 
their treatment or diagnosis or 
from the risk attaching to 
them. Naevus of the lip is 
often found involving the whole 
thickness of either lip, and is 
usually either of the mixed or 
subcutaneous variety ; the sur- 
face is somewhat prone to 
ulceration in the mixed form 
from constant irritation, and 

the growth is often very unsightly. If degenerated and cystic, or if there are 
large cavernous spaces in the nasvus, it may be mistaken for a labial mucous 
cyst or for lymphatic macrocheilia. Puncture from the mucous aspect with the 
Paquelin's cautery is usually the best mode of treatment, but in some cases 
it is a good plan to excise a segment of the lip and bring the edges together 
as after a harelip operation. Orbital nasvi are usually associated with similar 
growths upon the face: they may cause exophthalmos and ectropion; 
the nasvoid character of the growth is indicated by the spongy feeling and 
the possibility in some cases of pushing back the protruding eyeball and so 
emptying the growth of blood. Treatment by electrolysis is the only service- 
able method in these cases. 

1 A good case of the effects of pressure under such circumstances is recorded by Hardie, 
Lancet, May 1885. 




Fig- 54-— Orbital Naevus. The growth extended deeply 
causing exophthalmos and ectropion, and spread up- 
wards upon the forehead. 



330 Diseases of the Circulatory System 

Naevus of the tongue may give rise to macroglossia and cause protrusion 
of the organ, or maybe limited to a small part of its surface ; it is liable to be 
mistaken for lymphatic macroglossia or for a mucous cyst. The colour will 
usually serve to distinguish it from the former, and the compressibility of a 
naevus will mark it off from the latter affection ; in doubtful cases a grooved 
needle will clear up the difficulty. The actual cautery, or in rare cases 
excision, of a part of the tongue is the treatment required. In one child we 
excised the anterior third of the tongue by a A -shaped incision, and brought 
the sides of the wedge together with sutures ; the result was good and repair 
was rapid. A similar condition may be met with on the gums or inner 
surface of the cheeks. Sometimes large blood lacuna? are met with beneath 
the tongue, looking like ranula ; the soft palate and uvula are also occasion- 
ally affected ; in one instance where both conditions existed the sublingual 
naevus was cured by the actual cautery, and the uvula removed by the gal- 
vanic ecraseur ; the patient was attacked by 
pyaemia, but ultimately recovered completely. 

Naevus of the eyelids must be treated with 
great caution to prevent any subsequent distor- 
tion ; it is best usually to attack small portions 
at a time with the actual cautery and wait until 
cicatrisation is complete before a second appli- 
cation. The same rule applies to naevus of the 
nose where too vigorous treatment may produce 
an unsightly, sharp-pointed, beak-like appear- 
ance if the skin is too much destroyed. In 
some instances excision is the better plan. 

Naevi around the orbit are sometimes very 
difficult to diagnose, especially if they are 
Fig. 55.— Arterio-venous varix. degenerated, and consequently have lost their 
colour ; dermoid cysts, meningoceles, simple 
serous congenital cysts, and fatty growths should be borne in mind as sources 
of fallacy. In one instance (fig. 54) there was a cyst with none of the 
appearance of a naevus ; on tapping it, altered blood escaped, and on incision 
it was found that the growth was loculated and in part solid (i.e. degenerated). 
A seton was passed through it at last after failure of incision and drainage, 
excision being out of the question, and the mass suppurated freely, but 
unfortunately erysipelas occurred and the child died. At the fiost-morte7ii 
the orbit and cavernous sinus were found full of more or less degenerated 
naevoid tissue ; the naevus spaces were mostly full of blood, and minute 
abscesses were seen with the microscope in sections of the growth. 

Speaking generally, most naevi can be recognised by the presence of the 
remains of some superficial naevoid tissue, by the possibility of reducing the 
size of the growth by pressure — this point must not, of course, be allowed to 
mislead in swellings about the head or spine — and by the peculiar spongy 
feeling. This sensation is sometimes to be felt in a growth where solid 
masses are also perceptible. The fact that the tumour is congenital or has 
been noticed in very early life, and occasionally the presence of extravasa- 
tion of blood in the skin, as well as, of course, the results of tapping, will 
usually clear up a doubt. 




Ncevus 



331 



Certain rare forms of vascular deformity are occasionally met with in 
children. In a case of our own the condition may be best described as 
arterio-venous varix, all the vessels being dilated and pulsatile ; the facial, 
orbital, and intracranial vessels were involved as well as some of the cerebral 
sinuses, the straight sinus being converted into a pouch as large as a thrush's 
egg and its walls calcified 1 (fig. 55). 

Aneurism by anastomosis is also occasionally met with in children, 
and sometimes ligature of a main vessel, such as the carotid, may be required, 




Fig. 56.— Naevus Lipomatodes. The darkly pigmented pendulous masses were composed of 
fat and degenerated naevus tissue, and the whole surface was thickly overgrown with hair. 
As usual in these cases, the child was idiotic. 

as also in some cases of arterial varix. St. Germain relates three cases 
of cirsoid aneurism cured by the use of chloride of zinc arrows. {Vide 
' Chirurgie des Enfants,' 1884.) 

Ncevus lipomatodes is the term applied to a form of degenerated naevus 
in which there is much development of fatty tissue forming masses which 
often hang in pendulous folds ; there is commonly pigmentation and hairy 



1 A full report of the case here alluded to will be found in the Abstracts of the 
Children's Hospital for 1882-83. Vide also T. Smith, Clin. Soc. Trans., 1882. 



332 



Diseases of tJie Circulatory System 



overgrowth. The condition is rare, and appears to be associated with idiocy, 
as in the typical case under our care, from which fig. 56 was taken. No 
treatment is called for in such a case. 1 Occasionally, however, where 
merely a local mass is found, it should be removed by excision. This was 
the treatment adopted for the child shown in fig. 57, where the pendulous 
hairy mass, closely resembling the so-called ' pachydermatocele,' was excised 
with a good result. 

Lymphatic Waevi. — Lymphatic nsevi are much rarer than blood naevi, 
but many of the so-called congenital cystic growths should be classed as 
cystic lymphangiomata. Instances of this condition are seen, as shown by 
Virchow, in macroglossia, described at p. 155. 




Fig. 57. — Degenerated Naevus of Scalp. 



Hygroma and one form of so-called ' giant foot ' are similar conditions,, 
fig. 58. Sometimes in giant foot the cutaneous lymphatics are clearly visible 
as transparent, dilated, tortuous canals running in the skin ; the part is greatly 
enlarged, and spongy on pressure. The disease is a rare one, and probably 
pressure or cautery puncture would be the most successful mode of treatment. 
Treves has recorded a case in which ulceration had occurred, and quotes 
Busey that congenital giant foot is commoner in females, and most frequent 
in the right leg ; the temperature of the part may or may not be raised. Ulcers, 
if they occur, readily heal. 

Occasionally in macroglossia, as in a case of ours, the superficial lym- 
phatics form minute transparent cysts on the surface of the tongue ; here 

1 Hyde of Chicago has recorded a very similar case in the Lancet, August r, 1885. 



A (EVUS 



333 




removal of part of the tongue might possibly be required to prevent suffocation, 
since these growths are liable to rapid increase in size. A large tumour of the 
thigh, of congenital origin, that we removed a short time ago from a child of 
i\ years, was made up of spongy tissue exactly like a naevus, but the spaces 
were filled with lymph instead of blood ; other 
similar cases have been recorded. ( Vide also 
chap, on Tumours.) Hoggan has described 
multiple lymphatic naevi of the skin, a condi- 
tion believed commonly to accompany blood 
nsevi, and to be much more frequent than is 
supposed ; these growths are not conspicuous 
by their colour, and are therefore commonly 
overlooked ; they are of little clinical import- 
ance, unless possibly as an early stage of 
elephantiasis. We have also met with in- 
stances of these naevi. 1 Cases of probably 
congenital lymphatic varices of the limbs 
have been described by R. W. Parker ; he 
thinks they have a tendency to become locally 
inflamed. - We have recently met with a case 
of lymph naevus of the conjunctiva and supra- 
orbital region, causing an unsightly deformity 
size, and sometimes ' puffed up ' and became painful. 3 

Aneurism in children is extremely rare ; only a few cases have been re- 
corded, and these appear all to have been either traumatic or the result of em- 
bolism, the embolus giving rise to softening of the arterial coat, and consequent 
formation of the aneurism. A paper on this subject by R. W. Parker in the 
1 British Medical Journal,' 1884, may be consulted. We have only met with 
one case of aneurism, in a child aged seven years who was suffering from ulcera- 
tive endocarditis ; the aneurism, which was situated on the left middle cerebral 
artery, was no doubt due to an embolus ; it finally ruptured and gave rise to 
extensive meningeal haemorrhage. Dr. A. Jacobi 4 has reported several 
cases of aneurism in children, due to atheromatous degeneration, one case of 
the descending aorta in a girl of seven years. Sanne has reported four cases, 
one in a foetus, and three in children of two years, ten, and thirteen years 
respectively. 

1 Hoggan, Jour, of A?iat. and Phys., April 1884. Lancet, 1882, vol. ii. p. 891. 

2 Vide also chap, on Tumour Growths in Childhood. 

5 The case, with a drawing, has been published by Dr. Mules in Trans. Ophthalm. 
Cong., Heidelberg, 1888. For an account of various rare abnormalities of the blood and 
lymph vascular systems (also Nerven-Naevus, &c.) the reader is referred to Esmarch and 
Kulenkampff's monograph on Elephantiasis. 

4 Heart and Blood-vessels in the Young, by A. Jacobi, M.D. Also Trans. Inter- 
national Med. Congress, 1890. 



Fig. 58. — Lymphatic Naevus of the Foot. 
The soles of the two feet are seen, 
and in the affected one the extremities 
of the toes can just be made out. em- 
bedded in the mass of naevus tissue. 
Dilated and varicose lymphatics were 
visible in the skin. 



the naevus varied much 



334 



CHAPTER XVII. 

DISEASES OF THE BLOOD AND BLOOD-MAKING ORGANS. 

Anaemia. — Children of all ages are liable to suffer from anaemia, from 
causes both known and unknown. Some children are habitually pallid, 
without, perhaps, being in any way out of health ; and this peculiarity seems 
to run in families. In the majority of cases anaemia means ill-health, the 
poorness of blood being due to one or other of a great variety of ailments. 
It is unnecessary for us to describe the anaemia which is due to obvious 
causes, such as tuberculosis, heart disease, syphilis, malaria, or the anaemia 
which is the result of some acute disease. We will confine our remarks 
to certain forms in which the anaemia is often profound and the pathology 
by no means certain. A slight acquaintance with the forms of anaemia 
from which children suffer will be sufficient to convince any one that there 
are different forms of diverse groups. Thus we have anaemia accompanied 
by great enlargement of the spleen, and an anaemia in which no such 
enlargement is present. We have the so-called Pernicious Anaemia, which 
appears always to go on to a fatal issue. In some cases there is a ten- 
dency to purpura, and while in all forms of anaemia haemorrhages ,are 
common when the anaemia becomes extreme, yet in some cases purpura is 
an early symptom, and makes its appearance without the anaemia being very 
great. The groups into which we divide these cases are selected rather for 
convenience of description than from their actually forming independent or 
' self-standing forms ' of disease. 

Anaemia with (Edema. — In all cases in which the anaemia is great, there 
is a tendency to the accumulation of serum in the serous cavities, and a 
liability to subcutaneous oedema. In the out-patient department of hospital 
practice it is common to meet with infants or children under two years of age 
who are anaemic, and at the same time cedematous, the back of their hands 
and feet readily pitting. Such cases are often looked upon as suffering from 
nephritis, but the urine is mostly free from albumen and casts, and we have 
repeatedly found the kidneys to be normal at ftost-mortem examinations. 
These cases are commonly seen in the autumn in children who have suffered 
from acute diarrhoea or some other exhausting disease which has given rise 
to great anaemia. The anaemia is due to the great drain on the system 
during acute or long-continued disease, or possibly it may be the result 
of the action of toxic albumens or peptones absorbed into the blood 
from the alimentary canal. We must also remember that the arterial 



Ancemia Splenica 335 

pressure in young children is normally very small, and easily reduced by 
acute disease. 

Simple Anaemia. — There is a class of case mostly occurring" in older 
children, which resembles the chlorosis of adults more than anything else. 
There is no enlargement of the spleen, no purpura or any evidence of organic 
disease. The children are markedly bloodless, languid, and easily get out 
of breath ; murmurs may be heard at the base of the heart, and in the veins 
and arteries of the neck. Both girls and boys may be affected in this way 
about puberty. The affection sometimes runs in families. Thus, in one 
instance coming under our notice, two brothers and a sister, aged eight and a 
quarter years, seven years, and five and three quarter years, suffered in this 
way ; their mother was also anaemic. They were intensely anaemic, and 
were drowsy and lethargic. They were fairly well nourished as far as fat 
was concerned ; there was no splenic enlargement, no albumen in the urine, 
and no haemorrhages. In all three there was an irregular pyrexia, a rise of 
a degree or two taking place most evenings. An examination of the blood 
showed a diminution of red blood corpuscles, and no striking excess of white 
corpuscles. They all three improved considerably during their stay in 
hospital. It is well to bear in mind that such cases are exceedingly apt to 
suffer from tubercle. 

Anaemia Splenica. — In a well-marked group of cases, occurring mostly 
in children under two years of age, the anaemia is often profound, and 
the spleen strikingly enlarged. Sometimes mothers will bring such chil- 
dren for treatment, as they have already noticed the large spleen as well as 
the paleness of the child. There is usually a history to be obtained of ill- 
health, more especially of aggravated indigestion, or some acute illness, and 
nearly all of them exhibit evidence of rickety deformities. In a well-marked 
case, the anaemia strikes the observer at once as being much out of the com- 
mon ; the lips are a pale pink, and the face is white or of a slightly olive tint ; 
on placing the hand on the abdomen, the edge of the spleen is distinctly felt 
(it can sometimes be seen), and the tip can be traced downwards on a level 
with, or below, the umbilicus. The urine is free from albumen, and except 
quite at the termination of the case, there are no haemorrhages and no 
oedema. There is often irregular and intermittent pyrexia. The course is 
essentially chronic ; they usually improve slowly under treatment in hospital 
with careful diet and tonic medicines. They readily succumb to intercurrent 
disease, such as measles or pneumonia. In the worst class of case the 
anaemia becomes more and more profound, they die exhausted ; in the later 
stages there may be haemorrhages, purpura, and oedema. The pathology of 
these cases is very obscure ; an examination of the spleen post mortem shows 
it to be hypertrophied, firm, and hard, and on section it is of a dark purple 
colour ; a microscopical examination shows nothing beyond hypertrophy. 
The blood is deficient in red corpuscles, and consequently a relative increase 
in white corpuscles, but nothing approaching to the great increase seen in 
leucocythaemia. The etiology of these cases is no less uncertain. The con- 
dition closely resembles that seen in malaria, but in this country this can be 
excluded with certainty. In a certain proportion of the cases a history of 
syphilis can be obtained ; in thirty cases reported by Carr : there was a 
1 Lancet, April 23, 1892. 



336 Diseases of the Blood and Blood-making Organs 

history of syphilis in eight, a doubtful history in six, and in sixteen no history 
could be obtained. In sixty-three cases reported by Fox and Ball l in forty- 
one per cent, there was a history of syphilis to be obtained. The figures of 
he last observers surprise us ; our experience has been that a definite history 
of syphilis is uncommon, and certainly in a large majority of our cases no 
history of syphilis could be obtained. It is true that syphilis produces both 
anaemia and enlargement of the spleen, especially during the acute phases ; 
but we are not aware of any cases of syphilis having been under observation 
during the acute stage and having then passed into (while under observation) 
a condition of splenic anaemia. That there is a close connection between 
this condition and rickets is certain, as almost all such children exhibit 
evidence of rickety changes in the bones, and this anaemic state occurs 
almost exclusively during the first two years of life, when rickets is most 
common. We are inclined to agree with Carr in believing that, while both 
syphilis and rickets may play a role in producing this condition of splenic 
anaemia, they are neither of them the sole or efficient cause, but that con- 
genital weakness, chronic dyspepsia, bad feeding, and insanitary conditions 
may interfere with the blood-making organs and lead to a condition of pro- 
found anaemia. While in a vast majority of cases the children who suffer in 
this way are under two years of age, yet occasionally we meet with older child- 
ren who are affected in a similar manner, as in the following fatal case : — 

Ancemia, Enlarged Spleen. — Thos. Arthur C, age 5 years. Up to four months ago 
quite healthy ; no serious illness. Has lived always in Manchester. Father and mother 
healthy. Four months ago had a fall, not confined to bed, abdomen painful and swollen 
■ever since, two months ago had severe epistaxis, with no known cause ; very much blanched 
ever since, feet sometimes swollen ; has had occasional pain and twitchings in left arm for 
an hour at a time, and slight twitchings of the body also. On admission, December 29, 
1881, plump, with marked pallor, a few purpuric spots on thighs and feet ; superficial 
glands generally enlarged, face cedematous, no oedema of feet ; abdomen prominent in 
epigastric and hypogastric regions, liver and spleen much enlarged, heart and lungs nil. 
Urine 1020 ; no albumen. Temperature 103 P.M. June 2. — Loud systolic murmur over 
whole cardiac area, no mediastinal dulness ; heart's area increased, apex beat felt outside 
nipple line. Blood thin and watery, with some increase of white corpuscles ; spleen 
rather tender. Temperature irregular, 98 to 101 and 102 . June 13. — Constantly moan- 
ing ; temperature still high and irregular. June 14. — Died 5 A.M., unconscious all night. 

Post-mortem. — Twelve hours after death ; great pallor, some oedema of extremities; 
blood very fluid, liver uniformly enlarged, pale, with fine yellow points (hepatic vessels). 
No perihepatitis, spleen 5 in. by 3 in. ; smooth, firm, purple on section. Retroperitoneal 
glands very slightly enlarged ; kidneys firm and very pale. No peritonitis, no ascites, no 
staining of organs with iodine. Heart. — Left ventricle hypertrophied ; right ventricle 
dilated, subpericardial ecchymoses. Lungs emphysematous, with abundant ecchymoses 
on surface and in substance. No enlarged mediastinal glands ; brain firm, intensely 
anaemic, otherwise apparently healthy. No venous congestion, no fluid in ventricles. 

Treatment.— Iron, arsenic, and cod-liver oil, especially the former, are the 
drugs most likely to be of service in anaemia, though the treatment must 
necessarily be modified according to the cause. The cachexia produced by 
syphilis must be treated by a combination of iron and mercury. Care must 
be taken to see that the bowels are acting normally. 

1 Brit. Med. Jour., April 1892. 



Pernicious Ancemia 337 

Idiopathic or Pernicious Anaemia is apt to occur in children ; out of 
102 cases published in the Guy's Hospital ' Reports' for 1882 there were six 
between the ages of seven and fifteen years. It has been met with in children of 
all ages. Kjellberg has recorded a case in a boy of five years, Elben in a girl 
of three years, and W. StefTen in a girl of sixteen months. It is always fatal. 

No cause can usually be assigned for the anaemia ; in one case coming 
under our notice the child had been much neglected and badly fed. 
Schopiro reports a case of a girl of 13 years who was supposed to suffer 
from pernicious anaemia, but began to improve after passing a tape-worm — 
Bothriocephalns latus. 

The symptoms and course are exactly the same in children as in adults. 
The first symptoms are those of weakness, breathlessness, and pallor, coming 
on without cause. The anaemia becomes extreme, the skin is blanched and 
of an earthy tinge ; the conjunctivae and mucous membrane of the mouth 
are pallid, and the muscles weak and flabby. Usually there is no great loss 
of flesh. Vomiting is not uncommonly a marked symptom. In some cases 
there appears to be a slight rise of temperature at night, 101 or 102 ; in this 
respect pernicious anaemia resembles other forms of anaemia. Purpuric spots 
are sometimes present on the skin, and retinal haemorrhages and optic 
neuritis may take place (S. Mackenzie). An examination of the blood reveals 
the characteristic appearances of ordinary anaemia, viz. a diminution of the red 
blood corpuscles ; some of the latter are very pale, or may have their haemo- 
globin separated from their substance and appearing as a rounded body 
by the side of the disc. The course is often acute, usually varying from one 
month to three months. 

Morbid Anatomy. — All the organs are in a bloodless condition, the 
muscles are in a state of fatty degeneration, and minute haemorrhages are 
founol on the surfaces of the organs. There is no further alteration found 
in the spleen or other viscera. 

Treatment. — The medicine most likely to be of service is arsenic. Drs. 
Pye Smith and Bramwell and Finny have recorded successful cases in 
adults. Phosphorus has also been used with some success. 

Pernicious Ancemia. — Walter H., age ni years, has been getting pale and weak for 
six months, no cause known ; has had hollow cough and frontal headache ; for two 
months has had frequent epistaxis, and for some time has had fainting fits, and spots 
' like bruises ' have appeared on thighs and shins ; no bleeding from lungs or bowels 
noticed. Mother strong, father said to have been phthisical in early life ; brothers and 
sisters all rickety and anaemic, four of them now in hospital with scarlet fever ; all re- 
covering. Admitted August 30. Large, well-formed, well-nourished, and muscular boy, 
dark brown hair and eyes, height 4 ft. 7 in., intelligent, intensely anaemic, tongue furred, 
pale and fissured, fauces pale, tonsils large ; respiration 34, fairly deep ; pulse 146, regu- 
lar and full ; temperature 103 ; both bases dull, with weak respiratory sounds, no crepi- 
tation, heart's area normal, impulse heaving and visible over second to fifth spaces, sounds 
at left base murmurous, spleen and liver not felt in abdomen, blood watery and pale ; red 
corpuscles, generally normal, in shape and form characteristic rouleaux, a few are elon- 
gated ; white corpuscles only slightly increased relatively, vary much in size, most of them 
being smaller than usual ; urine 1016, pale, no albumen, no excess of urates or phosphates ; 
ordered citrate of iron. August 31. — Temperature now between, normal and ioo°. 
September 6. — Temperature still below ioo c ; respiration 32; pulse 148; no cough, no 
night sweating, has attacks of syncope on attempting to sit up, has vomited twice to-day, 
no cardiac murmur. Died September 7. 

Z 



338 Diseases of the Blood and Blood-making Organs 

Post-mortem. — Forty hours after death body well nourished, intensely anaemic, rigor 
mortis persists, a few ounces of serum in each pleural cavity, patches of emphysema 
along margins of lungs, no consolidation, abundant sub-pleural ecchymoses ; about 2 oz. 
clear serum in pericardium, no pericarditis, no endocarditis, abundant sub-pericardial 
ecchymoses, tricuspid orifice admits three fingers, muscular fibre pale ; much ' tabby-cat' 
mottling of endocardium. Spleen 3A oz. , soft and friable ; liver 34^ oz. , very anaemic ; 
kidneys 4J oz., very soft, intensely anaemic, capsules peel off readily. 

Scurvy. — A scorbutic state may sometimes be met with in children as the 
result of bad or improper food, especially if fresh vegetables have been 
excluded from it ; such are cases of true scurvy, similar in every respect to 
those which used to occur so frequently among seamen. A similar condition 
is met with in association with certain depressing diseases such as tuberculosis. 
At other times when it occurs it is difficult to assign any cause. 

We have several times met with cases in which the prominent symptoms 
were anaemia, vomiting, purpura, and haemorrhages which proved fatal ; no 
cause could be assigned, and no lesions except minute haemorrhages found 
post mortem. 

The patient is usually anaemic, though he may be well nourished as far 
as subcutaneous fat is concerned ; the gums are spongy and offensive, they 
bleed with the slightest injury, the teeth are loose and may fall out ; haemor- 
rhage is apt to occur from the nose, kidneys, and bowels ; purpuric spots are 
common, and bruising occurs after the slightest injuries. The majority of 
the cases which come under our notice in hospital quickly improve with 
proper dieting and careful nursing. In one of our cases, where a scorbutic 
condition was present in a boy of ten years in association with fibroid phthisis, 
improvement took place on several occasions when we had him in hospital, 
but he eventually died from exhaustion, the result of frequent haemorrhages. 
At the ftost-7nortem a chronic tuberculosis was found, but nothing was 
found to explain the haemorrhagic condition suffered from during life. A 
scorbutic condition is not infrequently associated with rickets in young 
children. (See Rickets.) 

Treatment. — In all cases where there is anaemia, with spongy gums and a 
tendency to haemorrhages, lemon or orange juice should be given, and fresh 
vegetables in some form or other should enter into the diet. Scraped 
underdone meat, beef juice, and eggs should be given. The gums should be 
carefully cleansed, and painted with glycerine of tannin, borax and tincture 
of myrrh or some other antiseptic. Iron and cod-liver oil should be given 
internally. Haemostatics such as ex. hamamelis liq., gallic acid, and turpen- 
tine, will often be required. 

Purpura. — Haemorrhages from the capillaries beneath the skin, which 
pass under the name of purpura, occur in a variety of diseases. Thus pur- 
pura occurs (1) in malignant small-pox and measles, in typhus, and occa- 
sionally in scarlet fever, (2) in various anaemic conditions, such as scurvy, 
pernicious anaemia, and Hodgkin's disease, (3) in haemophilia, (4) in ery- 
thema nodosum, (5) in acute dysentery (see p. 86). In other cases when it 
occurs purpura is assumed to be a ' self-standing ' disease, inasmuch as no 
cause can be discovered. Among these may be mentioned Morbus macu- 
losus Werlhofii, and Peliosis rheumatica. 

Under the first of these two forms have been described Purpura 






Haemophilia. Hodgkin's Disease 339 

simplex, where the haemorrhages occur beneath the skin only, and Purpura 
haemorrhag-ica. when in addition to the bleedings beneath the skin there is 
oozing of blood from the nose and other mucous membranes ; but the division 
is an artificial one, as one form may succeed the other. But little is known 
as to the cause of this condition ; it is said to be more common in girls than 
in boys, and is especially apt to occur about puberty. Purpura appears at 
times to be caused by iodide of potassium. As a rule recovery takes place : 
indeed in most cases the patient is never really ill ; occasionally, however, the 
course is acute, death taking place quickly without any cause being found for 
the fatal issue. This was the case in a boy under the care of Dr. Pye Smith 
at Guy's Hospital, who died in ten days from the onset. 

The name Peliosis rheumatica is given to a condition in which there 
are purpuric spots on the skin, associated with joint-pains which are not 
rheumatic. The first symptoms are usually connected with the joints; the knees 
or other joints are painful and tender to the touch, and in the course of a day 
or two patches of purpura make their appearance ; the joint affection may 
go on to effusion. Heart complications do not occur (Baginsky). In some 
cases haemorrhages from mucous membranes occur. Micro-organisms have 
been found in the blood. Purpura, however, does occur in association with 
true rheumatism, especially when erythema nodosum is present. 

Haemophilia is the name given to a disposition to bleeding which is 
hereditary, the males in a family suffering far more than the females. Chil- 
dren so disposed are liable to bleed after the slightest injur)*, and the bleeding 
may be difficult to stop. Severe haemorrhages may follow a simple scratch 
or the drawing of a tooth. The slightest blow may be followed by a bruise. 
This disposition appears to be present chiefly when the child is in ill-health, 
and to disappear again during good health. In some cases there is a disposi- 
tion to effusion of blood into the joints, especially the knees : it may follow a 
blow or occur after prolonged exercise : the effusion may be succeeded by a 
chronic swelling and weakness of the joints. Extravasations into the pleural 
cavities are rare, effusion on the brain and into the peritoneum is more 
common. The tendency to haemophilia appears to lessen as age advances, 
but it may last for life, though many affected with it never reach adult life. 

Treat?nent. — The most serious symptom in connection with purpura is the 
loss of blood from the nasal mucous membrane, the gums, and the kidneys. 
Epistaxis may demand plugging of the nostrils, while at the same time some 
haemostatic must be prescribed. Among the most valuable are turpentine 
(THy-THx), ex. hamamelis liq. (ll]v-lT|xx), ex. ergotae liq. (ll\v-TT\xx), ergo- 
tine by subcutaneous injection, gallic acid (gr. v-gr. x), and acetate of lead 
(gr. f-gr. i). 

Hodg-kin's Disease — Anaemia lymphatica. — This disease is character- 
ised by an enlargement of various groups of lymphatic glands and also of 
the spleen ; there is progressive anaemia, and more or less intermittent fever. 
According to Gower's statistics, 16 out of ever}' 100 cases occur in children 
under ten years of age. The earliest symptom which calls attention to the 
disease is enlargement of some lymphatic glands, usually the cervical, though 
the axillary or mediastinal may be early affected. 

The glands just behind, or in front of and beneath, the sterno-mastoid are 
frequently the first to be enlarged, or the group at the angle of the jaw ; the 

z 2 



34-0 Diseases of the Blood and Blood-making Organs 

glands at first are firm and movable, varying in size from time to time as if 
the vessels were gorged at one time and more empty at another. With the 
glandular enlargement there is usually a marked increase in size of the 
spleen, and the child becomes weak and pallid. The blood is thin and 
watery, but there is no marked increase of white corpuscles. A prominent 
feature of the disease is the occurrence of attacks of pyrexia ; the tempe- 
rature at times continues elevated for some days, or it may assume the inter- 
mittent type. Other groups of glands may become affected ; there may be 
an extension into the mediastinum, and the glands may exert pressure on the 
trachea or large veins : the axillary and inguinal glands may also become 
affected. The course of the disease is very chronic, but the prognosis is un- 
favourable, and sooner or later the child dies exhausted. At the autopsy the 
spleen is found enlarged and infiltrated with an adenoid growth, while other 
organs, as the lungs, liver, and kidneys, are also infiltrated, only in less 
degree. 

Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of Hodgkin's disease in an early stage is often 
extremely difficult where the patient is brought with a mass of enlarged 
glands in the neck or other part. If the glandular tumours vary in size from 
time to time, if there is intermittent pyrexia or enlarged spleen, Hodgkin's 
disease may be suspected. If the glands suppurate they are probably 
tubercular. '{Vide chap, on Tumour Growths.) 

Treatment. — Arsenic and phosphorus are the medicines most likely to be 
useful, but the disease generally progresses to a fatal termination. 

Leucocythgemia. — Splenic leucocythaemia is a rare disease during child- 
hood, but the possibility of its being present should be borne in mind when 
a pallid child with a large spleen presents itself. It occurs at all ages : babies 
at the breast have been affected, and also those more advanced in years ; it 
cannot be said that anything certain is known about its etiology, though poor 
living, various depressing conditions, and malaria have been credited with 
producing it. The earliest symptom to call attention to the disease is ab- 
dominal distention, which is found to be due to a greatly enlarged spleen ; 
with this there is dyspepsia, perhaps abdominal tenderness, and marked 
anaemia. An examination of a drop of blood clears up the doubt, as the 
white corpuscles are greatly in excess of their normal number : instead of 
only seeing two or three in the field, their proportion to the red may vary 
from 5 to 50 per cent. ; normally they are 1 to 250 or 300. The disease is a 
chronic one and the prognosis unfavourable. Like Hodgkin's disease, there 
may be enlargement of lymphatic glands and intermittent pyrexia. Later in 
the disease the anaemia becomes profound, cedema of the subcutaneous 
tissues takes place, and often there are haemorrhages. 

Treatment. — Arsenic, phosphorus, cod-liver oil, and iron are the most 
likely drugs to be useful. Mercurial inunctions may also be tried. 

Enlarged Spleen. — The spleen is a very vascular organ, is functionally 
more active in childhood than in after life, and is more apt to become tem- 
porarily engorged and enlarged. The best method of determining the enlarge- 
ment during early life is by palpation rather than by percussion, as the lesser 
rigidity of the abdominal walls during early childhood usually readily permits 
of this. Palpation of the spleen is effected by standing at the patient's right 
side and gently pressing two or three fingers of the right hand into the left hypo- 



Diseases of Retro-peritoneal Glands 341 

chondrium beneath the costal arch, when the lower and inner edge of the 
spleen if it is enlarged can be readily felt as a movable tumour which can be 
pressed upwards. It can hardly be said that the spleen is abnormally en- 
larged unless its lower edge extends below the costal arch. Enlargement is 
very common during childhood, and accompanies various conditions. An en- 
larged spleen is most frequently associated with an anaemic condition, though 
exactly what the relation between the two is is uncertain (see p. 335). It is 
enlarged in many cases of rickets and syphilis, though certainly not in all 
cases ; it is chiefly so in those cases in which pallor and anaemia are marked 
symptoms. It is enlarged and hard in ague, and also when lardaceous and 
in association with leucocythaemia and Hodgkin's disease. It is also enlarged 
in various acute diseases, such as typhoid fever, acute tuberculosis and pyaemia, 
and in some other febrile states. 

Diseases of the Retro-peritoneal Glands. — There are a considerable 
number of lymphatic glands situated behind the peritoneum, at the back of 
the abdomen and in the pelvis. They are most numerous lying along the 
vena cava inferior and aorta and their branches. These glands may become 
enlarged and caseous in tubercular disease, or may be the starting-point of a 
lymphadenoma or abscess. When caseous, they are so in association with 
mesenteric disease ; in one case under our care the caseous glands surround- 
ing the vena cava completely compressed the latter, giving rise to oedema of 
the lower limbs and enlarged veins on the surface of the abdomen. In 
another case a lymphadenomatous tumour exactly simulating an enlarged 
spleen, which had commenced in some retro-peritoneal glands, was first noted 
in the left hypochondriac region. It grew to an immense size, occupying 
nearly half the abdomen. 1 Some of the more obscure forms of abdominal and 
pelvic abscesses appear to originate in these glands. 

Lymphadenoina of Retro-peritoneal Glands. — W. F., age 6 years. Admitted June 3. 
Three months ago complained of pain left side of abdomen ; continued to go to schoo 
till six weeks ago, when he had an attack of inflammation of the lungs, left side ; ill three 
weeks. At this time noticed a lump below ribs on left side, which has increased ; pain at 
night. He is an anaemic boy ; somewhat wasted. Temperature normal (and continued so 
throughout illness). Left costal arches are slightly bulged outwards, and what appears to 
be an enlarged spleen occupies a considerable portion of abdominal cavity. The upper ex- 
tremity of the tumour is below the costal arches of the left side, and modifies the resonance 
as high as the seventh in left nipple line. It lies somewhat transversely across abdomen 
to beyond umbilicus (15 in.), and extends below some 2 in. Does not reach upwards to 
right or left lobe of liver. Its edges can be clearly felt to be irregular, and closely simu- 
late a very large spleen. It is readily movable, moves also with deep inspiration, is not 
tender. There is a band of resonance below costal arches, otherwise tumour is dull on 
percussion. Microscopical examination of blood showed only slight excess of white cor- 
puscles. The boy continued to waste ; much diarrhoea ; the tumour enlarged, became 
resonant over centre ; abdominal veins enlarged. Died from exhaustion twenty-second 
day'after admission. 

Post-mortem. — Body emaciated, abdomen distended with gas ; on section about a pint 
of dirty fluid escaped. On displaying the abdominal contents, there was a whitish tumour, 
shaped like an enlarged spleen, extending downwards and to the right from beneath 
costal cartilages of seventh, eighth, and ninth ribs of left side. Crossing it below the 
costal arch was the traverse colon, but flattened and empty. The spleen was found small 



1 See Abstracts of Cases treated at the Children's Hospital, 1881, p. 13. 



342 Diseases of the Blood and Blood-making Organs 

but normal beneath the costal arch, pushed upwards by the tumour. The tumour was 
only slightly movable, not fixed to the intestine, but more or less attached by its upper 
end to the neighbourhood of the left kidney. It was separated without much laceration, 
and had apparently arisen from glands near left kidney. The latter was itself healthy, 
but surrounded by a soft growth pushing into the hilus and pressing on ureter. The 
larger mass of the growth was hollow in the centre, containing an irregular cavity large 
enough to hold a couple of fists. It contained gas and broken-down blood-clots. The 
anterior wall of the growth was i^ in. to 2 in. thick, in colour white mixed with red, and 
very soft. Mesenteric glands healthy ; no secondary deposits in liver or elsewhere ; evi- 
dence of old pneumonia at base of left lung. Microscopically the tumour consisted almost 
entirely of round cells with well-defined nuclei, a fine intercellular network difficult to 
demonstrate, and blood-vessels. 



343 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

GENERAL DISEASES. 

General Tuberculosis. — In speaking" of chronic tuberculosis of the lungs 
we have emphasised the fact that, far more commonly in children than in 
adults, the tubercular lesions not only affect the lungs, but are widely distri- 
buted through the body (see p. 231). It is this general distribution of 
tubercle which often renders the diagnosis difficult during life, as the physical 
signs of the disease in the lungs are less obvious than where, as in the adult, 
the tubercle deposits begin at the apex, and give rise to consolidation and 
cavitation. The classification is also rendered more difficult when a number 
of organs in the body are attacked, as we have to speak of a general tuber- 
culosis rather than tuberculosis of the lungs, and some cases which are in 
reality a general tuberculosis may be referred to diseases of the respiratory 
system or diseases of the alimentary canal. In the majority of cases of 
general tuberculosis the principal stress falls upon the lungs, mediastinal 
glands, mesenteric glands, peritoneum, and intestines ; in a lesser degree 
upon the liver, spleen, and kidneys ; and in the last stage the membranes of 
the brain are frequently attacked. 

We have already discussed the subject of chronic tuberculosis of the lungs 
(p. 231) ; we will now speak of the acuter forms of general tuberculosis. 

Acute Miliary Tuberculosis. — Acute miliary tuberculosis is perhaps 
commoner in early life than it is in after years ; it occurs at all ages during 
childhood, though it is rare before the end of the second year. Like tuber- 
cular meningitis, with which it is often associated, it usually supervenes in 
children already tubercular, and occurs but rarely in children who up to the 
time of falling ill have been in robust health. There is usually a history of 
more or less ill-health for some time previous to the attack ; there is a 
history perhaps of whooping-cough or measles some months before, which has 
left the child weak, and from which it has never really recovered. Some- 
times the symptoms of a tuberculosis of the lungs or abdomen are unmis- 
takably present, and then acuter symptoms supervene which mark the onset 
of the miliary form of the disease. 

Acute miliary tuberculosis occurs usually in two forms : the ' typhoid 
form,' so called because it is apt to simulate enteric fever, and the broncho- 
pneumonic form, in which the symptoms present are those of acute pneu- 
monia, the latter being set up by the presence of miliary tubercle. 

Symptoms. — In the typhoid form the commencement is usually insidious, 
and is usually preceded by a period of ill-health, during which time the child 
has been noticed to waste, to be feverish at night, to cough, and not infre- 



344 



General Diseases 



quently to suffer from diarrhoea or pass slimy, unhealthy-looking stools. The 
child is languid, irritable ; its appetite is very uncertain, and it cares but little 
for its toys. Often there are decided signs of intestinal catarrh ; the appe- 
tite is completely lost, the tongue is coated, and the abdomen distended. An 
examination of the chest may give no decided result, or only some rhonchi 
may be heard, and there maybe no very decided cough. In this stage, if the 
symptoms are acute, the resemblance to an irregular attack of enteric fever 
is very close, especially if rose spots resembling those of typhoid are present, 
as is sometimes the case. The diagnosis is especially difficult in young 
children of three or four years of age, who are perhaps very irritable and 
resist any examination of the chest or abdomen, the difficulty being to dis- 
tinguish acute miliary tuberculosis from enteric or subacute intestinal catarrh 
with some patches of broncho-pneumonia. A careful and continuous record 
of the temperature is important ; the temperature should be taken morning, 

afternoon, and evening ; the 
variations are usually consider- 
able, sometimes varying from 
99° to 104 F., the highest being 
usually at 4 or 5 p.m. Too much 
stress, however, must not be 
laid on an intermittent tempera- 
ture with considerable flights, 
as in some children a patch 
of broncho-pneumonia without 
marked physical signs will be 
accompanied by a striking 
intermittent temperature, and, 
moreover, we have seen a case 
of miliary tuberculosis when the 
temperature only reached ioi # 5° 
or 102 in the afternoon or 
evening. Enlargement and ten- 
derness of the spleen may be 
present in an early stage ; in some cases there is a marked feeling of hard- 
ness about it. In one of our cases rigors, with enlargement of the spleen and 
an intermittent temperature, suggested malaria, but the case turned out to 
be acute tuberculosis. 

Sooner or later, mostly in the course of a week or two, more characteristic 
symptoms declare themselves. There is a diy hacking cough, especially 
troublesome at night ; some crepitation or loose rales are heard at the apices, 
roots, or bases of the lungs, and not infrequently a sub-tympanitic or high- 
pitched note may be elicited on percussion, or perhaps there may be signs 
of fluid at one or both bases, with a pleuritic rub. In some cases there is 
marked dyspnoea, out of proportion to the pulse-rate and fever ; it is caused 
by the presence of miliary tubercles scattered through the lungs, with perhaps 
some disseminated emphysema or broncho-pneumonia. 

The hectic continues, and probably sooner or later, in the majority of 
cases, cerebral symptoms, due to meningitis or the softening of the brain 
which accompanies it, supervene. 




.59. — Miliary Tubercles of the Choroid ; slight optic 
neuritis. (From a drawing by P. H. Mules.) 



General Tuberculosis 345 

One of the most important physical signs which may be present is 
that of miliary tubercles in the choroid ; the discovery of these may not 
infrequently clear up the diagnosis of a doubtful case. Unfortunately the 
restlessness and irritability of children suffering from tuberculosis often 
render it impossible to make a thorough ophthalmoscopic examination. 
The tubercles appear as small, rounded, yellowish bodies, scattered about the 
fundus ; one or more may be seen near the disc, but usually they are eccen- 
trically seated : five or six may often be counted. Often a branch of a 
retinal artery or a vein may be seen to cross in front of one. They appear 
very rapidly, being apparently formed in the course of a few days ; if there is 
tubercular meningitis, the discs may be swollen and indistinct. 

In a case recorded by Proebsting the detection of tubercular bacilli in the 
urine decided the diagnosis of a doubtful case in favour of miliary tuber- 
culosis. In this instance the miliary tuberculosis was secondary to chronic 
tuberculosis of the kidney. 

The duration of the disease varies, in some cases being short, often only 
three weeks ; in others, perhaps the majority, it is longer, the patient lingering 
for six or seven weeks. The supervention of tubercular meningitis or broncho- 
pneumonia quickly brings the end. 

The broncho-pneumonic form occurs most often in children from two 
to five years of age, and in the vast majority of cases is mistaken for an attack 
■of acute broncho-pneumonia. There is often a history of measles or whooping- 
cough shortly before the attack, and probably there has been a period of 
ill-health with wasting. The symptoms are precisely those of acute broncho- 
pneumonia ; there is fever, dyspnoea ; rales or crepitation are heard over an 
extended area of lung, with more or less impaired resonance over a corre- 
sponding area. The disease usually runs its course in about ten days to two 
weeks, death resulting from exhaustion and more or less asphyxia. The 
family history or previous health may suggest tuberculosis in any given case, 
but no definite diagnosis of tubercular broncho-pneumonia can be made 
unless tubercles are seen in the choroid. The supervention of meningitis 
suggests tubercle, but a simple meningitis may accompany or follow broncho- 
pneumonia, especially in infants and young children. 

It must be borne in mind that acute or at least subacute g-eneral tuber- 
culosis may occur, which is not of the miliary form, disseminated through all 
the organs. A tuberculosis may run a course of six weeks to two months, 
accompanied by hectic and wasting, and the principal lesions found post 
mortem are not miliary tubercles, though these may be present, but ragged 
cavities in the lungs, caseous bronchial and mesenteric glands, and caseous 
masses in the liver, spleen, and kidneys. In these cases the diagnosis may 
be difficult or impossible for the first few weeks, but careful examinations of 
the apices of the lungs will generally decide the question. 

Diagnosis. — Acute miliary tuberculosis may be confounded with acute 
disseminated tuberculosis, in which the tubercular growth takes the form of 
caseous nodules or other forms rather than the typical purely miliary 7 form. 
The diagnosis is of very little importance except as regards the acuteness 
of the case, the miliary form being necessarily the most rapidly fatal. 
Both miliary tubercles and caseous infiltrations may be found in the same 
organ. Acute miliary tuberculosis may be mistaken for typhoid fever, 



346 General Diseases 

subacute intestinal catarrh, acute broncho-pneumonia, acute endocarditis, 
and pyaemia. 

In making a diagnosis the family and personal history is of great im- 
portance ; if other children or older members of the family have died of 
tubercular disease, the probabilities in a doubtful case will naturally be in 
favour of tubercle ; but it must not be forgotten that apparently healthy 
children with a good family history will sometimes die of acute tuberculosis. 
A history of a recent attack of measles or whooping-cough would be sug- 
gestive, but children with such a history may of course have typhoid or 
any other acute attack. There cannot be much difficulty in distinguishing a 
typical attack of typhoid fever from one of acute tuberculosis, but it may be 
quite impossible to make a diagnosis between an irregular and a typical 
attack of typhoid and tuberculosis. In both diseases there may be some 
looseness of the bowels, abdominal distention, and intermittent fever ; in both 
the spleen may be enlarged. It is only by having the patient under obser- 
vation for some days, and frequently examining the chest, that a diagnosis 
can be made. A short hacking cough, hectic fever, great variations of 
temperature, dyspnoea out of proportion to the temperature, and crepita- 
tion heard in the chest, would favour the diagnosis of acute tuberculosis. 
Any cerebral symptoms, such as convulsions, squinting, drowsiness, muscular 
rigidity, or paresis suggesting meningitis, favour the diagnosis of tubercle. 

Some cases of broncho-pneumonia, where the distribution is patchy and 
the temperature markedly intermittent, closely simulate acute tuberculosis, 
and for a few days or a week a certain diagnosis cannot be arrived at. It 
is only perhaps when the pneumonia clears up, and the temperature tends 
to normal, that the suspicions of tuberculosis are relieved. 

In acute endocarditis the temperature is apt to be hectic, and in the 
absence of a bruit the diagnosis may be difficult. The presence of a bruit 
would necessarily prove the case to be almost certainly acute endocarditis, 
in spite of it in other ways looking like tubercle. 

Prognosis. — If the diagnosis of acute miliary tuberculosis can be definitely 
made, the prognosis cannot be otherwise than exceedingly grave. There 
can be little doubt that in a few cases, in an early stage, before the miliary 
tubercles are widely extended, recovery may ensue ; but when the tubercu- 
losis has become general very little hope indeed can be entertained. 

Morbid Anatomy. — The amount of emaciation present depends upon the 
chronicity of the case ; we have seen at the post-i?iortem cases in which there 
was a fair amount of subcutaneous fat in those who had died of acute miliary 
tuberculosis. On opening the chest, the lungs are found to be in a condition 
of deep inspiration, almost as if they had been injected with some fluid from 
the trachea, while miliary tubercles are seen on the surface or beneath the 
pleura. On section the lungs are found stuffed with miliary tubercles, of a 
grey colour and the size of millet seeds, usually so crowded that not a cubic 
inch in the whole lungs will be found free. They are mostly more crowded 
at the apex than at the base. Caseating or suppurating bronchial glands 
are almost certainly present. Frequently miliary tubercles are present in 
the glands. Miliary tubercles will be found crowded together in the liver,, 
spleen, kidneys, and serous membranes — frequently also in the choroid,, 
and on the vessels at the base of the brain. 



Tuberculosis 347 

In other less acute cases caseous masses and peribronchial tubercles may- 
be found in the lungs, and may be associated with more or less miliary tuber- 
culosis. It is curious to note that many observers have failed to find the 
tubercular bacilli in miliary tubercles, and others have found granular masses 
suggestive of spores (Biedert, Ribbert, Malassez, and Vignal). 

Treatmeiit. — If the diagnosis of acute miliary tuberculosis can be made 
with certainty, little can be hoped for from the administration of drugs. The 
treatment must in such cases be a treatment of symptoms. If the tempera- 
ture takes high excursions towards evening, quinine, antipyrin, or antifebrin 
may be given to anticipate the rise, and the patient packed or sponged with 
cold water to reduce it. The troublesome cough may be relieved by codeia 
jelly or minute doses of opium. The strength should be maintained by a 
liberal diet of beef-tea, soups, port-wine, Burgundy ; extract of malt and cod- 
liver oil should also be given. Iodoform sometimes appears to be useful, 
though it can hardly be said to have any power in arresting the disease ; it 
may be given in powder with sugar in half- to two-grain doses. The com- 
bination of digitalis and bark has appeared to us to produce a temporary 
improvement, but any permanent change for the better cannot be looked for. 

Scrofula and Tuberculosis. — In this work the word ' scrofulous ' or 
' strumous ' will seldom be found, since we believe that all scrofulous or 
strumous lesions are identical with tuberculosis, or rather that they are mere 
varieties or forms of tuberculosis. Just as in the exanthems and in gout, 
taking these as types of parasitic and non-parasitic diseases respectively, 
many variations are found in the form and extent of the lesions, yet each pre- 
sents some single feature or group of features characteristic of its species, so 
in the scrofulous or tuberculous affections there is much variation, as it were, 
in the habit of the disease ; yet the naked eye, or microscopic appearances, or 
the clinical history always reveals the unity of the affection. 1 

In certain children there is a characteristic tendency to inflammation 
from trivial causes ; this inflammation is rather apt to occur in, or rather 
pick out, the lymphatic tissues ; once aroused, it tends to spread, attacking 
often distant parts of the .body. If its course is slow, the foci of disease 
tend to become caseous ; once started, the process seldom stops, or rather, 
though it may be arrested for a time, it is apt to be set going again by slight 
causes, even after long intervals of time. This tendency is found to run in 
families, some members showing one form of lesion, some another. At times 
different forms occur at different periods or even simultaneously in the same 
child. 

There is often, though by no means always, a characteristic appearance 
of the patient,' 2 but it is quite common to find the disease under discussion in 
children not at all answering to either description. 

The evidence of identity of scrofula and tubercle from the clinical history 
is best seen in two ways : first, that in a given number of cases where either 

1 Vide also Charvot, Med. Chron., October 1884. Konig., ibid., November 1884. 

2 The types usually described are : 1. Sanguine type — the child is tall, slight, graceful, 
with small fine limbs, clear skin, and fine silky hair ; the intelligence is bright. 2. Phleg- 
matic type — the child is short and thick-set, with coarse skin and limbs, thick features, and 
a dull, flabby aspect. 3. ' Pretty strumous ' type — which is intermediate between the two 
former. Vide Treves on Scrofula and Gland Diseases. 



348 General Diseases 

condition is present, enquiry will show a large proportion in which there 
is a history of lesions in other members of the family, 1 these lesions being 
often, as it were, crossed ; thus the child with disease of its hip has a brother 
with chronically enlarged cervical glands, and the father died of acute 
phthisis. Why should we call the father tuberculous and the children ' scro- 
fulous ' ? Or again, the child with a ' pulpy ' knee may develop caries of the 
spine and then die with grey tubercles in its lungs and abdominal viscera, 
or suddenly be attacked with tubercular meningitis. Or again, a child with 
a ' scrofulous ' joint disease, after some violent manipulation, perhaps forcible 
straightening of a flexed knee or imperfect removal of diseased tissue, rapidly 
develops tuberculosis, having had no sign of it before. There is strong 
reason to believe that in some of these cases there is direct tuberculous 
embolism or general rapid distribution of tuberculous infective material 
throughout the body. Take one more illustration : a child with ' strumous 
dactylitis ' develops along the course of the lymphatics of its arm multiple 
' strumous nodes,' and finally suppurating glands above the elbow and in 
the axilla ; these would be called scrofulous abscesses and scrofulous glands, 
yet they are simply tuberculous emboli from the finger. 2 

Anatomically, in the subjects of ' acute miliary tuberculosis ' we find always, 
or nearly so, somewhere in the body, caseous foci which if seen alone would 
be called scrofulous. Examined microscopically, the evidences of chronic 
inflammatory change undergoing degeneration— the characteristic tubercle, 
the giant cell, the tubercle bacillus — are all found in almost all the lesions 
classed as scrofulous, though much less abundantly in some tissues, such as 
bone, than in others. It is then wiser on all grounds to consider all scrofu- 
lous and strumous diseases as tuberculous, and therefore to be on our guard 
against the onset of tuberculosis in vital parts ; for instance, the common 
chronic osteomyelitis of the finger may be the only discoverable lesion in 
an apparently robust child, yet that child is infected with tuberculosis, and 
may at any time develop other foci, and may die of visceral tubercle ; hence 
none of these diseases should be looked upon as trivial. It must, however, be 
remembered that there is much evidence to show that there is some antago- 
nism between local ' scrofulous ' lesions and general visceral tuberculosis, or 
rather that so long as the local lesion is unrepaired the internal organs 
escape, while recovery from the local disease may be followed by general 
infection. This has given rise to the view that the local disease acts as a 
sort of safety-valve. The disease often lies dormant for years or for a long life- 
time, and the patient may never show any further sign of tuberculosis ; we 
must therefore not condemn all these children as hopelessly tuberculous. 
Indeed the tendency to develop tubercular foci often dies out after a time, 
and the child becomes quite sound. Such children should be taken care of 

1 Vide chap, on Joint Diseases for figures on this point. 

2 Treves looks upon scrofula as a phase of tubercle ; the phthisical parent has scrofulous 
children. He found a history of phthisis in thirty-eight out of sixty-five cases of scrofula. 
A child begotten of parents, one of whom perhaps, especially the father, is at the time 
actively phthisical, is certainly exceedingly likely to be tuberculous. This we have seen 
most markedly. Tuberculosis may even occur congenitally. Dr. Morgan records a case 
of • scrofulous sores ' on the head and nates of a two-months foetus {Path. Soc. Trans. 
vol. xviii.) ; and Dreschfeld has described a tubercular testis in a newly born infant. 



Tubercular Adenitis 349 

more watchfully than others need be, and no source of irritation, however 
slight, be allowed to continue ; carious teeth, little patches of herpes or 
eczema, slight injuries, and so on, should be seen to at once, lest chronic 
inflammation should ensue and a tubercular nidus be established. The diet 
in all such cases should be especially nourishing, and the usual remedies of 
cod-liver oil as an article of food rather than a medicine, iodine in some 
form, iron, and, above all, sea air, should be provided where practicable. 
In the richer class of patients such children should go to school by the 
seaside. 

Details of management of individual lesions will be found in the various 
special chapters. 

Tubercular Adenitis. — As already pointed out, the lymphatic tissues 
are those most commonly and most extensively attacked by tuberculosis, 1 and 
lymphadenitis is commoner than lymphangitis,'- since any solid material 
taken into the lymphatic vessels is apt to be arrested in the adjacent gland. 
Irritating matters passing up the lymph stream are not, however, by any 
means always arrested at the nearest gland, partly because the course of the 
lymphatics varies, and the most commonly affected glands may be avoided by 
a bye-route and those further on attacked, and partly because the material pro- 
bably may sometimes pass through one gland and involve the next, or after 
one gland has become inflamed it may become a source of infection to the 
next in the chain. Hence search should be made for sources of irritation out 
of the usual path if none are found in the common positions. If one obvious 
enlarged gland exists the presence of others should always be suspected. 
The first thing, then, when a child is brought with an enlarged lymphatic 
gland, is to examine the whole area draining to that gland for some source 
of irritation, past or present : this will be facilitated by the following table, 
where the principal lymphatic glands and their collecting areas are given. 3 

Table showing the Distribution of the Lymphatic Glands 
and their drainage areas. 4 

Head and Neck. 

Glands. Drainage Area. 

Suboccipital . . .1 drain posterior half of head> 

Mastoid ) r 

Parotid drain anterior half of head, orbits, nose, 

upper jaw, upper part of pharynx. 
Submaxillary . . . drain the lower gums, lower part of face, 

and front of mouth and tongue. 
Suprahyoid .... drain - x anterior part of tongue, chin, and 

lower lip. 

1 Greig Smith has remarked upon the frequency of lesions of ' red marrow ' as an illus- 
tration of its lymphatic affinities. 

2 The thick lips and nose and the red patches? and eczematous eruptions of children are 
as pointed out by Curnow, 'reticular lymphangitis.' Under certain circumstances chil- 
blains are probably a similar condition. 

5 Curnow, Lancet, 1879. Sappey, Anat.-Phys. Path, des Vaisseaux Lymphatiqzies, 
Paris, 1874. 

4 Mainly from Curnow and Treves. 



350 



General Diseases 



Head and Neck. 



Glands. 



Drainage Area. 



Superficial cervical 

(lying beneath platysma) 
Retropharyngeal . 

Deep cervical : 

Upper set along carotid 
sheath : 



Lower set in supra- 
clavicular fossae : 



Supracondyloid 1 . 
Axillary 



Anterior tibial and popliteal 



Inguinal : 

Femoral set (superficial) 



drain external ear, side of head, and neck 
and face. 
. drain nasal fossae and pharynx (upper 
part). 

drain mouth, tonsils, palate, lower part of 
pharynx, larynx, posterior part of tongue, 
nasal fossae, parotid and submaxillary 
glands, interior of skull, and deep parts 
of head and neck. 

drain upper set of lymph glands, lower 
part of neck, and join axillary and 
mediastinal glands. 

Upper Extremity. 
. drain three inner fingers. 
. drain upper extremity, dorsal and scapular 
regions, front and sides of trunk and 
breast. 

Lower Extremity. 

drain the deep lymphatics of the leg, and 
receive some vessels from the skin of the 
leg and foot, chiefly the outer side. 



Horizontal set (superficial) 



drain superficial vessels of lower limb and 
partly of buttock and genitals, also 
perinaeum. 

drain abdomen below umbilicus, buttock, 
and genitals. 

The deep vessels of the lower limb 
go to the deep glands along the femoral 
vein. 

drain the pelvic viscera and the deep vessels 
of the genitals partly. 

drain all the lower glands, uterus, testes, 
ovaries, kidneys. 

drain the rectum. 

Roughly, the umbilicus is the water- 
shed draining to the axilla and groin, 
but the vessels cross and overlap both 
vertically and horizontally. 

Perhaps the most commonly enlarged glands are those of the neck and 

sub-maxillary regions, parts obviously much exposed to irritation ; thus eczema 

of the scalp, the irritation of pediculi, &c, give rise to enlargement of the 

occipital and upper cervical glands ; herpes about the nose to irritation of the 

1 Occasionally there are glands in the bend of the elbow. 



Iliac 
Lumbar . 
Sacral . 



Adenitis 351 

parotid or submental glands ; while carious teeth, ulceration of the gums, and 
so on, affect the submaxillary and cervical groups. The upper set of cervical 
glands are found enlarged from irritation of the meatus externus in cases of 
otorrhcea and in cases of tonsillitis. As already mentioned, a lymph gland 
overlies the tonsil, and is usually enlarged in affections of that structure, 
which is not perceptible from the neck under ordinary circumstances. Treves 
points out that those glands which drain areas rich in lymphoid tissue are 
the ones most commonly enlarged ; hence the cervical, bronchial, and me- 
senteric groups are those most often affected. 

The enlargement of lymphatic glands is sometimes acute at first, and they 
are then tender and painful ; in other instances the swelling is chronic and 
painless from the beginning. The glands form hard, rounded, or oval masses 
freely movable in the deeper tissues and beneath the skin, unless there has 
been cellulitis around the gland (periglandular inflammation). In chronic 
cases the overlying skin is natural, and usually several glands can be felt ; 
often a chain of them, varying in size from a pea to a walnut, can be traced. A 
mere transitory irritation may start inflammation in a gland, and then, though 
the local source has entirely disappeared, the enlargement may persist and 
other glands in the chain be affected, as already described ; hence we must not 
conclude that there has been no primary source of irritation, and that the 
glandular affection is spontaneous because we can find no cause for the 
enlargement. Cold, or some trifling injury, a sore upon the skin or mucous 
surface, soon healed and forgotten, or perhaps never noticed, is sufficient to 
set up chronic tubercular adenitis, which may spread and last for months 
or years. Primary adenitis not due to absorption is probably very rare. 
Treves points out that cervical adenitis may be caused by extension from 
within the chest or other distant parts. 

After a time, unless the process subsides, the glands become very hard, 
and by their size and number give rise to great disfigurement and occasion- 
ally to more serious trouble. Goode, of Cincinnati, has recorded a case of 
death in a baby five months old from pressure of a caseous gland upon the 
carotid sheath. These swellings are seldom painful ; after a time one or more 
patches of softening may appear, and as the process goes on the skin becomes 
red or livid, and finally thinned and perforated ; thin watery, sero-purulent 
fluid with flakes of lymph and cheesy matter then escape, more rarely 
fairly healthy-looking pus ; occasionally the discharge is clear glairy fluid, like 
the contents of some mucous cysts, but in such cases there is almost always 
some more purulent matter at the bottom of the cavity, which can be 
squeezed out. The discharge may go on indefinitely, and an ulcer is formed 
which has little tendency to heal, and is bounded by thin, livid, undermined, 
unhealthy edges. If healing does take place the scar is puckered and 
unsightly, often with bridges or tags of thin insensitive skin hanging from 
it, and little black spots due to accumulation of dirt and secretion in the 
hollows of the scar. Such is the condition seen in an old ' scrofulous 
neck.' 

If such a gland as that above mentioned is examined in the early stages 
of the process, it will be found firmer and paler than in health, but not other- 
wise obviously altered ; a little later patches of yellow cheesy material of 
various sizes will be found scattered through the gland, sometimes in one or 



352 General Diseases 

two large foci, at other times in numerous small ones ; the capsule of the 
gland is thickened. Later still, these caseous foci break down, the greater 
part of the gland tissue is destroyed, and the gland itself becomes converted 
into a bag of cheesy or flaky pus and detritus, with walls composed of the 
capsule and more or less of the gland tissue remaining unsoftened. It 
happens, however, sometimes that, instead of the gland breaking down and 
softening in the centre, suppuration takes place in the cellular tissue round 
\X.—perigla7idular abscess ; this burrows round the gland and isolates it, so- 
that there is a solid mass of gland tissue lying in an abscess cavity, and per- 
haps attached to the surrounding tissues only by the structures passing to its 
hilus. In this last case, when the skin gives way, instead of a deep ulcer 
there is seen a round pinkish or yellowish-white mass projecting from the 
middle of a circular sore, the edges of which are loose, undermined, thin, and 
livid ; there is often but little discharge, and no tendency to heal, or indeed,, 
to alter much one way or the other. Where many glands are enlarged, all 
stages, from the first primary enlargement to the last-named condition, may 
be seen at once, and sometimes the whole neck from ear to ear is marked by 
ulcers, scars, and enlarged glands in various stages. In such cases it will 
usually be found that many teeth in one or both jaws are carious, and acting 
as sources of irritation. 

It must, of course, be remembered that all such glands do not go on to 
suppuration, and it is said that in children there is more chance of resolution 
than in adults ; however, the majority do suppurate if they remain enlarged 
for more than a short time. 

Coexisting with the glandular abscesses and sores will often be found 
superficial ulcers, round or irregular in form, often scabbed over, and only dis- 
charging at times. The edges of the sores are usually unhealthy and under- 
mined, and their bases glazed or covered with coarse, unhealthy granulations 
and caseous detritus ; some of the ulcers are no doubt caused by the dis- 
charge of broken-down glands ; others are probably due to abcesses beginning 
in lymphatic vessels, due to tubercular lymphatic emboli, or rather thrombi 
— tubercular lymphangitis, ' strumous nodes ; ' others again probably to local 
cutaneous tuberculosis. 

Diagnosis. — Tuberculous adenitis and ulcers maybe mistaken for syphilitic 
ulceration, which gives rise to very similar appearances, except that ulcera- 
tion predominates over the glandular enlargement. It must be remembered 
that congenital syphilis and tuberculosis may coexist. The presence of 
other evidences of syphilis will nearly always clear up a doubt. 

Simple acute ade?iitis is recognised by its short history and by the pain 
and great tenderness of the part, as well as by the presence of an acute source 
of irritation, such as an alveolar abscess or acute tonsillitis, and by the fact 
that usually only one gland is enlarged, though several may be tender. 

Simple non-tubercular chronic adenitis may occur as the result of acute 
inflammation, but this usually rapidly subsides under treatment and affects 
but one gland ; if the affection is obstinate, suspicion of its tuberculous nature 
should be aroused. 

Lupous ulcers are the only other condition likely to be mistaken, and as 
these are also tuberculous, the mistake is of little importance. The presence 
of well-defined lupous tubercles is the distinguishing feature. 



Treatment of Tuberculous Adenitis 353 

Tuberculous abscess of the skin, ' scrofuloderma,' ' scrofulous gumma,' and 
' strumous node,' are the names applied to small tuberculous foci probably 
in the lymphatics which, at first hard and solid, usually break down, though 
sometimes they are absorbed. These little swellings are often found in the 
thickness of the skin itself about the limbs, face, or trunk. Occasionally the 
mischief spreads, and a large cold abscess or tuberculous ulcer may result. 

Chronic tonsillar hypertrophy is considered by Treves to be ' almost 
pathognomonic of scrofula ' ; though very common in tubercular children, we 
think it is often met with in those who show no other signs of tuberculosis ; 
it may occur during the first few months of life. Infantile leucorrhcea and 
certain vulvar ulcers have been supposed to be tuberculous ; no doubt many 
cases of aural suppuration are so. 




Fig. 60. — Tubercular Ulceration of the Skin of the Foot, showing imperfectly formed scar-tissue 
overlying the tuberculous granulations. A form of so-called Lupus hypertrophicus. 

Treatment. — The treatment of tuberculous adenitis consists at first in care- 
fully removing all sources of irritation ; carious teeth, enlarged tonsils, patches 
of eczema, nasal catarrh, otorrhcea, chafed heels, and so on, should all re- 
ceive attention according to the seat of the enlarged glands and the source 
of the trouble. Next, the general measures of diet and health already men- 
tioned must be carried out. As to the local treatment of the glands them- 
selves, this must be managed according to the stages of the disease. (1) In 
the early stage, before caseous foci have appeared, after removal of the source 
of irritation, the glands should be left quite alone, in the hope of their sub- 
siding. If no improvement takes place in a fortnight, the glands should 
have a piece of unguentum plumbi iodidi or unguentum hydrargyri of the 
size of a small pea gently rubbed over them night and morning. Painting 
with tincture of iodine we do not approve of ; it is far more likely to increase 
the irritation of the glands than to lessen it. Should the enlargement not 
yield to these means, and should the stage of caseation, known by a du- 
ration of two or three months with considerable enlargement and much 

A A 



354 General Diseases 

hardening of the glands, be reached, the best treatment is to cut down upon 
and shell out the glands entire — a very easy operation at this stage where 
only one or two glands are involved, a much more difficult and sometimes 
impossible one where many glands in a chain are enlarged and there is peri- 
glandular inflammation. In favourable cases an incision through the skin 
and fascia, and then through the sheath of the gland, followed by pressure at 
each side with the fingers, will render enucleation of the mass quite easy. All the 
glands felt to be enlarged should be removed, all bleeding stopped, and the 
edges carefully brought together, no drainage being used if the wound is clean. 
The resulting scar is slight, and much less unsightly than that left in cases 
where suppuration has gone on. The plan of puncture with the thermo- 
cautery we have not found satisfactory ; it is apt to leave intractable sinuses. 

In the next stage, when the gland has softened down, if there has been 
no periglandular mischief, it may be still possible to dissect the mass out, and, if 
so, this is the quickest and best method ; it is, however, impracticable if the 
glands have become matted to the surrounding tissues : in such cases the 
abscess should be opened by an incision about half an inch in length ; a long 
incision is not necessary, but it must be sufficient for free manipulation and 
drainage. After opening the abscess a Volkmann's spoon is passed in and all 
the gland tissue carefully and thoroughly scraped away : if any is left the 
wound will not heal, but the part remaining will caseate, break down, and keep 
open a sinus ; l hence, if all the gland cannot be scraped away, the most 
satisfactory plan is to enlarge the incision and dissect out the remaining parts. 
Where, as often happens, two or more glands near, but not fused with, one 
another have broken down, the further ones may often be reached, as pointed 
out by Mr. Teale, by thrusting the spoon through the adjacent walls and 
thus emptying all the cavities through one opening. The wound should be 
well dusted with iodoform and drainage provided for. When the abscess 
has already burst and left a sinus the same treatment should be adopted. 
Where ulcers have formed with undermined edges these should be scraped 
or clipped away flush with the healthy skin : a large wound may thus be 
sometimes left where there was but a small opening before, but the ultimate 
result will be a much less unsightly scar, as well as more rapid healing, if 
this devitalised skin is removed ; all the unsightly tags and bridges will be 
thus avoided. 

Wliere there is a protruding isolated gland in the middle of a sore, if it 
is soft it may be scraped away ; if not, we have found Golding Bird's little 
electrolytic caustic apparatus exceedingly good. The silver plate is fastened 
by a strip of strapping on to a neighbouring sore if there is one, or, if not, 
on to a surface made raw by a blister, and the copper wire is bent so 
that the zinc arrow can be plunged into the middle of the gland ; a strip of 
strapping fixes the arrow, and a bandage is applied over all. The apparatus 
is left on for forty-eight hours, or more in some cases : at the end of that time 
the gland will look yellow and dry ; the apparatus is then removed and a 
hot boric lotion dressing applied for twenty-four hours, when the gland is 
usually found to come away ; if more glands remain, the apparatus may be 

1 Some surgeons recommend a small opening, and leaving the abscess to slowly drain. 
Injection of chronic glandular abscesses with a solution of iodoform in ether is well worth 
a trial ; we have seen them completely disappear under this treatment. 



Chronic Abscess 355 

reapplied. In this method there is a deposit of nascent chloride of zinc in 
the gland which quite painlessly and rapidly destroys it, and we have never 
seen any tendency to extensive sloughing, nor anything except good results, 
from this mode of treatment in suitable cases ; it is, of course, chiefly valuable 
where objection is made to removal of the gland by operation. 

Mr. Teale has pointed out that where one superficial gland is enlarged 
and suppurating there is usually another, lying beneath the deeper fascia, and 
that, unless this is cleared out, the source of discharge is not removed and 
the sinus will not heal. It is necessary to look carefully sometimes to find 
the channel leading to the deep gland, but it is there and must be followed by 
the spoon, and the second niass removed. Mr. Teale uses a special dilator 
to stretch the sinus, but a dressing or sinus forceps will usually be found to 
answer all purposes. 

Iodoform is the best dressing to apply to these sores at first, and later on 
they do very well with iodide of lead ointment. 

Where several sinuses are left in the neck it is a good plan to use, as 
advised by Treves, a gutta-percha or leather stock 1 to keep the parts at rest, 
and in other parts of the body efficient pressure by pads and bandages or 
by a truss is often useful. 

Where depressed scars remain after gland diseases Adams's or Reeves"s 
operations may be employed. The former loosens the skin by subcutaneous 
division of the scar, and by daily manipulation keeps it from becoming 
reattached till the hollow is filled up. Reeves props up the depressed skin 
upon a wire passed beneath it, which may be left in permanently, or removed 
if it sets up irritation. We have had a good result from the latter method. 

Acute non-tubercular glandular abscesses in parts of the body other than 
the neck are often met with, and require treatment on general principles. 
Where the popliteal or inguinal glands are involved the limb should be kept 
extended and fixed to a splint. Suppurating popliteal glands are apt to 
give rise to serious trouble ; the matter tends to burrow far up the limb. In one 
case we had to amputate the thigh where an abscess, beginning in the 
popliteal lymphatics as the result of an irritated chilblain, eroded the popli- 
teal artery, opened into the knee-joint, and burrowed up to the pelvis. 

Acute adenitis, if seen before suppuration has occurred, will usually sub- 
side if the source of irritation is removed and the part well fomented after 
smearing it with extract of belladonna. If pus forms it should be let out as 
soon as possible. 

Chronic Abscess. — Chronic abscesses may now be dealt with much 
more speedily and satisfactorily than in former times. In all cases, of course, 
the source of irritation should be looked for and if possible removed ; unless 
this is done success cannot be reasonably expected. 

In some instances, if the contents of the abscess are drawn off through an 
aspirator and an emulsion of iodoform in ether or glycerine injected (from 
5j. — 3SS. being a usual quantity to use), the abscess will slowly subside. 
This method is not, however, likely to succeed where any irritating or much 
caseous material is present. In such cases the abscess should be freely 
opened and its contents and whole lining most carefully scraped and rubbed 

1 The sawdust collar will be found useful for this purpose. 

A A 2 



356 General Diseases 

away ; this part of the proceeding must be done thoroughly or the operation 
will fail. 

The abscess cavity should then be well washed out with perchloride 
of mercury lotion of strength I in 3,000, and, after being thoroughly dried 
out, should be either a mixture of iodoform and boric acid in equal parts 
dusted in, or some of the iodoform emulsion injected. The wound is then to 
be carefully and completely sewed up, all excess of fluid being squeezed out 
just before the dressings are applied. The dressings should consist of wood- 
wool wadding or some similar substance packed carefully on over a layer of 
wet gauze. The dressing should be so applied that the walls of the cavity 
are accurately kept in contact and firm pressure made. In successful cases 
the wound need not be disturbed for ten days or a fortnight, when it will be 
found soundly healed. If, as sometimes happens, the wound heals but the 
abscess refills, either the source of irritation at a distance has not been 
removed, or the cleaning out of the cavity has not been complete ; the 
operation should be repeated, and will probably be successful. In cleaning 
out the cavity it is useful to twist an artificial sponge tightly into all parts 
of the cavity and screw it round so as to entangle and wipe out all caseous 
material. 

Beep Cervical Cellulitis — Angina Xiiidovici — is a very serious affection ; 
the mischief apparently begins as a periglandular inflammation, goes on to 
sloughing, and may perforate the cheek. There is at first a brawny infiltration 
of the submaxillary region ; the skin in milder cases is pale and marked by 
turgid veins ; in the more severe and acute cases, however, a deep brownish- 
red discoloration appears. The whole neck may be involved, and there is 
great swelling, with marked prostration, and sometimes dyspnoea or dysphagia 
from mechanical pressure. The disease is met with usually in children under 
three years of age, often in infants, and occurs under similar conditions to 
cancrum oris. Early and free incision is urgently required ; usually much foul 
brown serum or sero-pus escapes. Free stimulation and abundant nourish- 
ment are required, with removal from insanitary surroundings. The mortality 
of these cases, which much resemble those of scarlatinal cellulitis, is consider- 
able. 

Case. — Female, age 1 year 9 months ; neck swollen a fortnight ago ; on admission, 
right side of neck tense, hard, brownish-red ; swelling reaches to clavicle ; swelling incised, 
serum only escaped ; much fever before incision ; skin sloughed freely, and pneumonia set 
in, child dying on seventh day. 

Post-mortem. — Abscesses in lungs and sanguineous pleuritic effusion. 

General Surgical Tuberculosis. — A condition perhaps best described as 
1 general surgical tuberculosis ' is common, the term being applied to those 
cases where there are tuberculous foci scattered far and wide over the body in 
various tissues. Thus children are seen with ulcers of the hands, abscesses 
or still unsoftened nodes along the course of the lymphatics of the fore-arm, 
and a supracondylar gland enlarged : perhaps a patch of ulceration on the 
cheek and submaxillary adenitis, phlyctenular ophthalmia, tubercular osteo- 
myelitis of one tibia, with disease of the tarsus on the opposite side, and so 
on. Such a combination is by no means a rarity : not very long ago we 
had in the hospital a boy with disease of one hip, one elbow, one ankle, and 



Diabetes 357 

sacro-iliac disease ; in another the shoulder, ankle, and wrist were all excised 
for tuberculous disease. Such cases, if they are neglected, gradually lose 
strength and sink, but good food and sea air, combined with removal of the 
disease as soon as it is evident that spontaneous repair is impossible, will 
often work wonders. 

Operation should be deferred till it is seen what nature can do ; but if with 
the improvement in the child's health no progress is made locally, or if there 
is pain or much discharge, the affected tissues — bones, joints, &c. — should be 
removed. We have often been surprised at the rapid and complete repair 
effected in such children, and even in the cases looking most desperate 
locally, resections or scrapings will sometimes succeed and amputations 
prove unnecessary. 1 But in all these children relapses will occur if the health 
is again allowed to fail from bad food and hygiene. 

As regards details of local treatment in such cases, we find iodoform 
mixed with an equal quantity of boric acid and dusted on, or iodoform ointment, 
the best application. Where operation is called for, all dead and carious 
bone should be excised or scraped and gouged away, all soft caseous and 
pulpy granulation tissue removed, and undermined livid edges of skin 
clipped off. The incisions may sometimes be closed with sutures and 
primary union obtained ; where possible this should be attempted. If, how- 
ever, the destruction of the skin renders union impossible, the wounds should 
be left freely open ; they often heal with great rapidity and leave but little 
deformity. Amputation is sometimes required for tarsal and knee-joint 
disease, but in the upper extremity we have never seen a case that required 
it, except in the fingers, though some have at first appeared hopeless enough. 
Caries of the spine in such children is the most serious condition, from its 
inaccessible position ; but even this is not hopeless. It is not so common as 
might be expected to find visceral tubercle in these patients, and this is 
probably one of the reasons why they have been called scrofulous and not 
classed as tubercular. Surgical tuberculosis has been used to imply that 
operative treatment can do much for them, and that the lesions are external. 

Case. — Edward C, age 9 years 6 months. Admitted November 7, 1885. No tuber- 
cular history. Always healthy till two years ago, when an abscess appeared at the back of 
the leg, and others subsequently elsewhere ; they have continued to discharge since. Four 
months ago he fell upon the elbow, and an abscess formed, which was opened, and has 
been discharging since ; joint stiff. On admission, a sinus over the outer end of the left 
clavicle, leading to bare bone. Abscesses and enlarged glands in the neck ; a sinus on the 
left buttock and another over the inner condyle of the left humerus. 26th, several small 
loose sequestra removed from the cavity in the clavicle, close to and involving the acromio- 
clavicular joint ; abscess in neck scraped out and a deep gland beneath the fascia scooped 
away; some caseous bone scraped from inner condyle of humerus. 27th, much pain in 
elbow, which subsided partially by the 29th ; he did fairly well, and was sent out on Decem- 
ber 11 with all the ulcers, &c, doing well, except the elbow, which remained swollen and 
tender. 

Diabetes xvieilitus. — Though diabetes is much less common in children 
than in young adults, it cannot be said to be rare, as Gerhardt has re- 
corded 1 1 1 cases at various ages, from six months to fifteen years. Cases 
have been observed in infants at the breast, though the diagnosis in such 

1 See, however, chapter on Bone and Joint Diseases. 



358 General Diseases 

may be open to doubt on account of the difficulty of obtaining the urine, 
and of the uncertainty of detecting small quantities of sugar in the urine. 
Little can be said about the etiology of these cases. ; a history of diabetes 
in the family may, however, often be obtained. 

The symptoms noted are those which are present in adults. There is 
the harsh dry skin, red tongue, marked thirst, and voracious appetite. There 
is often incontinence of urine on account of the large quantities passed. The 
specific gravity of the urine is high, 1030 to 1040 or more, and perhaps 5 per 
cent, or even 10 per cent, of sugar may be found. The child usually wastes, 
especially if not carefully treated, and is apt to contract a fatal pneumonia. 
Tuberculosis or chronic phthisis may supervene as in adults. Diabetic coma 
has also been observed by several authors, and one has come under our own 
observation, though perhaps it is not so common as it is in the case of young 
adults. The symptoms commence with headache, dry tongue, and dyspnoea, 
followed by coma. It is well to bear in mind the possibility of being called 
to see a child who has rapidly passed into a state of coma without diabetes 
having been suspected. 

The prognosis is mostly unfavourable, though cases are recorded which 
made apparently a permanent recovery. In the fatal cases the duration 
varies from a few weeks to a year. 

Treatment. — All starch-containing foods and sugar should be forbidden, 
gluten bread and saccharin being substituted. Milk in moderate quantities 
or cream may usually be allowed, as children are much more dependent 
upon milk as a food than are adults. Beef-tea, soups, fish, chicken, and 
butcher's meat, with gluten bread and green vegetables, will chiefly form the 
diet. Much difficulty is often experienced in keeping- children to a rigid 
diet, as they hanker after bread-and-butter or puddings. With regard to 
drugs, codeia (gr. \ to gr. ^) or opium should be given, while the bowels 
are carefully regulated with Carlsbad salts or Rubinat water. Great care 
should be exercised to prevent catching cold or any of the zymotic diseases, 
since bronchitis, whooping cough, or scarlet fever is almost certain to unfavour- 
ably affect the course of the disease. 

Polyuria — Diabetes Insipidus.— The etiology of this condition is for 
the most part quite unknown, and it probably owns a variety of causes. 
Cases of brain disease, of contracted kidney, and of functional diseases of the 
alimentary canal may be accompanied by polyuria. In the majority of cases 
no cause can be assigned, and we are obliged to speak of such as idiopathic, 
much in the same way as we speak of idiopathic anaemia. In a large class 
of cases polyuria is temporary only. Children, often girls between three and 
six years, are noticed to wet their beds, or make water in the day time far 
more frequently than they have been accustomed to. In the same way boys 
will wet their trousers frequently during the day when it was thought that 
they had grown sufficiently old to have learnt proper habits. An examination 
in such cases will probably show no abnormal constituent of the urine, but 
that it is of low specific gravity, perhaps 1005 to 1010, and passed in larger 
amount than usual. In the majority of cases this condition will be found to 
depend upon digestive derangements or improper feeding ; it appears to be 
a reflex irritation of the kidneys, the source of irritation being in the intestine, 
the presence of an intestinal catarrh being the cause. Possibly also the de- 



Diabetes Insipidus 359 

position of uric acid salts in the kidney may be the cause of a large quantity 
of water)' urine being secreted. The presence of thread worms or round 
worms in the intestine or rectum also appears at times to produce polyuria. 
In those rare instances of contracted kidney occurring in childhood large 
quantities of urine are sometimes passed : in such cases the specific gravity 
is low, but there will usually be some albumen. 

In those cases to which the name of 'Diabetes insipidus' is usually applied 
there is intense thirst, and large quantities of pale urine with a specific 
gravity of 1002 to 1005 are passed. A girl of 8^ years under our care, who 
had suffered for some six months, drank as much as ten quarts in twenty-four 
hours, and passed a proportionately large quantity of water. When restricted 
to ten pints of fluid daily, she would in the night crawl under the beds to the 
bath-room to obtain water, or surreptitiously drink her own urine. Such 
patients have dry, rough skins, are anaemic, and of irritable temper. The 
course of such cases is exceedingly chronic, and post-mortems are seldom ob- 
tained. 

Treatment. — The treatment must depend on the cause. If simply reflex, 
dependent upon intestinal irritation, a calomel purge may be given and a 
carefully restricted diet prescribed. In confirmed cases of Diabetes insipidus 
various drugs have been tried : opium, strychnine, valerian, and ergot usually 
fail ; in our own case no drug seemed to check the secretion of urine in the 
least — a temporary improvement took place during an intercurrent attack 01 
tonsillitis. In all cases the patient should be warmly dressed and protected 
from cold, as a chill has the effect of checking the perspiration and so 
increasing the secretion of urine. 

Rheumatism. — Rheumatism, either in its acute or chronic form, is not 
common during the first four or five years of childhood ; it is commoner after 
this age, but typical attacks of acute rheumatism occur less often in children 
than in young adults. Concerning the etiology and pathology of rheumatism 
but little need be said : hereditary influences, the effects of cold and damp, 
the retention of waste products in the blood, and the poison of scarlet fever, 
seem in greater or less degree to predispose to or excite an attack of rheu- 
matism. 

Symptoms. — These in older children closely resemble those seen in 
adults, except that the attacks can rarely be called acute, but belong rather 
to the category of subacute, the attacks being less severe and of shorter 
duration. The illness sometimes begins with vomiting and chilliness, but 
more often the first thing complained of is pain and tenderness in the larger 
joints, which may become red and more or less swollen. The commonest 
joints to be affected are the larger ones, such as the knees, ankles, hips, wrists, 
and shoulders ; these are rarely all affected at the same time or indeed in 
the same attack ; much more commonly one or both knees are distended 
with fluid, while subsequently a wrist or an ankle becomes red, tender, 
and useless. The joints of the cervical vertebrae are often affected, and 
occasionally some of the smaller joints, such as the fingers. There is not 
often much fever, the temperature rarely exceeding 102 . Usually there is 
not much sweating, the joints quickly recover themselves, and the pain and 
immobility disappear in a few days. Sometimes the only evidence of a 
rheumatic attack is a slight redness and tenderness about a single joint. It 



360 General Diseases 

is the exceeding mildness of these attacks as well as the want of intelligence 
to localise their pains that makes attacks of rheumatism readily overlooked 
in young children. A crying out when disturbed, with a certain amount of 
paresis or immobility about a limb, may be all there is to indicate an attack 
of rheumatism, which, mild as it may be, is yet perhaps accompanied by 
endocarditis which may inflict a lifelong injury. 

Distinct attacks, however, may be noted in young children, of which the 
following, a patient seen with Dr. Earle, maybe taken as an example A little 
girl of twenty-two months was going about as usual on March 22 ; on being 
taken up the next morning she seemed in pain and was unable to stand, 
complaining (apparently) of her left ankle, which was supposed to be 
sprained. The next day, however, the right ankle appeared to be similarly 
affected, and during the succeeding two days her knees, elbows, and neck 
were attacked successively in the same way. On the 27th the knee-joints, 
especially the left, were considerably swollen and hot with fluid in the joints ; 
the next day both joints were equally enlarged. The general system was 
only slightly disturbed ; there was no cardiac affection. The knees remained 
swollen for a few days, but gradually recovered, so that at the end of thirteen 
days she could again walk a little. 

In most attacks the child becomes anaemic. Children, like adults, are 
liable to relapses ; usually fresh joints are affected, with the symptoms 
attendant on the primary attack. 

The complications and manifestations of rheumatism are many and of 
great importance, as they all centre round peri-endocarditis, and it is the 
danger of these cardiac lesions supervening that makes us look with so much 
care and anxiety at all joint pains in children. As already remarked (see 
p. 316) it is the exception for children to escape suffering from endocarditis 
during an attack of acute rheumatism, and, moreover, peri-endocarditis 
may supervene with but very slight joint pain, or the latter may come on 
later. 

Chorea is another frequent associate of rheumatism, and may either 
precede or follow, or sometimes actually complicate, the rheumatic attack. 
It has been referred to elsewhere. 

Pleurisy and Pleuro-pneumonia occur at times as complications of a 
rheumatic attack, especially when pericarditis is present. 

Erythema multiforme and Urticaria occasionally occur in connection 
with rheumatism and endocarditis. The erythema may take various forms, 
occurring sometimes as irregular patches of redness, at others as red or white 
papules. Erythema nodosum is not uncommon. In all cases where such 
forms of erythema occur, the heart should be carefully examined. Purpura 
occurs also at times in rheumatic attacks. Peculiar nodules, first described 
by Drs. Barlow and Warner, occur in some rheumatic cases, mostly in the 
neighbourhood of joints. They are subcutaneous, the skin being freely mov- 
able over them ; they are most common at the back of the elbows and wrists, 
at the ankles, and by the patellae. In one case seen by us, that of a girl 
suffering from severe chorea and rheumatism, there were several hundreds 
of these nodules, many of them being situated over the bones ; friction 
during the severe movements seemed to act as the exacting cause. They 
were present at the back of the scalp, over the spinous processes, along the 



Treatment of Rheumatism 36 1 

edges of the scapula, and along the ribs. They are not painful, and vary 
in size from a split pea to an almond. 

Diag7iosis. — There is often much difficulty in distinguishing the synovitis 
which accompanies rheumatism from one or other of the many other forms 
of synovitis. Thus there is the acute suppurative arthritis of infants, the 
synovitis of septicaemia and scarlet fever, and the synovitis which is apt 
to go on to effusion and has a chronic course which chiefly attacks the knees ; 
there are, moreover, the rarer arthritic attacks which accompany haemophilia 
and purpura. It may be impossible definitely to say if some arthritic 
attacks are really rheumatic or not ; their subsequent course may possibly 
clear up the doubt. In infants and young children it may be difficult to 
localise the seat of pain in a limb, and consequently a doubt may be raised 
as to whether in a given case where there is pain and helplessness the joints 
are affected or not. Such difficulty may arise in the epiphysitis of congenital 
syphilis and in the tenderness of the periosteum and occasional haemorrhages 
which are associated with rickets. 

Treatme?it. — On the least suspicion of any joint affection in a child it 
should be put to bed between the blankets and restricted to a milk diet. It 
is a comparatively small matter if we are over-cautious in our treatment, in 
keeping at rest in bed a child who has but slight joint trouble and who 
appears to the friends to ail little ; while it is a grave matter to allow a child 
who is suffering from incipient endocarditis to get up and run about, or to 
suffer one to contract endocarditis in consequence of getting up. Knowing 
the readiness with which peri-endocarditis supervenes in mild attacks of 
rheumatism in children, it is our duty to warn the friends of this, and to 
insist on placing the heart under the most favourable circumstances by giving 
it as little work to do as possible. This is best accomplished by keeping 
the child at rest in bed, perhaps for several weeks after all pain and tender- 
ness have disappeared. 

In the milder cases the only medicine required will be a simple saline 
such as citrate of potash ; the affected joints should be painted with extract 
of belladonna and glycerine, and surrounded with cotton wool. A small 
dose of Dover's powder may be given at night. In the more severe cases 
where many joints are affected and there is much fever, salicylate of soda 
should be given ; five to ten grains may be given every four hours to children 
of from six to eight years of age for two or three days, and then given only 
every six hours or three times a day ; it may be prescribed with a saline or 
given with syrup of orange peel. 

In all acute or subacute cases milk is the best form of food ; it may be 
given in combination with potash, soda, or seltzer water ; as long as there is 
any fever this should be adhered to. There is always a risk of a relapse if beef 
tea, soups, or meat are allowed too early during convalescence. Arrowroot, 
rice, and custards may be allowed when all pain has been absent for several 
days and the temperature has been normal for a week. 



362 



CHAPTER XIX. 

general diseases — {continued). 

Rickets. — Rickets is a disease that usually makes its appearance during 
the first two or three years of life ; it is characterised by nutritional changes . 
and by deformities of the bones, weakness of the muscles and ligaments, and 
various peculiar nervous disorders. Dentition is retarded ; there is frequently 
enlargement of the liver and spleen. 

The commonest time for rickets to manifest itself is from the first six 
months to the end of the second year, but it is not uncommonly noted during 
the first few months of life, and in rare cases infants may be born exhibiting 
undoubted rickety changes in their bones. Rickets appears to be connected 
in some way with the growth of the body ; it is during this period that rapid 
growth is taking place ; the bones are consolidating by the transformation of 
their softer tissues into bone, the muscles are increasing in size and strength 
and are becoming more and more under the control of the will, so that the 
child is passing from helpless infancy to the greater activity of early child- 
hood. During the first year or two of life, even in health, the digestive system 
is worked to its utmost capacity, in order that it may be able to supply the 
system with sufficient nutrient material, not only for the exigencies of daily 
life, but also for the rapid building up of the tissues which is going on at 
this time ; an impairment of the digestive powers, a weakening of the diges- 
tive ferments, or food inadequate in quantity or of an improper kind, neces- 
sarily means that the tissues fail to receive the amount of nutriment they 
require. This failure of the nutrient powers is an important factor in bring- 
ing about the changes which characterise rickets. That a state of mal-nutri- 
tion does not always produce rickets is certain, but it is certainly true that it 
often does, and, moreover, in all cases of rickets of any degree of severity 
there is evidence of a pre-existing failure of the digestive powers. In some 
of the milder forms of rickets, when the ribs are seen to be beaded and the 
bones of the extremities deformed, without any of the symptoms which mark 
the severer grades, the child may be fat and apparently healthy, and there 
may be no evidence of a present or past mal-nutrition ; but inquiry will 
generally elicit some past illness or subacute dyspepsia, or a history of im- 
proper feeding, or some conditions which have tended to produce a mal- 
assimilation or imperfect digestion of the food. Rickets, like caseous glands, 
may continue to be present long after the exciting cause has passed away. 

If it be granted, as we think it must be, that a failure on the part of the 
alimentary system to supply the rapidly growing body with suitable nutrient 
material is an important factor in producing rickets, there is yet much left to 



Rickets 363 

explain, inasmuch as atrophy and tuberculosis and all wasting diseases of 
infants own a similar cause. Why, for instance, should a chronic intestinal 
catarrh lead on to rickets in one case, tuberculosis in another, gastrointes- 
tinal atrophy in another, and final recovery occur in another ? If rickets is 
produced by mal-assimilation, what are the steps in the process, or in 
what elements are the nutrient fluids wanting ? These are questions that 
we think cannot be satisfactorily answered, and all we can attempt to do 
will be to discuss some of the influences which predispose or excite to 
rickets. 

Hereditary Influe7ice. — Is rickets hereditary ? Do parents who have 
suffered from rickets in their childhood have rickety children, in the same 
way that phthisical parents have children who readily become tubercular ? 
One great difficulty in answering this question is that it is impossible in a 
large majority of cases to be able to satisfy oneself, in the absence of 
any rickety deformities, whether the parents in any given case suffered from 
rickets when they were children or not, as they are hardly likely to know 
themselves, and a trustworthy history of their infancy is often not obtainable. 
Moreover, most infants suffer more or less from dyspepsia or have been ex- 
posed to conditions which may produce rickets : it is not easy to exclude 
such, and to say, dogmatically, that a rickety child must have inherited the 
tendency to this disease. Thus children who have been brought up at the 
breast of a healthy mother, and who are themselves fat and apparently strong, 
will sometimes exhibit beaded ribs and other evidences of rickets during 
their first year, which may be due to the mother's milk being thin and of an 
inferior quality, being deficient in fat and casein. In some cases, however, 
observed by Pfeiffer, who analysed the breast milk in eight such cases, this 
is not so, for in these there was no deviation from the normal amount 
of casein, fat, sugar, and salts ; but there was a deficiency of phosphates in 
the ash. Pfeiffer believes that the tendency to rickets is hereditary and acts 
as a predisposing cause, whilst a deficiency, for some reason or other, of phos- 
phates in the breast milk acts as an exciting cause. 1 While the observations 
are curious and interesting, we believe that in the immense majority of cases 
where nurslings become rickety it is because the mother's milk is poor, or 
it is of improper quality from her having taken little care in the matter of 
her own diet, and the infant has suffered in consequence. The breast milk 
of a weakly woman, especially at the end of the natural period of lactation, 
is apt to be poor in nitrogenous and fatty constituents, while the milk sugar 
is present in abundance, and the nursling may be fat and yet weak and 
rickety. 

While we do not believe that it has been satisfactorily shown that a ten- 
dency to rickets is hereditary, in the same sense that a tendency to gout or 
tubercle is hereditary, yet we are far from denying that hereditary influence 
plays some part in predisposing to rickets. We believe that if either father 
or mother, especially the latter, is weakly from any cause, their children will be 
more likely to suffer from rickets. A woman does much manual labour during 
her pregnancy, more than her strength will really admit of, or she lives 
under unhealthy conditions : the infant is weakly, is difficult to rear, and be- 
comes rickety ; we can hardly doubt that the influence of the mother's health 
1 Jahrb. f. Kind/ilk., xxiv., H. 3. 



364 General Diseases 

has predisposed to rickets, or at least to the digestive troubles which precede 
rickets. We feel certain that weakly or premature infants may become 
rickety, even though the greatest pains and care have been bestowed in their 
feeding and bringing up. The fact that rickets may appear during intra- 
uterine life and the infant be born with beaded ribs and other symptoms of 
rickets shows that rickets can be produced apart from any improper feeding, 
and suggests that the influence of the mother's health during pregnancy may 
be an important factor in predisposing to the disease. 

The influence of the mother's health in producing rickets is seen in large 
families, where the later children born are apt to be rickety. It happens also 
at times that first-born children are rickety, especially in those cases where 
the mother is very young. 

Does syphilis in the parents predispose to rickets in the infant ? Parrot 
asserted that rickets was the result of the syphilitic poison — that the latter 
when worn out or weakened produced rickets. Very few, even among his 
own countrymen, have accepted his views. Among the foundlings of Paris, 
and other large cities where syphilis is a common disease, it may be difficult 
or impossible to say exactly what influence syphilis exerts in producing rickets; 
in country districts, where syphilis is uncommon and rickets common, it is 
clearly seen that there is no connection between the two, or only that the 
syphilitic poison has a depressing influence on the system and so predisposes 
to rickets as it appears to do to tuberculosis. 

Dietetic Influences. — It has been stated that infants nursed at the breast of 
a healthy mother rarely become rickety, we may say never suffer from severe 
rickets ; while infants who have been artificially fed from the first, and who 
have suffered much from dyspeptic ailments, very frequently are affected. 
Infants who have suffered from diarrhoea, gastric catarrh, bronchitis, pneu- 
monia, and especially those who have had a hard struggle for life, very 
frequently become rickety. Infants who were premature, and who have been 
reared with difficulty, are among those who often suffer. Infants badly fed> 
and those who from ignorance or necessity have been deprived of fresh 
milk and given large quantities of starchy or other foods, are exceedingly 
likely to suffer from rickets. That improper feeding plays an important 
part in the production of rickets has been shown in the rearing of the 
young lions at the Zoological Gardens, and in the feeding of puppies and 
other animals on lean meat. These animals developed rickets, but im- 
proved at once when given milk and pounded bones. 1 The same thing may 
be seen again and again among our dispensary patients ; a marked im- 
provement in the symptoms following their admission to hospital, where a 
more suitable diet is given than the one which they have been taking. 

The question of how far the absence of fresh milk from the dietary of 
infants, and the substitution of condensed milk, or the free admixture of 
starchy foods, produces rickets, is a difficult one. A child has been reared 
for the first five or six months of its life on condensed milk, and towards the 
end of the first year it is found to be rickety. It is easy to say that the 
rickets was produced by the infant taking the tinned milk in lieu of fresh 
milk, but further inquiry may elicit that it took condensed milk because 
every attempt to feed it on fresh milk, diluted or not, gave rise to vomiting 
1 See Cheadle, ' Rickets,' Brit. Med. Assoc. Meeting, 1888. 



Rickets 365 

of curd, and the friends were obliged to give it up. The child has suffered 
from gastro-intestinal catarrh, has evidently been weakly, and this may have 
been the cause of the rickets rather than the absence of the cow ; s milk, which 
it could not digest. Moreover, typically healthy children, quite free from 
rickets, may be found who have been reared on condensed milk. The same 
remarks may be made with reference to starchy foods : the infants of the 
poor are frequently given arrowroot, sago, oatmeal, &c, made with milk 
and water, the reason often being that cow's milk by itself contains more 
curd than they can digest, and leads to vomiting or diarrhoea. We do not 
doubt that fresh cow's milk mixed with whey or barley or oatmeal water 
is the best food for infants in lieu of human milk when it can be digested, 
but children taking it will often suffer much from dyspepsia, and may be- 
come rickety in high degree. That starchy foods, excess of sugar, and excess 
of curd of milk assist in causing rickets by setting up an intestinal catarrh, 
we do not doubt ; at the same time we are inclined to think the influence of 
the first two has been somewhat exaggerated. It is probably the absence, or 
small quantity, of fat and digestible nitrogenous stuffs present in food, rather 
than the presence of starch, which gives rise to rickets. The presence of a 
gastro-intestinal catarrh which interferes with digestion and sets up decom- 
position in the food taken is probably a potent factor in producing rickets. 

Hygienic and Climatic Influences. — The children of the well-to-do classes 
suffer less from rickets than those of the poor, and when they are affected it 
is in a milder degree ; the same may be said of country children as com- 
pared with the denizens of the slums of our great cities. Rickets is more 
common in damp cold climates than in warmer ones. From these facts we 
gather that bad ventilation, and absence of fresh air and sunlight, are factors 
in producing rickets. That this influence is exercised through the digestive 
organs is very probable. 

From the above remarks it is clear that we believe there are several 
factors in the production of rickets. Hereditary weakness, feebleness of the 
digestive powers, improper food, breathing vitiated air, exposure to cold 
and damp, will together, in some instances perhaps singly, produce rickets. 
Rickets abounds wherever the lower classes of the population are crowded 
together in courts and slums, where the mothers, from necessity or choice, 
are unable to suckle their infants, where fresh cow's milk is dear and of 
poor quality, and infant life is exposed to the various bad influences which 
poverty and ignorance are certain to produce. Rickets is a rare disease 
where the parents are strong and healthy, the mother able to nurse her 
infants, while taking care of her own health and diet, and where she is able 
to devote her whole time to the care and nurture of her offspring. 

Chemical Theories. — The older authors attributed rickets to the absence, 
or diminished quantities, of lime salts in the food, but very little observation 
was sufficient to disprove this. Others (Seeman) have supposed a deficiency 
of hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice, and that consequently the lime salts, 
instead of entering the blood, passed through the alimentary canal. Some 
have thought there was a deficiency of phosphoric acid or phosphates in the 
food, and that its absence from the blood prevented the formation of bone. 
The 'acid theory' has also had supporters, who supposed there was an excess 
of lactic acid in the blood, which had been formed from the decomposition of 



366 General Diseases 

milk in the stomach— the presence of the lactic acid dissolving the lime salts 
of the bones and carrying them out of the body in the urine. We confess to 
being completely sceptical concerning all these hypotheses, and much doubt 
if they explain anything as to the pathogenesis of rickets. 

Symptoms and Course. — The premonitory or early symptoms of rickets 
may be absent, or so intermingled with those of dyspepsia that it may be im- 
possible to differentiate them. In the slighter grades of rickets the first and 
perhaps the only signs of the affection are slightly beaded ribs and enlarged 
epiphyses at the lower ends of the radius and ulna. In the more severe forms 
of the disease the early symptoms are slight fever, the infant being hot and 
restless during sleep ; abundant perspiration, more especially about the fore- 
head and scalp, may then be noticed ; at this time the infant may suffer from 
convulsions and not infrequently laryngismus. His bones may be more or less 
tender, so that he cries on being moved or danced about in the nurse's arms, 
and usually some beading of the ribs can be detected. In the majority of 
cases the abdomen is habitually distended with wind, and there is mostly 
constipation, though, on the other hand, the stools may be loose and curdy. 
The child may be ansemic and the spleen may be felt to be enlarged. 

As time goes on it is noted that there is a delay in the appearance of the 
teeth ; if the first two incisors have been cut, a long interval, perhaps many 
months, elapses before the appearance of the others, and the teeth that have 
been cut are apt to become carious, from a deficiency in their enamel. The 
muscular. system is almost certain to suffer, the child cannot sit up from weak- 
ness of the lumbar muscles, and the spine bows out from laxity of the liga- 
ments ; the infant does not use its limbs like a healthy child, making no, 
or poor, attempts at crawling ; its legs are weak, it cannot bear its weight on 
them or even put them to the ground. 

Concurrently with many of these phenomena, marked changes are noted 
in the bony skeleton. The skull early shows these changes, though, if rickets 
does not supervene till the middle or end of the second year, the bones of the 
skull may escape. There is a marked exaggeration of the frontal and parietal 
eminences, with some flattening of the upper surface, so that there is a sort 
of table-land at the vertex, the head assuming a more or less quadrate shape. 
Sometimes there is flattening of the occipital bone behind, so that the back 
of the head looks as if pressed in. The fontanelles are widely open and may 
remain so long after they should be closing up, and the edges of the bones 
where they come together to form the sagittal, coronal, and lambdoidal 
sutures are thickened. Instead of, or in combination with, these hypertrophic 
changes at the eminences and edges of the bones, there may be atrophy or 
thinning of the central parts of the occipital or parietal bones, which has 
been termed cranio-tabes. These weak places can be felt by gentle pressure 
exerted with the finger on the occipital or parietal bones, of course avoiding 
the sutures, the bone perhaps bending and bowing in almost like parchment 
beneath the finger. It has been questioned to what extent cranio-tabes is 
the result of rickets, as it is present at times in undoubtedly syphilitic 
children, and also in those suffering from various wasting diseases. We doubt 
whether its connection with syphilis is anything more than a casual one, but 
it is certain cranio-tabes may be detected in weakly infants a few months old 
who exhibit no other signs of rickets, and also in newly born infants. Whether 



Rickets 



367 



it is always to be accepted as pathognomonic of commencing" rickets is an open 
question ; but when present in infants over six or eight months of age it is 
almost always in our experience accompanied by signs of undoubted rickets. 
Characteristic changes take place in the chondral ends of the ribs and in 
the shape of the chest, the latter being most marked in children who suffer 
from bronchitis. The ribs are enlarged or beaded where they join their 
cartilages : these may be felt or seen at a glance when the chest is exposed. 
The shape of the chest- walls is altered in consequence of the softening of the 
costal ends of the ribs ; the rigidity of the chest-walls is impaired at this spot, 
so that there is a falling in of the ribs on each side, while the sternum and 
cartilages are thrust forward (see fig. 61). The sides of the chest, especially 
the region included between the fourth and eighth ribs, bend or curve inwards so 
that a more or less broad vertical groove is formed on each side of the chest. 





-Tracing of Chest-wall of a Rickety Boy of Fig. 62. — Enlargement of Epiphyses of 
two years of age. Lower end of Radius and Ulna. 

Child of eighteen months. 

The angles of the ribs are often exaggerated or undergo a sharp bending or 
' green stick ' fracture at this spot. With these changes is mostly associated 
a widening of the arch which the ribs make inferiorly, and the abdomen is 
distended and round. If the child be watched, especially if there is any 
bronchial catarrh, the chest-walls will be noticed to fall in at the groove on 
each side, and the tip of the sternum is drawn in during inspiration. All 
degrees of chest deformity may be present, from the extreme degree noted 
above, to a slight prominence or keel-like ridge in front, formedby the sternum, 
which makes what is called the ' pigeon-breast.' The clavicle often joins in 
the deformity, its normal double curve being exaggerated. The extremities 
show peculiar changes, more especially at the lower epiphyses of the radius 
and ulna, and the tibia ; the shafts are veiy apt to bend and in the worst cases 



368 



General Diseases 



to fracture. The lower ends of the radius and ulna are swollen, the swollen 
portion involving the irregular layer of cartilage, in which calcification is 
proceeding (see fig. 63), which separates the cartilage of the epiphyses from 
the shaft ; in the worst cases this enlargement is very striking (see figs. 62 and 
63). The tibia is usually more or less bent, the curve varying in position and 
degree ; the lower end is, however, most commonly bent inwards (being an 
exaggeration of the natural curve), so that the convexity is outward (see fig. 
7.2 et seq.\ a deformity which is produced by the child whilst sitting on the 
floor, with its legs crossed under it, and shuffling with its legs so as to change 
its position. The deformity often takes place before the child learns to walk. 
The deformity known as ' knock-knees ' is produced later, after the child has 
begun to walk (see fig. 71). The other long bones, the femur (see fig. 66 et 
seq.)> radius and ulna, and the humerus, are apt to bend : the bowed 

humerus is sometimes produced by the atten 
dants lifting the child by grasping its arms 
just below the shoulder. If the child can sit up 
the spine is apt to become bowed, an exaggeration 
of the natural curve taking place in the cervical 
region, while the dorsal curve is exaggerated and 
involves the lumbar, so that the spine bows out 
backwards, a result largely due to the weaken- 
ing of the ligaments (see fig. 70). 

It must not be supposed that all the changes 
in the shape of the bones take place in any one 
case, and the degree of deformity differs accord- 
ing to the severity of the case. As before 
remarked, the shape of the head may be quite 
normal, and only the epiphysial swelling and 
deformity be noted in the ribs and fore-arms. 
Sometimes muscular weakness is the symptom 
which most strikes the friends : the child is dys- 
peptic, has a rounded belly and pale face, the 
teeth are late in appearing ; the child, who is per- 
haps eighteen months or two years old, cannot 
stand or walk, and medical advice is sought 
because the parents think the legs are paralysed ; 
or the child is brought to a doctor, as it is sup- 
posed he has spinal disease, on account of the 
bowing backwards of the spine ; or the pigeon-breast is the most marked 
and striking symptom which alarms the friends. 

The phenomena noted in connection with the nervous system in rickets 
are among the most important. The whole nervous system appears to be 
affected, the nerve centres are in an unstable condition and readily discharge 
on the slightest provocation. General convulsions are common, more 
especially during the early stages of the disease ; they vary much in their 
severity, sometimes being slight and passing away quickly, but, on the other 
hand, it is no uncommon thing for a rickety child of a year, eighteen 
months, or two years to die in a few moments in a fit. Laryngismus is 
common, and indeed is almost confined to those who are rickety. Tetany 




Fig. 63.— Section through Radius 
of case figured in fig. 62, show- 
ing exaggerated depth and irre- 
gular borders of the proliferation 
and columnar zones of cartilage. 



Fcztal Rickets 369 

'is also common in rickety children. A hypertrophic condition of the brain, 
with a large head, is not uncommon. Rickety children are exceedingly liable 
to bronchial catarrh and broncho-pneumonia, and in them all chest troubles 
are apt to be serious. They are liable also to suffer from dyspeptic troubles, 
■especially diarrhoea. 

In the severest forms of rickets the child is apt to become markedly 
anaemic, and when this is so there is usually enlargement of the spleen. It 
has been doubted if splenic enlargement is present in uncomplicated rickets, 
or in those cases only which are combined with syphilis. We certainly have 
seen cases where the spleen was enlarged, where no history of syphilis could 
be obtained. With enlargement of the spleen there is frequently a marked 
■enlargement of the liver. 

The course of rickets is towards recovery, but progress is frequently very 
slow, especially in those cases where there is chronic derangement of the 
digestive organs. The child is certain to be late in walking; instead of 'feel- 
ing his feet' by the end of the first year, he is utterly helpless when his legs 
are put to the ground, and by the end of the second or even the third, rickety 
children may be seen who are quite unable to bear their own weight on their 
legs. All this time, perhaps, the child is incapable of much exertion and is 
easily tired. Many dangers attend rickets on account of the weakly state 
of the child. He is especially liable to catch cold ; this may be followed by 
bronchitis and broncho-pneumonia. The latter is necessarily dangerous on 
account of the weakness of the ribs and feebleness of the respiratory muscles. 

Bronchitis and collapse of lung, or broncho-pneumonia, is exceedingly apt 
to be fatal when it complicates rickets. One of the effects of rickets is to 
stunt the child's growth, as well as to leave him with many deformities, which 
will be discussed in detail later on. The lowering of the child's health pro- 
duced by rickets may last for many years, but in the vast majority of cases 
the symptoms and signs of rickets, if they come under treatment, disappear, 
and the child may grow up into a healthy adult. 

Foetal Rickets. — Conge7iital Rickets. — In rare cases children are born with 
•deformed bones, enlarged epiphyses, and beaded ribs — a condition to which 
the name of rickets can hardly be denied. Other cases have been observed 
in which the bones have been soft and deformed, but which lacked the cha- 
racteristics — both naked-eye and microscopic — of rickets. Hence some con- 
fusion has arisen, and the terms infcmtile osteo-malacia and cretinism have 
been applied, as it was thought they resembled these rather than rickets. 
There can hardly be a doubt, however, that children are born rickety, or 
that they become so very shortly after birth. Such cases have been observed 
by Bode, 1 T. Barlow, 2 and Dr. Marshall (of Preston). In Bode's case the 
infant was still-born, the mother was healthy. The infant's head was hydro- 
cephalic, the limbs were short and bent, the chest deformed, and the ribs 
beaded ; the pelvis was narrow. The microscopical examination showed 
changes resembling those found in rickets. In Dr. Barlow's case there was 
a history of the infant being born with deformed limbs, which were also 
tender, and when seen at six weeks old the long bones and ribs were typically 
rickety, and there was a green-stick fracture of the humerus. Dr. Marshall's 
case was somewhat similar. (See Cretinism.) 

1 Virchow.'s Archiv, 93, H. 3. 2 Clin. Soc. Trans., vol. xxi. 

B B 



370 General Diseases 

The terms acute rickets and infantile scurvy are usually applied to a 
condition in which there is a high degree of anaemia present, with many of 
the symptoms of scurvy as well as the phenomena of rickets. Dr. W. B. 
Cheadle was the first, in this country at least, to recognise this condition, 
which he described as a combination of scurvy and rickets, and Dr. T. Barlow 
has largely added to our knowledge of it by his admirable-description of a 
series of cases with post-mortems. The patients, who are commonly from 
six to eighteen months old, are extremely anaemic, wasted, flabby children, 
who have been brought up under conditions most suited to the production 
of rickets, or who have suffered from some acute or prolonged disease. 
It is usually noticed that they are very fretful, and that any attempt at move- 
ment or handling their limbs gives rise to expressions of pain. A careful 
examination leads to the discovery of a more or less extensive swelling of 
the limbs, the swelling being due to sub-periosteal or intermuscular extrava- 
sations of blood ; in such cases incisions have been made in the belief 
that a sub-periosteal abscess existed. Very frequently purpuric spots or 
patches are present in the skin ; the gums may be spongy, swollen, and 
haemorrhagic. Fractures are apt to take place, the common position being 
just on the diaphysial side of the growing line. Besides the subcutaneous 
haemorrhages just mentioned, bleeding may take place from various internal 
organs, more especially the kidneys. 

Various opinions have been expressed with regard to the exact nature of 
such cases ; Drs. Cheadle and Barlow both incline to the view that they are 
really examples of scurvy, brought on by improper food, more especially by 
the absence of fresh milk from the dietary, it. having been noted that many 
such cases have occurred in infants who have been brought up on condensed 
milk, starchy and various patent foods. Others incline to the opinion that 
the condition is rather an exaggerated or excessive form of the anaemia 
which is usually present in severe rickets, and, in our opinion, there is much 
to favour this view. 

These cases in some points resemble certain forms of congenital syphilis, 
but differ from them in the absence of any collateral evidence of syphilis, 
in the presence of extensive haemorrhages, and in the age at which the 
disease occurs, 1 in the results of treatment, and in the acute pain that is 
present. They also differ in the absence of any joint effusion, and, patho- 
logically, in the absence of the peculiar ' gelatiniform transformation ' of the 
growing diaphysial extremity. 2 

Morbid Ajiatomy. — The most striking appearances in connection with 
rickets consist in the changes in the bones. In the first place, chemical 
analysis shows there is a deficiency of lime salts in their constitution, and 
an excess of organic matters. Normally they contain, roughly, 65 per cent, 
of inorganic constituents and 35 per cent, of animal matters ; in rickets, all 
degrees of decrease of inorganic matters may take place, but in a severe and 
well-marked case the proportions are reversed, so that there is only about 
35 per cent, of mineral basis and 65 per cent, of gelatinous or organic 
matters (A. Baginsky). That there is a deficiency in calcium salts is evident 
from the spongy nature of the bone, its softness, and the readiness with which 

1 Syphilitic epiphysitis usually occurs under six months of age, and may be foetal. 

2 For an account of this affection vide Barlow's paper Med.-Chir. Trans., vol. lxvi. 



Rickets 



371 




111 



^B 



it 'bends ;' while the spaces between the bony trabecular are seen to be filled 
with juicy material. If a rib taken from a well-marked case of rickets during 
the acute stage be examined, it will be found not only to be wanting in 
rigidity, but it can be bent about like a thin lath, and, if. doubled up, fractures or 
' gives' with the greatest ease ; the fracture may be only partial, or perhaps the 
ends of the bones are only held together by the fibrous and muscular tissues 
attached to them. In the same way the fore-arm of the cadaver may perhaps 
be bent by taking it in the two hands and applying moderate force, or it may 
' kink,' and on dissection both 
radius and ulna will be found to 
be fractured. Other long bones 
may behave in a similar way if 
sufficient force is applied. The 
ribs, where they join the carti- 
lages, will be noted to be much 
swollen ; fractures, recent and 
old, may be present at the angles 
and the lower ends of the radius 
and ulna where they join the epi- 
physes. A section can readily 
be made with a strong knife 
through the enlarged end of the 
rib, and if made in a direction 
from before backwards it will 
be seen in most cases that the 
pleural side is more prominent 
than the external side of the 
swelling, and, moreover, the en- 
largement is produced by the 
expansion of that portion of 
cartilage — the proliferation and 
columnar zones — in which cer- 
tain changes are going on pre- 
paratory to the deposition of 
lime salts in the matrix of the 
cartilage. If a comparison be 
made with the end of a healthy 
child's rib, it will be seen in 
the latter that between the 
cartilage of the rib, which is 
yellowish and opaque, and the 

cancellous tissue of the rib, there is a line of translucent and bluish carti- 
lage, about |- inch in breadth at birth, and about ^ inch at a year or eighteen 
months old (Kassowitz) ; this line is perfectly regular and straight ; the 
breadth of it depends upon the rapidity with which growth is going on, 
which is more rapid during the later months of fcetal life and those im- 
mediately succeeding birth than it is later. In rickets the activity of these 
preparatory changes in cartilage is enormously increased, so that the 
multiplication of cartilage cells takes place with great rapidity, and with 




mt p' : m£k 



Fig. 64. — Longitudinal section through the junction of a 
Rib and its Cartilage, from a Rickety Child of two years, 
x 10. (Kassowitz.)/ 5 /, pletral side ; A , normal cartilage ; 
B, proliferation zone, deeper than normal ; C, columnar 
zone, depth and breadth much increased ; mtp. depo- 
sition of lime salts in the cartilage — ' metaplastic ' ossifi- 
cation ; SJ>, spongy tissue, with wide spaces filled witb 
soft grumous material, containing manj cells ; z>, v, v, 
blood-vessels. 



372 



General Diseases 



this there is a softening of the cartilage and matrix, and a consequent 
increase in size of the proliferation and columnar zones, so that the trans- 
lucent line seen in normally growing bone is increased in breadth to 
perhaps \ inch or more, and there is a bulging or swelling in this posi- 
tion which is visible through the skin of the chest-walls and corresponds to 
the junction of the ends of the ribs with their cartilages (see fig. 64). Not 
only does this normal line become a broad band of jellylike-looking mate- 
rial interposed between the cartilage and bone, but the boundary between 
it and the cancellous tissue is very irregular and ill-defined, inasmuch as 
an irregular calcification of the matrix is going on, and trabecular of calci- 
fied material with wide medullary spaces are being formed instead of true 

cancellous tissue. A spongy struc- 
ture is built up which is wanting 
in strength and rigidity. Similar 
changes are going on beneath the 
periosteum : there is a calcification 
of the inner layer, and spongy bone 
is built up instead of the firm, hard, 
compact tissue which forms the outer 
shell of healthy bone (see fig. 65). It 
is clear that, if the compact hard bone 
which forms the shaft of the bone is 
replaced by trabecular or arches of 
brittle, badly formed bone, the bone 
will readily bend and snap, and be 
simply held together by the fibrous 
periosteum and perhaps some of the 
fibroid material which forms in the 
substance of the bone itself. The 
bones may remain soft and brittle for 
many months, but finally they harden, 
perhaps in a faulty position, and a 
sort of sclerosis or eburnation of bone 
takes place, so that the compact tissue 
of the bone is abnormally hard. 
Should a fracture take place there is 
a large amount of callus formed at 
the seat of fracture. 

The bones of the skull are ab- 
normally soft and can be readily cut with a knife, and are much more readily 
bent or doubled up than are healthy bones. Their edges are thickened and 
spongy on' section, much juicy-looking fluid exuding ; the ossifying centres 
are usually thickened, so that the frontal and parietal eminences are ex- 
aggerated. - In some cases prominences or bosses may be present on the 
parietal or frontal bones, near the sutures ; but it has been denied that these 
are really rickety changes, though they certainly do occur in rickety subjects. 
Instead j of, or- in association with, the hypertrophic changes just referred 
to, certain . atrophic changes take place, the bone becoming thin, almost 
transparent, in places ; this thinning of the bone is chiefly present in the 




Fig. 65. — Transverse section through the Shaft of 
the Ulna from a Rickety Child of thirteen 
months, x 10. (Kassowitz.) Showing spongy 
tissue beneath the periosteum instead of the 
compact tissue of normal bone. 



Rickets 373 

parietal and occipital bones. If the dura mater be stripped off and the 
bone held up to the light, it will be seen to be thin in places, perhaps almost 
as thin as parchment ; at these spots it readily yields to the pressure 
of the finger, bending in under the slightest .force. Rickety skulls are 
usually large ones, not only that they look large in consequence of the 
thickness of the prominences on the parietal and frontal bones, but their 
capacity is increased, the brain being larger than usual ; it is possibly 
the pressure of the brain within that causes the atrophic changes in the 
bone. 

The changes found in the internal organs are not usually very marked 
unless death has taken place, as it not infrequently does, from broncho- 
pneumonia : then varying degrees of bronchitis, pneumonia, and collapse of 
lung are present. The brain is frequently found of large size, the convolu- 
tions well-marked, the substance fairly firm ; such brains are said to contain 
an excess of the neuroglia elements. The liver and spleen are usually 
enlarged and firm, and the former on section has a ' gummy ' or more or 
less translucent appearance. Concerning the blood but few observations 
have been made. Dr. Goodhart has observed in some of his cases a de- 
ficiency of corpuscles, in some deficiency of colouring matters, in some the 
blood crowded with a granular detritus, and in others the corpuscles were 
of four or five different sizes. 

Treatment. — If rickets is due to the mal-assimilation of the products of 
digestion or to faulty digestive processes, we can hardly hope to discover 
any specific for its cure, but must direct all our efforts to secure that suit- 
able nourishment in appropriate quantities is taken, and that the digestive 
apparatus shall be in good working order. Directly the first symptoms 
make their appearance, whether they are tenderness of the bones, sweating 
about the head, or enlarged epiphyses, we should carefully inquire into the 
diet, as it is probable that the child is either not digesting its food properly, or 
it is not being properly fed. The condition of the digestive organs and the 
state of the blood act and react on each other, the intestinal juices are weak 
because the blood from which they derive the materials to form their secre- 
tions is weak and poor in quality, and the blood remains of poor quality 
because the digestive juices are feeble and unable to convert albumen into 
peptones, and supply the first step towards converting the food taken into 
blood. The child suffering from rickets in the acute stages requires albu- 
minous and fatty foods in the most concentrated and easily digested forms, 
while saccharine and starchy foods must be avoided or be taken in the most 
moderate quantities. Probably it will be found that a child so affected is 
suffering from dyspepsia, the abdomen is large and distended with gases given 
off during intestinal digestion, while large masses of undigested curd are 
being passed. The treatment must be commenced by cutting down the supply 
of curd of milk, by diluting it largely with whey, or giving peptonised milk 
gruel or Benger's oatmeal food. In the worst cases milk may have to be with- 
drawn entirely for a while, and raw or semi-cooked meat-juice with barley- 
water or Mellin's food substituted. In older children pounded raw meat 
may be given. Dextrin and maltose in any form are preferable to sugar 
in excess or starches. Cream in small quantity will often agree, though 
fat in the form of cod-liver oil is often more readily digested than any 



374 General Diseases 

other form. A well-made emulsion may be given at any time, begin- 
ning, if there is much digestive disturbance, with a few drops only, care 
being taken not to give an excessive quantity. Orange juice or lemon 
juice and glycerine, or other forms of fruit juice, are useful, especially in cases 
of so-called ' acute rickets/ in which there is a condition of scurvy. 

The importance of fresh air, especially sea-air, in the treatment of rickets, 
cannot be over-estimated, and when the disease first declares itself a change 
to the seaside or into the country if the weather is warm enough is likely to 
be attended with the greatest benefit. In urging the friends to send the 
child out into the open air the tendency which rickety children have to 
bronchitis must not be forgotten, and the importance of warm woollen 
garments must be insisted on ; especially is this important where there is 
much sweating. If the weather is cool, the child's feet should be carefully 
wrapped up while he is out in his carriage ; a bottle of hot water at his 
feet will often prevent a chill. 

The most careful handling must be practised in acute cases, as the 
bones easily fracture or a haemorrhage may take place. The prone posi- 
tion on soft cushions in a cot or carriage is better than much nursing in 
the arms, as the limbs are easily bent and the spine bows out if the child is 
allowed to sit up much. 

Of medicines, the most important are those which assist digestion or 
correct the faulty condition of the mucous membrane of the stomach and 
bowels, and those Avhich aid nutrition and improve the character of the blood. 
Vomiting, constipation, dyspepsia, and diarrhoea must be treated by appro- 
priate medicines : small doses of mercury and chalk, rhubarb and soda, 
pepsine or bismuth ; care should always be taken to overcome the constipa- 
tion so often present. Of tonics, cod-liver oil emulsion, or cod-liver oil in 
combination with malt extract, is by far the most important, though in 
practice it is common to find it is being given in excessive quantities and at 
a time when the digestion is enfeebled. In such cases it may be given by 
inunction. Phosphate of soda with tartrate of iron and glycerine is a useful 
tonic, assisting the action of the bowels and combating the anaemia so often 
present. Iodide of iron is also useful. 

Small doses of phosphorus have been given by Kassowitz, Wegner, and 
A. Jacobi, who claim for it an almost specific action. Other physicians have 
been disappointed with the results obtained by its administration. It 
may be given in doses of ^^ to t ^q gr. in cod-liver oil, two or three times 
a day. 

Stickety Deformities. — Distortions of the lower limbs as a result of 
rickets form a large and important group of the deformities of childhood. 
Most commonly all the long bones of the limb are affected, and there may or 
may not be distortion of the articular surfaces at the knee. In many instances 
the deformity is limited, or at least most marked either in the shaft of the 
femur, the lower third of the tibia, or the lower end of the femur. 

Curvature of the shaft of the femur takes place either with its convexity 
forwards or in severe cases forwards and outwards. There is then a wide 
space between the thighs, and the quadriceps stands out very prominently 
over the convexity of the bone ; the patient is short and stunted-looking, the 
gait waddling, and there is knock-knee or bow-leg to a greater or less degree. 



Rickety Deformities 



375 



The whole of the shaft takes part in the curve, as is seen in fig. 66. In 
this child the deformity was extreme, and was accompanied by so much 
rotation of the lower end of the femur upon a vertical axis that the leg and 
foot faced directly outwards instead of forwards. 1 Sometimes the curve is 
limited to the lower end of the diaphysis {vide Macewen and Mickulicz). 

Rickety deformities of the upper limb are seldom of such extent as to 
interfere with the perfect use of the arms or to require operative treatment. 
Obviously this is because no such strain is put upon the arms as upon the legs 




Fig. 66. — Rickety Deformity of the Femora, 
caused by the attitude shown in the next 
figure. 



Fig. 67. — Shows the attitude habitually assumed by 
this child, which resulted in the deformity shown 
in fig. 66. 



in childhood. It is rare for even the application of splints to be necessary, 
and we have hardly ever had occasion to straighten forcibly, never to osteoto- 
mise, a rickety deformity of the arms. The distortions are most commonly 
produced by the child crawling upon the hands, and consist chiefly in bend- 
ings of the shafts of the bones. We have, however, seen a condition analogous 
to genu valgum, but reversed — i.e. instead of the normal outward obliquity 
of the fore-arm in extension, it was directed inwards so that the convexity 
of the bend was outwards at the elbow ; this disappeared during flexion 



1 In this case osteotomy was performed at the most convex part, and the limb turned 
round as well as straightened, so that ultimately the feet were natural in position (fig. 68). 



376 



General Diseases 



as in ge7iu valgum, and was probably due to a similar bony condition, though 
we could not satisfy ourselves of the exact seat of deformity. A similar 
condition may occur as a result of separation of the lower epiphysis of the 
humerus and irregular union. In the humerus the deformity consists usually 
in curvature with the convexity outwards. 

The rickety deformities chiefly amenable to surgical treatment are those 
of the spine and limbs ; distortions of the chest and pelvis can only be 
improved by general management of the health, and prevented from getting 
worse, though it is possible that gymnastics, directed especially to exercise 
the inspiratory muscles other than the diaphragm, and to increase the 





Fig. 68. — The same child shown in the 
last two figures. The limbs have been 
straightened by osteotomy. 



Fig. 69. —A child aged 7 years, showing extreme stunting 
from premature Synostosis, as well as various deformi- 
ties, all the result of Rickets. The child could not 
stand alone. 



inspiratory capacity, may somewhat improve rickety chests. For the pelvis, 
even if the distortion is noticed before adult life, nothing can be done except 
to prevent the deformity from being increased. 1 

The rickety spine is met with in two forms : in one there is a general 
curve convex backwards, kyphosis (fig. 70), affecting the whole dorso-lumbar 
region ; in the other there is lordosis (fig. 69). 

1 Chance, quoted by Noble Smith, found pelvic deformity in only 16 cases out of 60O' 
rickety patients, while Reeves found it deformed in 210 cases out of 1,000. Lane believes- 
the deformities of the lower limbs are all secondary to alteration in the shape of the 
sacrum. His paper in the Lancet, August 9, 1890, should be read by those interested in 
•the mode of production of deformities. 



Rickety Deformities 



377 




The first form is that met with in infants and young children before they 
begin to walk ; the other variety is usually secondary to deformities of the 
lower limbs, and is therefore most frequently met with after the age of two 
years. Lateral curvature is considered later. 

The kyphotic rickety spine is readily distinguished from other spinal cur- 
vatures by the age of the child, the evidence of rickets elsewhere, the extent 
of the curve, which is large and rounded, never acute or angular, and the 
flexibility of the spine, so that by laying the child flat or holding it horizon- 
tally by its arms and thighs, face downwards, the curve speedily disappears. 
Care must, of course, be taken in applying this test. Finally, there is no pain, 
except in some cases the general rickety tenderness, and no evidence of 
caries in the shape of abscess, paralysis, 
&c. The attitude of a child suffering from 
rickety spine is well seen in fig. 70 as com- 
pared with that in caries (figs. 136 and 137). 

All that is required in this condition 
is the general treatment of the rickets, and 
recumbency, not implying by this that the 
child is to be kept in bed in a stuffy room, 
but that it is not to be kept sitting up on 
its nurse's lap, except for very short periods 
at a time. These means should be con- 
tinued until the health is improved, and 
the spinal muscles strengthened by friction 
and salt-water bathing. A sheet of gutta- 
percha or other material may be bandaged 
to the spine to keep it straight, if preferred, S 
in the intervals of friction (Noble Smith), m 
Unless neglected, the spine always re- >| 
covers, and regains or rather develops its 
natural curves. 

The lordosis of rickets may be mis- 
taken for a secondary deformity due to hip 
disease, congenital dislocation of the hips, 
&c, but the absence of these conditions is 
readily made out, and other rickety de- 
formities will be found present. Its appearance is seen in fig. 69, which may 
be compared with that of a case of congenital dislocation (fig. 157;. 

It should be remembered that lordosis always results from some cause 
tending to throw the upper part of the spine forward in standing, such as 
caries of the upper part of the column, stiffness of the hip joints, distortion 
of the legs, or undue weight in the upper part of the body or head ; in very 
rare instances lordosis may result from caries of the spine directly, chiefly 
when the arches are the seat of disease : it is then due either to actual de- 
struction of the arches or to muscular spasm. Lordosis combined with a 
lateral curve may result from unilateral deformity of the lower limb in 
infantile paralysis, loss or shortening of one leg, &c. ; all these possibilities 
should therefore be kept in mind before it is concluded that the condition 
is simply rickety. 







\ 



70. — Rickety Curvature of the Spine. 
The Anteroposterior form. 



378 



General Diseases 



As the lordosis is usually secondary, as already stated, to deformities of 
the legs, its treatment must be secondary to that of the limbs, and no special 
applications or apparatus are required. 

Where it is compensatory to angular curvature, it is, of course, necessary, 
and does not admit of treatment. 

Knock-knees.— Deformity of the lower end of the femur, resulting in 
knock-knee or genu valgum, occurs in several different ways besides the 
one already described. The inner part of the shaft at the epiphysial line 
sometimes grows more rapidly than the outer (Mickulicz) ; hence the inner 
half of the shaft is longer than the outer, the inner condyle descends lower, 
the line of the knee-joint becomes oblique, and the tibia is set at an obtuse 
angle with the femur. 1 Sometimes the same results follow from absolute 
overgrowth of the inner half of the epiphysis and the internal condyle as 

compared with the outer. In other in- 
stances, dependent upon the irregular 
ossification characteristic of rickets, the 
outer condyle does not develop, and, 
though the inner half of the epiphysis 
is not absolutely larger than in health, 
it is so relatively to the aborted external 
part. Again, the soft, ill-developed, 
rickety bone, though symmetrical at 
one time, actually wastes or is absorbed 
as the result of pressure, and a corre- 
sponding deformity results. No doubt 
in some of these children a yielding of 
soft, ill-formed ligaments is the primary 
condition, and the bone-changes only 
occur as the result of the slight obliquity 
produced by this yielding. The defor- 
mity is, however, sometimes congenital. 
In explaining the cause of the par- 
ticular kind of deformity it must be 
remembered, first, that the femur is 
normally set at an angle with the tibia 
and not vertically upon it ; secondly, that these children often assume attitudes 
in which the weight of the body and limbs so presses upon certain parts of 
the shafts of the bones that they yield, and curves result. Such deformities are 
produced by habitually sitting cross-legged, as is seen in figs. 67, &c. Other 
reasons are that in certain cases congenital inequality in length of the limbs 
throws the weight of the body both unequally and obliquely upon one leg ; ~ 
and again, where the deformity has arisen before the age at which walking 
begins, the pressure of the nurse's arms and the leverage of the weight of the 
limbs themselves acting over the nurse's arms may produce deviation. Con- 
genital or acquired valgus, slight degrees of infantile paralysis, or any cause 

1 This condition may be due to premature synostosis at the outer half of the growing 
line (Oilier and Tripier), a condition found so often in rickets, and explaining largely the 
stunted form of extreme cases. Vide figs. 69 and 74. 

2 Reeves has laid stress strongly upon this fact. 




-a" 



^ 



dinary case of Knock -kr 



Bow-Leg 379 

tending to throw the weight out of the normal line, will in some instances 
prove the starting point. In all cases it is clear that, as the bones are soft 
and unduly yielding, a pressure that would have no effect upon a healthy 
bone will cause deviation in a rickety child, and that, when once the curve is 
started, it will always tend to increase more rapidly. 

It is not improbable that the irregular ossification of rickets prevents the 
normal architecture of the bone from being built up and so weakens it — i.e. 
the special arrangement of arches and struts in the cancellous tissue is not 
preserved. 

Sometimes knock-knee is due to distortion of the tibia rather than the 
femur, and it will usually be found that the upper tibial articular surfaces 
are misshapen and bevelled off. This is, however, generally a secondary 
condition. 1 

Bow-leg-, genu varum or ge7in extrorsum, is a deformity which, though 
dependent upon the same general causes as knock-knee, differs from it in 
most instances in its mechanical causes ; thus it is rarely dependent upon 
a local inequality of growth in the lower end of the femur, but is usually a 
general as opposed to a local curve of both femur and tibia, and is not limited 
to the region of the knee. It is most commonly found in one leg, the other 
being the subject of knock-knee, and in such cases it will nearly always be 
found that the knock-knee has appeared first and the bow-leg later ; in fact, 
the bow-leg is the result of the knock-knee. If such a patient is stripped, 
it will be found that the axis of the trunk is directed from one shoulder 
obliquely downwards to the hip of the knock-kneed limb : then the line of 
pressure, following the axis of the thigh of that side if produced, would pass 
through the region of the opposite knee : hence yielding to this pressure 
produces an outward bowing of the whole of the opposite limb. It is true 
that the curve of bow-leg is not quite even, and is usually sharpest at the 
weakest part of the leg — the lower third of the tibia ; much more rarely 
there is a true genu varum, or bowing out, mainly at the knee itself; in such 
cases the head of the fibula is usually very prominent. 

Double genu valgum occurs when the changes in both legs begin at the 
same time and go on at the same rate ; double bow-leg results either from 
local changes exactly opposite to those of knock-knee, or, more often, is started 
by the position assumed in sitting by the child, and increased by the weight 
of the body subsequently. Thus it is common to see children sitting on the 
floor with both thighs somewhat abducted and rotated outwards ; in this 
position the limbs rest on the hips and ankles, and the knees are quite 
unsupported. The weight of the limbs then tends to bend them outwards, 
and produces bow-leg, while, if the feet are crossed one over the other, the 
curve will be most marked at the lower third of the tibia, and the leg which 
rests upon the other will have more of an anterior, and less of an external, 
curve than its fellow (fig. 72). 

Deformities of the tibia are more complex and difficult to explain than 
those of the femur ; besides the general outward curve already described 
as a part of bow-leg, there are found curvatures of the tibia alone, the 
femur remaining quite or nearly straight. The most common curve in the 

] Xoble Smith believes it to be a main cause of knock-knee. 



3 8o 



General Diseases 



tibia is a sharp bend with its convexity outwards and forwards at the lower- 
third. 

Sometimes there is a projection outwards and backwards of the upper- 
part of the shaft, just below the tuberosities, giving almost the appearance of 
a subluxation backwards at the knee-joint. There is sometimes a condition 
of hyperextension in these patients, but the appearance is, we think, often due 
to the distortion mentioned (fig. 69). 

In some cases there is a bend forwards and inwards at the middle of the 
shaft, or rather, as this is associated with genu valgum, it is to be described 
as a bending outwards and backwards of the lower half of the leg upon the 
upper. 

It is common in severe cases of genu valgum to find a well-marked rotation 
of the tibia upon its vertical axis, just as already described in the femur, so that, 
instead of looking inwards and forwards, the inner or subcutaneous surface of 
the tibia looks almost directly forwards (or sometimes the rotation is inwards 







Fig. 72. — Shows how sitting 'cross-legged' 
produces Curvature of the Tibiae. The 
right foot is resting on the ground. 



73. — An ordinary case 
of Bow-leg. 



— Reeves) ; the upper third of the tibia may look almost directly forwards, 
the lower third inwards and backwards. In such cases the inner border of 
the tibia is very strongly marked, forming a prominent ridge somewhat 
spirally twisted, ending below at the convexity of the forward curve, and above 
at the inner side of the internal tuberosity (fig. 74). In many cases, especially 
in those of long standing, whether this inner border is well marked or not, 
there is a prominent spur-like buttress of bone developed below the inner tube- 
rosity at the insertion of the internal lateral ligament ; this spur, the exist- 
ence of which was, we believe, first pointed out by Mr. Clement Lucas, is 
probably the result of ossification of the ligament as a result of strain and 
irritation, somewhat as in the case of ' riders bone' and other instances of 
bony overgrowth at the attachment of greatly used muscles. The promi- 
nent ridges, as stated by Mr. Noble Smith, are most marked when the 
disease is arrested and the stage of hyperostosis has come on. Sometimes 
there is a flat surface of bone running up from the spur to the inner condyle 
of the femur (Macewen) ; in severe cases this is very striking, and the 



Rickety Deformities 381 

spur reaches down far below the direct insertion of the ligament. Two 
other conditions associated with these deformities require notice : one is 
that the patella in severe cases of knock-knee tends to ride outwards upon 
the external condyle, and even to be dislocated quite to its outer surface 
during flexion of the limb. This is the result partly of deficient size of the 
external condyle and partly of the bony curves, so that the quadriceps, 
acting in a straight line, does not make traction in the axis of the bones. 
The patella may also sink so deeply into the 
intercondylar notch in flexion that its position 
may be marked by a depression. The other 
condition referred to is the direction and arch 
of the foot. In knock-knee the foot would 
naturally point outwards in consequence of the 
alteration in the axis of the limb, while in 
bow-leg the toes point usually, though not 
always, forwards or slightly inwards. Besides 
this, there is in some instances flat-foot more 
or less severe. It has been asserted that flat- 
foot is really the cause of genie valgum, but 
that this is not so in by any means most 
cases is readily shown. Very often, instead 
of flat-foot, there is a condition of pes cavus, 
together with a peculiar spasmodic contrac- 
tion of the great toe. Both the cavus and 
the spasm of the flexor of the great toe are 
evidently due to the efforts made to obtain 
a firm grip of the ground in order that the 
instability caused by the knock-knee may be 
counteracted. Sometimes the great-toe spasm 
exists when flat-foot is present, and it is seen 
in bow-leg and curve of the tibia alone as 
well as in knock-knee. The foot is inverted 
to prevent strain upon the internal lateral 
ligament of the ankle, the flexors of the toes, 
and tibialis posticus, as well as to allow the 
foot to be placed flat upon the ground ; this 
tends to bring the bearing point upon the outer 
side of the foot and to remove the ball of the 
great toe from the ground ; then, to com- 
pensate for this, the toe is flexed so that 
the last phalanx may take a share in the 

support of the body. These points are to some extent shown in the pre- 
ceding figures. 1 

To summarise, then, the following deformities may exist in the lower 
limbs as a result of rickets : — 

I. Curvature of the shaft of the femur, with its convexity forwards, or 




Fig. 74. — A case of severe Rickets, 
showing most of the commoner de- 
formities, as well as dwarfing from 
Synostosis. 



1 Macewen believes that flat-foot occurs in children before walking, but that on walk 
ing the cavus and toe spasm are developed. 



382 General Diseases 

forwards and outwards throughout its whole length, together with rotation of 
the lower half upon the upper through a vertical axis. 

2. Diaphysial overgrowth on one side of the growing line, absolute, or 
relative from synostosis of the other half. 

3. Overgrowth of either condyle, with absolute or relative smallness of the 
other condyle. 

4. Curvature of the lower third of the femur, with its convexity inwards 
(according to Macewen the commonest cause of genu valgum). 

5. Curvature of the shaft of the tibia as a whole, the convexity being 
directed outwards. 

6. Curvature of the upper part of the tibia, so that the convexity is 
directed backwards and outwards : possibly this distortion is sometimes at 
the epiphysial line. 

7. Curvature of the shaft of the tibia at the middle, the convexity being 
directed forwards, or forwards and inwards. 

8. Curvature of the shaft of the tibia at its lower third, the convexity 
looking forwards and outwards, more rarely directly forwards. 

9. Rotation of the tibia spirally upon a vertical axis. 

10. Overgrowth of the ridges on the tibia, especially the internal border 
and the region below the inner tuberosity ; similar outgrowths sometimes occur 
about the internal condyle and along the concavities of the curves of the femur, 
as well as in the neighbourhood of any of the epiphysial lines. 

11. Dislocation of the patella outwards. 

12. Flat-foot,/^ cavus, spasmodic contraction of the flexor longus pollicis. 

13. The muscles and ligaments on the concavity of the curves in either 
direction may be contracted and shortened, those on the convexity stretched 
and weakened. 

14. The pelvis and lower limbs may be stunted as a whole from lack of 
development or premature synostosis. 

late Rickets.— Though perhaps hardly coming into the category of 
children's diseases, mention must be made of the so-called ' late rickets,' or 
'rickets of adolescence,' in which deformities, knock-knee, flat-foot, and 
more rarely bow-leg, come on between the ages of twelve and twenty years 
or thereabouts, the deformity being a bony and not merely a muscular or 
ligamentous one in the case of knock-knee. 

This condition has been attributed to a disease allied to osteomalacia ; 
it has also been described as relapsed rickets, and by Mr. Lucas has been 
said to be associated with masturbation and albuminuria. As to these alleged 
causes we may say that it is not often, we think, relapsed rickets, for we have 
seen many instances where there was no evidence that rickets had ever 
existed in childhood. It is not osteomalacia, for the patients never die of the 
disease, the process becomes arrested, and it does not occur under the con- 
ditions met with, nor attack the parts affected in osteomalacia. It is certainly 
not due to, nor even associated with, either albuminuria or masturbation in 
by any means all instances. We have examined such patients a good many 
times, and in only one was there even a trace of albumen in the urine, and, 
as is well known, this may occur quite apart from the condition under dis- 
cussion ;.. in none of our cases was there any evidence of masturbation. It 
is, we believe, due simply to weak health, bad air, long standing, poor food — 



Late Rickets 383 

in short, to bad hygienic conditions at a time when growth is active in the 
limbs — in fact, mainly to those causes which produce rickets in earlier life, 
but in consequence of the greater strength of the skeleton and its more com- 
plete ossification, as a rule it only produces deformity in those parts on which 
the greatest strain is thrown ; in some cases there is well-marked enlarge- 
ment of the epiphyses, of recent appearance, and not dating back to the 
usual time of rickets : this we have seen, and other cases have been recorded 
where both the external and microscopical appearances were identical with 
rickets. 1 The affection is, we think, best described as late rickets ; it 
furnishes a large number of the patients upon whom osteotomy in adult life 
is performed.- 

Summary. — A child, then, suffering from knock-knee the result of rickets, 
will present the following appearances in addition to evidences of rickets in 
other parts. As he stands the femora will be seen to project markedly for- 
wards and outwards, the extensors of the thigh being firm and prominent. 
There is often some flexion of the thighs upon the pelvis, and of the legs upon 
the thighs ; and secondary lordosis, resulting in a peculiar doubled-up and 
crouching attitude. The legs are set at an obtuse angle with the thighs, the 
patellae are displaced outwards, and the internal condyles of the femora look 
forwards and inwards instead of directly inwards ; the whole limb is, in fact, 
rotated outwards. The tibial ridges are unduly developed, and there is a 
spiral twist in the leg. The feet are directed outwards, though the toes are 
somewhat adducted, and spasmodically grasp the floor, the flexors being 
strongly contracted, especially that of the great toe ; the arch of the foot is 
exaggerated, or may, on the other hand, be lost. In walking, one knee passes 
in front of the other, in severe cases to such an extent that the appearance is. 
that of a person walking cross-legged. The patient's height is much less 
than it should be from the actual length of the limbs, and he is easily tired 
and complains of aching of the legs, especially on the inner side of the 
knee if the deformity is increasing. In ether instances, however, though 
much deformed, the child is as active and sturdy as his fellows, and makes 
no complaint of pain or tiredness ; when this is so, the distortion is usually 
not increasing. On examining the knees more closely it is found that 
on flexion of the joint the leg can be brought into the same line with 
the thigh — a result due to the slipping back of the tibia from the more promi- 
nent part of the condyles to the posterior surface. 3 The internal condyle 
can be felt to be larger and to descend lower than the external, so that if 
the limb is placed in such position that the lower borders of the two condyles 
are on the same level, the axis of the femur is much more oblique than in 
a healthy limb (Reeves). The patella in extension keeps its natural position ; 
while in flexion, as already noticed, it slips outwards and leaves the inter- 
condylar notch plainly perceptible, 4 the appearance being much that of fig. 176, 

1 Vide Clutton, St. Thomas's Hospital Reports, 1884, and Mickulicz referred to in 
Macewen's book. 

2 Mr. Reeves in Practical Orthopccdics gives an elaborate account of the causation of 
these deformities, which we are not altogether able to follow. 

5 Other explanations have been given, such as that it is due to rotation of the femur at 
the hip (Xoble Smith) ; but this is not very intelligible. Reeves gives Busch's view that 
it is due to obliquity of the axis of rotation. 4 This occurs only in severe cases. 



384 General Diseases 

On attempting to straighten the limb during extension this will be found 
impossible, though a little lateral movement may take place, and the tendons 
of the biceps and the ilio-tibial band of fascia will become very tense. The 
head of the fibula is sunken, and concealed deep within the angle between 
the tibia and femur. The seat of pain and the tubercle at the insertion of 
the internal lateral ligament have been already alluded to. 

The degree of deformity present varies greatly, but never reaches nearly 
the extent in children that it does in adults ; in an adult case we have seen 
the leg almost at a right angle with the thigh, and in another that we 
operated upon there was 19^ inches between the malleoli when the inner 
condyles were in contact. In double genu valgum ten inches deviation would 
be an extreme case in a child, and five inches a severe one. 

In measuring the deformity it is best to lay the child upon a flat, hard 
surface ; the legs must then be fully extended and rotated inwards until the 
front of the lower end of the femur looks directly forwards ; the two internal 
condyles are then to be put just touching one another. A vertical line is then 
drawn through the umbilicus and centre of the pubes downwards to the level 
of the malleoli, and in measuring the distance from the inner malleolus on 
each side to the vertical line the amount of deviation will be ascertained. In 
double genu valgum the line will, if the limbs are symmetrical, pass through 
the point of contact of the condyles, while in bow-leg it will lie far within the 
arc of the upper part of the limb, but may pass to the outer side of, or through 
the ankle. 

Knock-knee in children does not always depend upon rickets, and it is 
important to recognise this fact. It may simply be the result of lax liga- 
ments without any primary or even secondary alteration in shape of the 
bones ; thus a child may have marked genu valgum while standing up, but 
on lying down it may be possible to bring the legs perfectly straight, and to 
again produce the deformity by steadying the thigh and abducting the leg ; 
a distinct gap will then be felt between the femur and tibia on the inner side, 
and lateral rocking may be easily shown. In such patients the deformity 
may after a time become permanent from stretching of the muscles and 
ligaments on the inner side and contracture of those on the outer aspect. 

A similar deformity in one of our patients was the result simply, apparently, 
of hysterical contraction of the muscles on the outer side, with weakness of 
the internal set, ' muscular spasm ' (Guerin). 

Treatment of Rickety Deformities. — The degree of deformity, the age of 
the patient, and the state of the disease, whether stationary or getting worse, 
and the amount of care and trouble that can be bestowed upon the child, are 
the points to be considered in the treatment of these cases. Thus it is useless 
to attempt to treat by instruments, and so on, a very severe case of distortion, 
while, on the other hand, it is rarely necessary to perforin osteotomy upon a 
child under three years old because the application of splints with or without 
previous forcible straightening, if it is a case of curve of the tibia alone, will 
usually suffice for a cure. Again, if the deformity has been stationary for some 
time and it is probable, therefore, that the post-rickety sclerosis of bone has 
taken place, it is useless to think of straightening the leg without operation, 
while if the curvature is getting worse, it is probable that the bones are still 
sufficiently soft to yield to pressure. Besides these considerations comes the 



Rickety Deformities 385 

very important one of the amount of care and time that can be bestowed 
upon the child : it is not only justifiable, but necessary, to perform osteotomy 
upon many children who could be straightened perfectly well without operation 
if they could be seen frequently by the surgeon, be kept off their legs, and their 
splints properly applied, but who are neglected, allowed to get about anyhow, 
and their splints are applied wrongly or not at all. In such cases it is mere 
waste of time to do anything short of operation ; hence we have frequently 
osteotomised or forcibly straightened the limbs of children between two and 
four years old, and we entirely disagree with the view that it is barbarous to 
operate upon young children who could be straightened without operation if 
it were possible to give all alike the same care and time. At any rate, it is 
practically a choice between their remaining crooked and osteotomy or 
fracture. The general constitutional treatment of rickets has been already 
considered elsewhere. The local treatment consists in operative and non- 
operative means. 

Treatment without Operation. — In a young child with the deformity in- 
creasing, but not very severe, who can be well looked after, the treatment of 
knock-knee consists in forbidding him to stand at all, in bathing and rubbing 
the limbs well to improve their circulation and muscular power, and in using 
firm, steady traction in the direction of straightening the limb, as if to break 




Fig. 75. — Thomas's splint for Genu Valgum. The pad is applied to the great trochanter and the 
spike fits into a socket in the boot. An elastic strap draws the knee outwards. 

the leg across the knee, for ten minutes at a time night and morning, such 
force as can be borne without pain being employed, and care being taken that 
the limb is fully extended. For the rest of the day and at night the child 
should wear a light, slightly hollowed, straight splint, long enough to reach 
from the top of the trochanter to just below the sole of the foot. This splint 
should be fixed to the upper part of the thigh and the lower part of the leg 
by inelastic webbing straps, while over the prominence of the knee an elastic 
strap should be applied to draw the knee outwards against the splint ; we 
prefer this plan to bandaging only. As soon as the child's health is improved, 
or if the case is very slight, a shorter splmt may be employed and he may be 
allowed to walk about wearing it. 1 If it can be afforded, a light iron splint 
may be used instead of the wooden one. 

If the distortion is at all severe, a practical difficulty will be met with in 
applying and keeping on the wooden splint : it will be found that the splint 
slips round to the antero-external aspect of the limb instead of remaining 
at the outer side ; when this happens no traction is exerted upon the knee, 
and the splint is useless. In such cases, if the iron cannot be obtained, a 

1 We may here again remark, once for all, that a child may get fresh air and exercise 
without walking, and that in the poorer classes, where we chiefly find these deformities, in 
is useless to attempt treatment in at all severe cases if the child walks about. 

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386 General Diseases 

back splint rather broader than the limb and as long as the outside one 
should be first applied, and then the outside splint put on with its edge rest- 
ing against the edge of the back splint ; this will be found to prevent 
rotation. The two splints can be joined together so as to make a single half- 
box splint — a plan first used, we believe, at the Victoria Hospital, Chelsea. 
Thomas's knee-splint may also be used for these cases : its advantages are 
that the child can get about from the first, and that elastic traction can be 
employed with it ; its disadvantages that it is somewhat troublesome to get 
made correctly, except at the price of a guinea, and that it is somewhat 
difficult to prevent rotation in it. Many other forms of appliance may be 
bought, but those mentioned are in our opinion the best. Whatever 
splint is employed, complete extension of the limb is necessary for the ap- 
paratus to produce any effect. 1 For bow-leg it is only necessary to apply 
the splint on the inner side instead of the outer, and it is much easier to 
manage, since there is little tendency to rotation of the splint. Lateral 
curve of the tibia is treated in the same way, but the splint need not 'reach 
above the knee ; the anterior curve requires a back splint with a foot-piece, 
and is more troublesome to manage, pressure being difficult to apply without 
causing pain at the heel. A simple anterior curve is, however, a much less 
serious deformity than the other, and is much more prone to improve without 
apparatus. 

Operative Treatme?it of Rickety Deformities. — Operation is required in 
patients in whom the deformity is severe, in those who have recovered from 
the rickety process and whose bones are sclerosed, and in those who cannot 
be well looked after or submit to prolonged treatment. 

Operative measures are of three kinds : fracture after partial division of 
the bone with saw or osteotome, forcible straightening without external wound, 
and straightening after tenotomy, &c. We may say at once that for any- 
thing except simple curves in the shafts of the tibia and fibula at the lower 
part of the leg in young children, before sclerosis has occurred, we consider 
forcible straightening utterly unjustifiable and unsurgical, and we shall make 
no further mention of it. For the cases mentioned it is a good and simple 
plan, resulting in a green-stick fracture just at the curve. It is, in any case 
suitable for it, easily done by taking the child's limb in one hand just above, 
and in the other just below, the deformity, taking care to have hold of the 
tibia and fibula, and not of the foot, otherwise the strain would come upon 
the ankle joint ; the limb is steadily and forcibly bent straight by the hands ; 
a certain amount of jerking is, however, sometimes useful. Tenotomy and 
subsequent straightening we look upon as only one degree better than 
Delore's plan of forcible straightening : it weakens the joint and only tempo- 
rarily straightens the limb. 2 Other methods of treatment do not require 
further notice. 

Osteotomy. — The general principle of an osteotomy is to partially divide 
with a saw or chisel the shaft of the bone in the neighbourhood of the 
deformity through a small wound, then to complete the fracture, straighten 
the limb, and treat it like an ordinary compound fracture. 

1 Hueter treats genu valgtc?n by simple flexion, and Little thinks well of it, but suggests 
sitting a la Turque as useful. 

2 Vide Lannelongue, Le Bull. MM. ; also Annals of Surgery, January 1888. • 






Osteotomy 387 

Of the various operations devised by Ogston, Macewen, Chiene, Reeves, Schede, and 
others, for remedying genu valgum, in our experience that of Macewen and the section 
of the femur above the condyles by means of a saw from the outer side are the best. We 
occasionally do an Ogston's operation, but supracondyloid osteotomy with a fine Adams' 
or keyhole saw is, we think, the most generally useful method. Ogston's plan should be 
limited to those cases where the deformity is entirely due to condylar overgrowth. It is 
very seldom employed. In the case of osteotomy of the tibia we prefer to saw through 
the tibia and fracture the fibula forcibly, or, if that cannot be readily done, we divide the 
fibula with an osteotome through an incision on the outer side of the leg. 

After straightening the limb we put it up in a back and side splint, inner or outer, 
according to the deformity, and leave it for a week ; at the end of that time we take it 
down and mould it accurately into position under chloroform : the callus is soft and moulds 
easily; the limb is then ready for a plaster of Paris splint, which should be kept on for 
three or four weeks and then taken off, and the limb well rubbed, the joints flexed, and then 
the splints replaced for another week ; after that the child may be allowed gradually to 
put his weight upon it. In heavy children an extra week should be given, and a light 
wooden splint worn for another month or so. It is a good plan to put on a Thomas's 
knee-splint after the first month, or even sooner. 

In severe cases of tibial curve, especially of anterior curvature and in some of those at 
the upper part of the leg, the deformity cannot be remedied by a simple section, but re- 
quires the removal of a wedge of bone ; this is a very much more serious operation, and 
one that we think should not be performed for the anterior curve alone, for besides its 
severity it does little to remedy the distortion unless a great amount of bone is taken away, 
and the tendo Achillis divided as well. This anterior curve is also much less important 
than the lateral one. If osteotomy is required in such a case, the oblique section of Gowan 
is probably the best. 

Osteotomy is a simple operation in most cases, but it has its dangers and its mortality. 
The popliteal artery has three times been wounded, severe bleeding has also occurred from 
the anastomotica magna, death has followed in some few cases, and gangrene of the leg 
in one at least — a case of our own, in which we removed a wedge from the upper part of 
the tibia. In this, our only serious casualty, no vessel was wounded, but either from 
pressure of the bones in their altered position, or from the splints being put on too tightly, 
the limb had to be amputated subsequently. There is no comparison between simple 
section and excision of a wedge in severity. For details of the various operations we 
must refer to the orthopaedic and general surgical works. 

Drilling holes in the bone and subsequent fracture, with modifications of this plan, 
have, we think, no advantages over the saw and osteotome ; which of these is used is 
nearly a matter of indifference. 

Multiple osteotomies, i.e. section of femur and tibia at one or more points, are some- 
times required ; when this is so we prefer to do one at a time on each limb, though Mac- 
ewen has many times done several with perfect success. Deformities of the fibula alone 
from rickets are never important. 

Osteotomv of the femur with a saw from the outer side is best performed by placing 
the limb upon a sand pillow, with the knee slightly flexed, and making a puncture with a 
large tenotome on the outer side of the limb, just in front of the border of the tensor 
vao-inae femoris, and a finger's breadth above the adductor tubercle. The knife is then 
carried across the limb, keeping as close to the bone as possible, taking care not to thrust 
it through the skin on the inner side. In this part of the incision the blade should be held 
flat, i.e. in the same plane as the surface of the femur ; as soon as the inner side of the 
limb is reached the knife is turned with its edge against the bone and withdrawn. It 
should during withdrawal be gently pressed against the bone so as to divide the periosteum 
and form a track for the saw. As soon as the knife is taken out of the wound the narrow 
saw- is thrust sharply with a jerk into the skin wound and its point made to strike the 
femur ; it is then carried readily over the front of the bone and its point felt beneath the 
skin on the inner side. The limb is well steadied and the bone sawn ; care being taken 
to saw at right angles to the axis of the femur. In sawing, the hand should be tilted, so 
as to divide mainly the outer and front parts of the shaft, until nearly the whole thickness 

C C 2 



388 General Diseases 

it sawn through. It is a matter of experience how far to saw — usually about two-thirds 
of the way through is sufficient ; a useful guide is the depth of the saw from the front of 
the bone as felt through the soft parts. When the bone is nearly divided the saw is with- 
drawn, the thigh steadied by the hand nearest the patient's trunk, and the limb bent 
inwards by adducting the leg with the other hand. The bone sometimes snaps sharply 
and sometimes yields : in the latter case sclerosis has not probably gone so far, and the 
fracture is more or less greenstick. One of our house surgeons remarked that the patient 
had less pain after these yielding fractures than when the division was complete, no doubt 
because there was no complete separation and less mobility of the fragments. 

Should the saw have been withdrawn too soon, and it is found impossible with reason- 
able force to fracture the limb, it is usually easy to reintroduce the saw and divide the 
bone further : the groove already made is usually found without much trouble ; failing 
this, the best plan would be to enlarge the opening and divide 'the bone with an 
osteotome. 

Section of the tibia is done in the same way, the puncture being made over the anterior 
border of the bone at the line of greatest curvature. It is usually possible to fracture the 
fibula ; if not, it should be divided with an osteotome through an incision over it. Mac- 
ewen's operation we need not describe, as for general use we prefer the method already 
mentioned, but we may say it consists in incomplete section of the femur with a graduated 
osteotome from the inner side, through an incision in the soft parts. His guides are ' a 
line drawn a finger's breadth above the level of the upper border of the external condyle, 
and a line drawn parallel to and half an inch in front of the tendon of the adductor 
magnus.' The point of intersection of these lines in to be the centre of the incision. In 
none of these operations is any ligature or suture required, and antiseptics should be 
rigidly carried out. The wound in the soft parts is healed usually in a week, or a point 
of superficial granulations alone remains, and it is only occasionally that the dressings 
require changing from oozing of blood. It is well to squeeze all the blood out of the 
opening before putting on the dressings. 

The deformity resulting from non-apposition of the fragments after these operations 
gets modelled down after a few months just as in a fracture. Oblique section of the bone 
as in a splice, a plan suggested by Mr. Gowan, is sometimes worth trial ; it causes less 
immediate deformity, but is somewhat more difficult to manage. 



Lateral Curvature of the Spine. — This affection in its most common 
form is a disease rather of early adult life than of childhood, being seldom 
found before puberty, hence only the more important features will be con- 
sidered here. There are, however, certain forms of scoliosis that belong to 
childhood more particularly : such are the rickety lateral curvatures and those 
due to empyema or unilateral limb-shortening, as well as, of course, the con- 
genital cases. It must be remembered that in infants the normal curvatures 
of the adult spine do not exist. 

It is now well recognised that the deformity is a compound one, that there 
is never a pure lateral curve without rotation, nor pure rotation without a 
lateral curvature, although it may in some cases require close observation to 
verify this, and the more so that rotation conceals to a greater or less extent 
the deviation of the spinous processes by bringing them nearer the middle 
line. 

As soon as any lateral bending in one segment of the spine occurs, two 
things necessarily happen if the child maintains the erect posture : first, 
compensatory curves must take place in the other parts of the spine to 
balance the primary curve and maintain equilibrium ; next, the obliquity of 
the articular processes, and in the dorsal region the powerful rotation action 
of the ribs when they are approximated, must result in rotation of the 



Lateral Curvature of the Spine 389 

vertebrae upon a vertical axis. 1 Hence in a case of a lateral curvature we 
almost always see compensatory curves in the opposite direction, and in- 
variably more or less rotation : the term rotato-lateral curvature is therefore 
the more exact title. Scoliosis is convenient as a short synonym. Scoliosis 
in children may be the result of — 

1. Congenital malformation of the spine, in which imperfect segments 
of vertebral bodies are intercalated on one side of the spine only. (Bland 
Sutton, ' Med.-Chir. Trans.' 1884.) 

2. Congenital deficiencies in the limbs of one side, so that the action of the 
muscles and the weight of the normal limb are unbalanced. 

Occasionally scoliosis is secondary to the form of congenital torticollis 
which is due to malposition in utero. 

3. Shortening of one leg from any cause : for instance, a flexed, anchy- 
losed hip or knee gives rise to shortening and compensatory scoliosis. 

4. Imperfect development or sinking in of the chest-wall on one side, as 
in atelectasis or empyema. 

5. Muscular and ligamentous weakness combined with faulty attitudes. 

6. Rickets. 

7. Caries, especially if one side of the bodies only is involved. 
Various other types of scoliosis have been described, but they may all be 

practically grouped under one or other of the above heads. 

The mode of production of rotato-lateral curvature by the above causes 
is obvious except in cases of Group 5, of which a word or two more must 
be said. It is usually stated that this form of scoliosis is a disease of the 
upper classes and is found in girls who loll about or sit in ungainly attitudes 
for long hours, writing or working, during their most active period of de- 
velopment, while at the same time no sufficient exercise is given to their 
muscles. While it is true that weak spines or slight degrees of curvature 
are often thus produced, the disease is common enough among the poor, 
and, as it is usually neglected in its earlier stages, is seen in much worse 
degrees. It is also not rarely found in muscular, well-developed people in 
early adult life. It is, moreover, at times produced in young girls by carry- 
ing heavy babies or other burdens too great for them. 

If a weak or tired spine is examined with the patient stripped and 
standing or sitting upright,' 2 it will perhaps be seen at first to be held fairly 
straight, but often after a minute or two the weight is thrown to one side, the 
lumbar vertebrae curve with their convexity towards that side, and a com- 
pensatory dorsal curve appears with its convexity to the opposite, usually 
the right, side, while a slight alternating curve in the cervical region is 
sometimes readily seen. At the same time flickering contractions of the 
spinal muscles as they become tired are often visible. In an early case 
all these bends can be straightened out by an effort of the patient, or by 
bending forwards or by lying down. If, however, the patient is neglected 

1 Judson of New York attributes the rotation to the fact that the ribs are attached to the 
spine behind the bodies — the latter, as it were, are free in the thoracic cavity, and therefore 
liable to rotate, while the spines form part of the thoracic wall. 

2 The whole spine should in all cases be carefully examined with the patient stripped, 
and the back should be inspected in different positions of curvature and of the limbs, 
the course of the spines and the level of the scapulae and iliac crests being noted. 



390 



General Diseases 



the curves tend to become permanent, for the weak muscles become con- 
tractured on the concave side, the ligaments become shortened, the inter- 
vertebral discs thinned and compressed, and the shape of the vertebral bodies 
and articular surfaces at last altered. But while this is going on the vertebrae 
rotate upon a vertical axis so that the bodies come to face towards the 
convexity of the curve and the ribs become bent in such a way that there 

is a sharply convex bend backwards close 
to their angles on the same side : this 
produces a prominence also on the con- 
vex side, while in front, in order as it were 
to reach the sternum, the ribs are usually 
more or less flattened and straightened 
out. The converse of all this takes 
place on the opposite side of the spine. 
There is still a further change resulting 
from this : the scapula on the convex side 
is pushed out by the bulging ribs and 
projects backwards, while it is raised 
or lowered above the level of its fellow 
according to the exact seat of the curve ; 
this is so marked that ' growing out of 
the shoulder' is usually the first-noticed 
sign and the popular name for the affec- 
tion. The scapula on the concave side 
also often projects sharply backwards 
and towards the mid-line, since it cannot 
rest evenly against the flattened chest- 
wall {vide fig. 76). A projection of the 
hip on one side or the other according to 
the curve will also be noticeable. 

All degrees of deformity may be met 
with, from the mere weak spine, with no 
permanent curves, but with a tendency to 
collapse in any direction, to deformity, 
where the ribs on one side are overlapping one another and lying within the 
crest of the ilium, while the whole trunk is distorted and misshapen. Some- 
times an antero-posterior curve (kyphosis) coexists with the scoliosis, and it 
is very important not to be misled by this ; still more important is it to 
remember that in cases of caries there is sometimes a lateral curvature 
before any angular curve appears : this may occur either in caries of the 
bodies or, as pointed out by Reeves, where there is disease of the articular 
processes or costo-vertebral joints. The diagnosis is to be made by noting 
the rigidity of the spine and usually the greater severity of the pain in 
the case of caries, as well as by the history of the patient. The exact 
position of such curve is by no means constant, and, though a curve convex 
to the left in the lumbar and convex to the right in .the dorsal region is the 
commonest condition, the lower curve may be dorso-lumbar or the sides may 
,be reversed, and so on. This, of course, depends largely upon the cause of the 
curvature ; thus in empyema the amount and position of the collapse will 




Fig. 76. -Lateral Curvature of the Spine. 



Lateral Curvature of the Spine 391 

determine the curve. Sometimes, especially in rickety cases, and probably in 
those due to partial atelectasis, the curvature is local and the compensatory 
curves are so slight and diffuse as to be nearly imperceptible. In some 
cases curvature of the spine is to be looked upon as compensatory and ad- 
vantageous, and not as a morbid condition : such are slight curvatures which 
make up for inequality in the length of the limbs and the slighter degrees of 
curve due to empyema ; thus in one case the curve may help to hide the 
deformity and in the other assist in filling up a suppurating cavity. 

Aching pain of greater or less severity, and a general feeling of tiredness 
with depression of spirits and tonelessness, are the principal subjective 
symptoms of lateral curvature. The pain is usually in the side and not in 
the back or chest and abdomen. 

Treatment. — Scoliosis due to congenital malformation of the spine itself 
or to deficiency of an entiie limb, as well as that due to collapse of the chest- 
wall after empyema or severe atelectasis, is necessarily not entirely and in 
many cases not at all remediable, while curvature due to rickets, weak- 
ness, bad habits, or a shortened leg may in its early stages be entirely cured 
and in almost any stage prevented from getting worse. 

In any case the aim must be to first remove the cause tending to increase 
the deformity, to improve the general health, to strengthen the muscles and 
ligaments, and to avoid pressure and strain upon the weak parts. In the 
rickety scoliosis of young children the rickets must be treated and the child 
never allowed to remain sitting up for any length of time ; its general posture 
must be flat upon its back or face, or upon its side, with pillows so arranged 
as to straighten out the curves. The principle is not to keep the patient 
lying down, which would of course in no way strengthen the muscles, but to 
give the parts just such exercise as will make them develop, and in the 
intervals give them complete rest. 

Fresh air, friction to the spine, with frequent change of position and proper 
diet and medicine, will readily cure any case in which there are no fixed 
curves, while in the more severe cases in older children the same treatment 
must be adopted. In an ordinary case, the result of weak muscles and joints, 
and improper postures, the lines of management are to avoid tiring the 
muscles and ligaments, and yet to strengthen them by exercise ; to avoid the 
postures which have produced the deformity ; to counteract their effect by 
opposite positions, thus stretching contractured muscles and ligaments, &c. It 
is impossible here to enter into details of the various exercises required or of 
the different apparatus recommended, but it may be said that in addition to 
all means of strengthening the health and improving the tone of the muscles 
— friction, salt-water douches, general exercise, and so on — a careful examina- 
tion should be made with the child stripped entirely to see what positions 
and movements tend to correct the deformity, and these should be made the 
subject of regular practice at intervals through the day. A reclining board 
such as that figured (fig. yy), or some similar one, horizontal bars, trapezes, 
dumb-bells, Sayre's suspension apparatus, and so on, are all useful as means 
of strengthening the muscles. 

Regular walking exercise for frequent short periods should be taken, the 
patient lying down afterwards, and constant watchfulness to correct any 
tendency to loll must be observed. Busch's plan of making the patient lie 



392 



General Diseases 



prone, with the chest and head over the end of a couch, then bending- down- 
wards and raising the front half of the body against gradually increasing- 
resistance, is a good method of exercising the spinal muscles. For private 
patients much time is saved to the surgeon and expense to the patient by 
instructing a professed masseuse or gymnast to carry out such manipulations 
as the surgeon may order. 

All spinal supports are to be reserved for cases where the deformity is 
extreme or rapidly increasing, and must be used with the greatest caution and 




Fig. 77. — Reel 
Arms. Th 



e'head sto^wf 6ral C .™ ure > with Extension Apparatus for the Head and 
e a ndt ZT±Ill e %l°™ . l d for clearness, and onlypart of the couch is shown. 



Both head- and hand-straps are fitted 



with india-rubber accumulators. 



never relied upon except in conjunction with the exercises and other means 
already indicated. As a means of treatment alone they are as harmful as 
in caries they are useful. No case of lateral curvature must ever be given 
up to the care of an apparatus-maker. For details as to spinal supports, 
modes of measuring the deformity, &c, the works of Reeves and others may 
be consulted, but, as a rule, the less supports are used, the better. 1 

1 The subject of ' Flat-foot ' is, for convenience sake, considered in the chapter on 
' Club-foot. 



393 



CHAPTER XX. 

GENERAL DISEASES — continued. 

Syphilis. — Infants and children may suffer from syphilis acquired in 
various ways after^ birth, or they may be the subjects of hereditary syphilis, 
the virus in this case being received from one or both parents during intra- 
uterine life, or the infant may be inoculated with the syphilitic poison at the 
time of birth. 

Acquired Sypbilis. — Can a healthy infant be syphilised by means of 
the milk of a wet-nurse ? This is an important question and one which is 
often asked by parents before a wet-nurse is employed ; there is no evi- 
dence that we know of to show that it can, and there is a strong probability 
that even if the virus was present in the milk it would not inoculate the infant 
unless introduced directly into the blood. That the infant can be inoculated 
if it have an abrasion on the lips and it draws blood from a sore nipple of a 
nurse suffering from secondary syphilis is certain, and it may, of course, be 
inoculated by the discharges from the genitals of the nurse conveyed to it 
on the nurse's hands. It need hardly be said that in selecting a wet-nurse 
the most scrupulous care should be exercised in ascertaining that the would- 
be nurse is not suffering from any specific disease, a careful inquiry being 
made as to her health and the health of any children she may have had, 
especially with regard to any symptoms of syphilis. 

Children of various ages may be seen in dispensary practice, suffering 
from chancres on the lips and genitals, who have been inoculated from their 
parents or others having specific sores, the virus being perhaps conveyed on 
the fingers. It is important to bear in mind that not only are the discharges 
from a primary sore liable to inoculate, but the discharges from various 
secondary lesions both in acquired and hereditary syphilis may also infect. 
Thus infants suffering from coryza or specific ulcerations about the mouth 
may inoculate the breast of a healthy wet-nurse, though they apparently 
never do that of their mother. No syphilitic infant should be wet-nursed by 
anyone except its mother. 

Syphilis has undoubtedly been on rare occasions inoculated by means of 
vaccination : abundant evidence of this exists in some epidemics of syphilis 
which have occurred, though such an accident is exceedingly rare, especially 
when we remember the frequency with which vaccination is done and the 
certainty with which such an accident is discovered. It may often happen 
that when vaccination is performed it is followed in a few days or weeks by 
symptoms of secondary syphilis, such as a roseolous rash, coryza, &c, but in 
the absence of a primary sore at the seat of vaccination these syphilitic 



394 General Diseases 

manifestations cannot be accepted as evidence of vaccino-syphilis, and 
evidence may most probably be obtained of syphilis in the parents or in 
some of the brothers or sisters. As the first symptoms of hereditary syphilis 
most frequently make their appearance at from six weeks to three months 
after birth, and as this is the usual time for vaccination, it is highly probable 
that vaccination and the secondaries will often exist together and yet have 
no connection. If syphilis has been inoculated by vaccination, a month or six 
weeks later — during which time perhaps the vesicles have imperfectly healed 
■ — an induration makes its appearance at the seat of one or more of the 
vesicles, or there is an ulcer with an indurated base which has the characters 
of a hard chancre ; this remains indolent, crusts over, and is followed in the 
course of a few weeks more by a specific eruption and other specific pheno- 
mena. In any case where vaccino-syphilis has taken, place a well-marked 
scar is left at the seat of the puncture where the hard chancre has formed. 

It is important to remember when investigating any case of supposed 
vaccino-syphilis that an interval of a month or six weeks elapses between 
vaccination and the formation of a chancre at the seat of inoculation (Hutch- 
inson), and no case can be accepted as such unless this is the case. 

Hereditary Syphilis. — In hereditary syphilis the foetus receives the 
poison at some period during intra-uterine life, and may be born with the 
evidence of syphilis on it, or it is born healthy, the specific symptoms making 
their appearance within a few weeks or months of birth. In these cases, 
unlike acquired syphilis, there is no primary sore. The part played by the 
father in transmitting syphilis to his progeny does not admit of a doubt : the 
more recently he has suffered, the more likely is he to transmit it in a severe 
form, though for many years he is liable to beget children who suffer from 
hereditary syphilis. The most usual way in which he transmits it is by 
means of the spermatozoa at the time of fertilisation of the ovum ; or during 
the intra-uterine life of the foetus the mother may become infected by the 
husband, and she may infect the foetus through the placental circulation, though 
this appears to be rare during the later months of intra-uterine life. The 
mother may transmit the disease to the ovum or the foetus in utero, but this, 
as just stated, is rare after the seventh month of foetal life ; or she may infect 
it during the act of birth. The mother, on the other hand, may apparently 
be infected from the foetus, though often she appears to escape ; that is, a 
syphilitic father infects the foetus, the child is born and suffers from syphilis, 
the mother apparently escaping ; but the escape of the mother is more 
apparent than real, inasmuch as such women appear to be insusceptible to 
syphilis and there is reason to believe that they do not escape, though the 
attack must certainly be slight. 

A. Baginsky gives the following summary of the etiology of congenital 
syphilis : — 

(i) If the father and mother are both syphilitic, a syphilitic infant is 
generated, or the mother may miscarry ; the more severe and recent the 
syphilis is in the parents, the more likely is the foetus or infant to suffer 
severely. 

(2) If the father is syphilitic and the mother healthy, the infant may be 
syphilised at the time of conception, and this may happen when the father is 
affected by tertiary as well as secondary syphilis. Under these circumstances 



Hereditary Syphilis 



39: 



the mother may be syphilised either through the spermatozoa or from the 
foetus through the placental circulation ; she may apparently escape, but such 
women cannot be inoculated. 

(3) If the mother only is syphilitic the children may escape ; certainly 
mothers with tertiary symptoms may bring forth sound children. 

(4) If the father and mother are healthy at conception and the mother 
becomes affected during pregnancy, the foetus becomes infected through the 
placental circulation ; an infection during the act of birth is possible. 

Effects of the Poiso?i 071 the Foetus. — The mother may miscarry at any time 
during foetal life, a result due to disease of the foetus or placenta : this is 
especially likely to happen if the father and mother are suffering from the dis- 
ease in an active form. The exact nature of the lesions is uncertain : the 
placenta and internal organs, as the liver, lungs, &c, have been found diseased. 
The infant may be born at term, but dead, or may survive its birth but a short 
time ; in the latter case it is puny, shrivelled, with blue extremities and a feeble 
hoarse cry. It may suffer from various skin eruptions, the most common being 
pemphigus; various internal lesions may be found, such as interstitial hepatitis, 
and there may be gummata, perhaps breaking down, in the thymus, heart, or 
lungs. It may exhibit a tendency to bleed {see p. 26). 

Symptoms and Course. — The first definite symptoms usually make their 
appearance during the second month of life. These are often preceded by 
more ill-defined symptoms, such as restlessness, fever, peevishness, diarrhoea, 
and dyspepsia. The in- 
fant suffers from what -^r-^ ^ 
appears to the friends to '_ C : ^ : v 
be a cold in the head : 
the nasal passages are 
obstructed by excessive 
secretion and the infant 
'snuffles 5 during inspira- 
tion ; in the more severe 
cases the breast is taken 
with difficulty, as respira- 
tion is impeded during 
sucking on account of the 
nose being blocked, and 
the infant has to stop to 
breathe through its mouth. 
The coryza is followed 
by a characteristic rash, 
which usually consists of 
an erythema or erythe- 
matous patches of various 
sizes, the favourite places 
being about the anus, ge- 
nitals, thighs, and forehead. Instead of an erythema the rash may be 
papular. When the eruption appears first it is bright red, the vividness fades 
in a day or two, and the skin desquamates, and becomes of a dull red or 
coppery hue. As the disease progresses the secretion oozing from the nose 




Fig. 78. — Fissures around the Mouth in a case of Congenital 
Syphilis. The whole appearance of the face is characteristic. 



396 General Diseases 

dries up and forms scabs, the entrance to the nostrils becomes sore, and per- 
haps a sanguineous purulent secretion escapes from time to time. The upper 
lip may become excoriated and scabbed over. The corners of the mouth, 
which are constantly moist from the excess of saliva, become raw and per- 
haps ulcerated ; fissures and scabs may form which heal but slowly, leaving 
radiating scars (figs. 78, 79). 

The mucous membrane of the larynx may become affected, being swollen 
and perhaps ulcerated, and the child in consequence has a hoarse cry ; there 
may be marked anaemia and wasting, so that the child shrivels up and be- 
comes reduced almost to a skeleton. 

Infants occasionally die at this period, apparently from the intensity of 
the poison. This seems to have been so in the following case : our ftost- 
mortem notes are as follows (the child was not seen during life by any medical 
man). ' The mother states the infant, which was seven weeks old, "snuffled " 
a week before its death, and three days before a reddish rash appeared on 
the buttocks and around the mouth. It was found dead in its cot. At the 
autopsy the infant was fairly well nourished, there was a purulent discharge 
issuing from its nose, the skin around the mouth and nose was excoriated, 
apparently from the nasal secretion, and there were some excoriations and 
redness around the anus. The whole of the mucous membrane of the nose 
was in a foul, almost sloughy condition, the surface being dark-coloured and 
covered with muco-pus. On one tonsil there was a deep ulcer ; there was 
no laryngitis ; all the other organs in the body were healthy.' 

While in the more severe forms the infant is the colour of cafe au lait, 
wizened and wasted, other infants may be seen who are plump and ruddy, 
yet who are undoubtedly syphilitic, and who subsequently develop a typical 
rash. In some who suffer later from syphilis no history can be obtained of 
coryza or rash, and we are driven to the conclusion that the secondaries are 
sometimes so slight as not to attract the attention of the friends, and may 
even deceive the medical practitioner. The mortality of syphilitic babies is 
high ; not only is the effect of the poison depressing, but the blood seems to 
be profoundly altered, the digestive organs are interfered with, and the infant 
wastes and dies. ' Conge?iital syphilis] ' mal-nutrition ' is written on the 
death certificate of many syphilitic babies. 

On the other hand those who suffer in a less severe form and come under 
treatment early rapidly improve, gain flesh, and for a time at least all sym- 
ptoms disappear. While such cases may apparently be entirely cured yet, 
like the secondaries which occur in adults, the symptoms are very apt to re- 
appear, especially during the second and third year. This relapsed syphilis 
may make its appearance in children in whom the symptoms following birth 
are slight, and consequently what is really relapsed syphilis is very apt to be 
mistaken for acquired syphilis. This recurrence usually takes the form of 
condylomata or ulcerations about the anus or tongue, and chronic fissures 
about the corners of the mouth and nose ; various rashes may also be present. 

During the next few years the child may remain fairly well, but on the 
approach of puberty symptoms which correspond to the tertiaries of adults 
may make their appearance. Children at this period often bear the marks 
of past lesions, and if seen for the first time there may be no difficulty in 
recognising them as subjects of congenital syphilis, as their flattened noses 



Hereditary Syphilis 397 

and linear scars at the angles of the mouth, and typical pegged teeth, give 
them a characteristic appearance (fig. 79). They are apt at this time to 
suffer from periostitis, caries of bone, chronic ulcerations, ulcers of the 
mucous membrane covering the hard palate, which may involve the bone ; 
ulceration and destruction of the soft palate ; various affections of the eye, 
as iritis, keratitis, choroiditis ; various skin diseases, as ecthyma, rupia, &c. ; 
gummata in the superficial structures, and also in the liver and other internal 
organs. Deafness and partial dementia may be present, the latter accom- 







Fig. 79. — Congenital Syphilis, showing flattening of bridge of nose, scars around 
mouth, and keratitis. 

panied by syphilitic arteritis of the brain. In the worst cases the child may 
suffer for years from disease of one or other of the bones (figs. 80, 81, 82). 

Having sketched the course of the disease, we may now proceed to 
describe some of the phenomena presented by congenital syphilis more in 
detail. 

Skin. — Pemphigus is one of the most characteristic of the syphilitic rashes, 
and when present at birth may be taken as certain evidence of hereditary 
syphilis. The seat of the blebs in syphilitic pemphigus is the palms of the 
hands and soles of the feet, but they may be present also on the extremities 
and trunk ; their contents are purulent or sanguineous ; they may be suc- 
ceeded by deep ulcers. According to Roger non-specific pemphigus is rare 
before three years of age and most common after six years ; the blebs are 
rarely numerous, do not occur on the palms of the hands or soles of the 
feet, and contain serum rather than blood or pus. The prognosis is bad in 
syphilitic pemphigus if the infant is born with the rash ; as a rule, the later 



398 



General Diseases 



it appears, the better is the prognosis. The commonest rash in hereditary 
syphilis is a roseola, which may take the form of a bright-red diffuse rash 
with a sharply defined edge surrounding the genitals, with perhaps patches 
of similar redness about the body or face, or there may be roseolous spots 
or maculae about the body, with a more diffuse rash on the soles of the feet. 
Its colour is at first a vivid bright red ; in a few days it fades, becoming 
more of the tint of lean ham ; the affected part then desquamates, leaving 
the skin smooth, shiny, and dry. The rash may be visible for weeks, 
assuming in its later stages a coppery colour. Instead of the roseola, the 
rash may consist of papules of a bright red colour, which are confluent 
about the genitals and buttocks, but scattered irregularly over the body. The 
rashes most likely to be confounded with a syphilitic roseola are those so 
commonly present about the genitals of infants, especially those produced 

in dyspeptic children by the irrita- 
^~^~r^ tion of faeces and wet napkins. The 

difficulty of diagnosis is only likely 
to arise in the absence of a charac- 
teristic rash in other parts of the 
body, or of coryza. It is needless 
to say that a red rash with excoria- 
tions and signs of irritation about 
the anus and genitals may occur in 
both syphilitic and non-syphilitic 
children, and no rash in this situa- 
tion should be regarded as specific 
without confirmatory evidence else- 
where. Psoriasis, or scaly rashes, 
vesicles, pustules, and ecthyma, may 
occur in syphilis in infancy. Simple 
psoriasis rarely occurs before the 
third or fourth year, while syphilitic 
scaly rashes are not uncommon in 
early childhood, on the plantar and 
palmar surfaces, and on the face. 
Pustules followed by deep ulcera- 
tion are not uncommon in cachectic 
children apart from the effects of syphilis ; thus occasionally in chicken-pox 
the vesicles are succeeded by pustules or bullae, and a deep ulceration is 
produced. In making a diagnosis several points must be borne in mind : 
syphilitic rashes mostly affect the genitals, palmar and plantar surfaces, and 
face ; they are usually bright red at first, then dull red and more or less of 
a coppery hue ; they are followed by free desquamation, and they cause no 
itching. Different varieties may be associated together. 

Mucous patches and condylomata when present are of great diagnostic 
value ; they may occur at all ages, but are especially common in relapses in 
children of two or three years of age. Their common seat is around or by 
the side of the anus, vulva, fold of the groin, corners of the mouth, entrance 
to the nares— less commonly the folds of the neck. They form where there 
is some irritation, where a surface of skin is fretted by some discharge and 




Fig. 80. — Complete Destruction of the Nose, 
Upper Lip, and part of the Jaw in Congenital 
Syphilis, in a boy aged 10 years. 



Hereditary Syphilis 



399 



kept constantly moist. Mucous patches may be present on the side of the 
tongue and soft palate. 

Coryza is perhaps the most constant symptom present. The mucous 
membrane of the nose is swollen and congested, respiration is carried on 
with difficulty on account of the obstruction. The infant is very restless at 
night, waking at short intervals to get its breath. Later on a purulent dis- 
charge tinged with blood makes its appearance, which frets and irritates 
the skin in the neighbourhood, and 

ulcers and crusts form along the upper ^^-z-,. 

lip and side of the nose. Caries of the 
nasal bones may take place ; there 
may be a discharge of pus, which 
makes its appearance down the nose 
and at the corners of the eyes. 

Lesions of internal organs. — Parrot 
has pointed out that an ulceration due 
to syphilis occurs occasionally near 
the median line inside the lower 
lip ; serpiginous ulcers occur on the 
tongue ; inside the lips, near the cor- 
ners of the mouth, on the gums and 
soft palate ; they are mostly shallow, 
with a red and shiny base, surrounded 
by a raised, whitish, irregular border. 
Less often they are deeper and of a 
yellowish tinge. A peculiar desquama- 
tion of the tongue has been described. 
Deeply cut ulcers make their appear- 
ance on the hard palate in tertiary 
syphilis, the bone is quickly affected, 
and a communication with the nasal 
cavity established. A deep ulcer may 
form on the soft palate, and shortly a 
sharply cut hole be seen right through 
the velum palati. Laryngitis, mucous 
tubercles, and ulcerations along the 
edge and at the base of the epiglottis 
occur, but specific lesions of the 
larynx are less common in children 
than in adults. Specific lesions of 
the lungs are not common, though 
syphilitic infants frequently die of broncho-pneumonia. In the lungs of 
infants born dead, or dying soon after birth, gummata and fibroid indura- 
tions may be found, and a form of chronic pneumonia which has been 
described as white hepatisation by Virchow. Patches of white hepatisation 
may sometimes be found scattered through the unexpanded lungs of infants 
born dead, and the mediastinal glands'may also be enlarged and infiltrated in 
a similar way. The gummata are most often seen on the surface of the lung 
and are apt to soften in the centre (Parrot). The liver of newly born infants 




— Congenital Syphilis. Disease of bones 
of upper and lower extremities. 



400 



General Diseases 



may contain gummata : these may be of variable size, perhaps in some 
cases as large as a shilling on the surface, perhaps softening in the centre ; 
on section a diffuse infiltration may be seen. (See page 165.) 

The spleen is frequently enlarged and indurated, especially where cachexia 
is a marked symptom, as pointed out many years ago by Gee. It is generally 
simply indurated, but miliary gummata have been found. 

Syphilitic disease of the bones may occur both early and late in the dis- 
ease. Caries of the nasal bones may follow the coryza, leading to the falling 
in of the nose which is so common in syphilitic children ; Or the bones may 
be completely destroyed. Caries of the hard palate and turbinated bones, 
as well as of the long bones, more especially the tibia, may occur. In the 
latter bone caries may follow periosteal nodes ; or thickening of the bones 
may be met with. Apart from caries a peculiar inflammation termed 





Fig. 82. — Swelling of lower ends of Tibia and Fibula, and also Radius and Ulna, from a 
syphilitic infant of four months old. The swelling lies at and above the line of junction 
between the epiphyses and shafts. (Compare with Rickety Enlargement, fig. 62.) 



syphilitic epiphysitis is apt to occur near the epiphyses in the long bones, 
especially at the lower ends of the humerus, femur, radius, and tibia in infants 
who are suffering severely from hereditary syphilis. The mother notices that 
the infant does not move an arm or leg so freely as the other, and it screams 
as if in acute pain if the limb is handled or moved suddenly. An examina- 
tion of the end of the humerus, if the arm is affected, may show it to be swollen 
and tender, and the limb hangs useless, so that the term ' pseudo-paralysis ' 
has been applied. (See fig. 82.) The epiphyses of several of the long bones 
perhaps show an enlargement where they join the shafts of the bones, and 
sometimes a slight effusion is present in the joint. More rarely the pha- 
langes of the fingers are also swollen. The nature of this lesion has been 
studied with great care by Wegner, Parrot, Taylor, and Kassowitz. Separa- 
tion of the epiphysis from the shaft and the formation of an abscess may take 
place, though in this country the latter accident is rare. Lesions in the 



Hereditary Syphilis 401 

cranial bones have been described by Wegner and Parrot ; the former has 
found gummatous periostitis of the dura mater beneath the parietal bone, a 
possibility to be borne in mind when epileptiform attacks occur in syphilitic 
children ; the latter has laid stress on the cranio-tabes found in syphilitic 
children and also on the overgrowth of bone, forming bosses or osteophytes, 
on the surface of the frontal and parietal bones. To what extent either of 
these lesions is directly due to the syphilitic poison is uncertain ; certainly 
cranio-tabes occurs in association with rickets, and is also seen in wasted 
infants in whom evidence of syphilis is wanting. ( Vide chapter on DISEASES 
of Bones.) 

The osteophytic growths have been noted both in infants and older chil- 
dren ; they consist of small rounded elevations of bone \ inch to 1 inch in dia- 
meter, most commonly situated near the longitudinal or fronto-parietal sutures, 
and can be felt by passing the hand over the infant's scalp. In some cases 
there is an excessive formation of bone at the frontal and parietal eminences^ 
with furrows or depressions along the sagittal and fronto-parietal sutures, 
thus making a cross, as it were, on the vertex : the skull is then said to be 
natiform. This condition also occurs in rickets. 

The teeth of the second or permanent set are often misshapen and 
peculiar. The most characteristic changes are seen in the central incisors 
of the upper jaw ; they are more or less dwarfed, peg-shaped — i.e. they taper 
inferiorly — slant towards each other, and have a central notch in their cutting 
edge ; the other incisors may be more or less dwarfed and notched. 

Affections of the eyes are most common about puberty, the commonest 
being interstitial keratitis, iritis, and choroiditis. The two former usually 
occur together, though they may occur singly. The first symptom noticed 
is watering and irritation of the corneal conjunctiva, then a steamy appear- 
ance or cloudiness of a portion of the cornea : this is followed by the forma- 
tion of minute blood-vessels on the surface of the cornea, giving the steamy 
patches in some cases a reddish or salmon-coloured tinge. These patches 
join the sclerotic, are generally symmetrical, and are apt to relapse. Dis- 
seminated choroiditis may occur : in such cases small patches of atrophy of 
the choroid, of a white or grey colour, are generally seen scattered about 
the fundus of both eyes ; pigmentation is frequently present ; there is often 
the remains of a past retinitis and neuritis. 

Brain. — Gummata are rare in the brains of children ; they have been 
observed by Henoch in a child two years of age on the surface of both cere- 
brum and cerebellum, and T. Barlow has described multiple syphilomas at 
the base of the brain, with thickening of the arteries. Chronic meningo- 
encephalitis, giving rise to idiocy, may occur, as may also chronic hydro- 
cephalus (see pp. 418 and 423). 

Diagnosis. — This is often difficult and sometimes remains uncertain. In 
the infant care must be taken not to mistake, as students are very apt to do, 
an erythema about the genitals, which has its origin in the irritation caused by 
fouled napkins, for a specific rash, or, on the other hand, hastily to assume 
that an infant is Jiot syphilitic because there is a certain amount of excoria- 
tion and rawness about the anus caused by the fretting of the wet napkins. 
No rash can be taken as characteristic which is not present in other places 
as well as about the genitals, out of reach of the irritating effect of the 

D D 



402 General Diseases 

urine or feces. Coryza in an infant a few weeks old is exceedingly suspicious, 
especially in the absence of signs of catarrh of the bronchial tubes or larynx, 
and if it remains chronic is probably syphilitic, even though a rash may never 
be present. Tenderness and swelling of the epiphyses of the long bones 
in an infant are strong evidences of syphilis ; we attach no importance to 
cranio-tabes, or bosses on the cranial bones, or the natiform skull, as they 
may be undoubtedly present in rickets and perhaps other conditions. 
Syphilitic epiphysitis can hardly be mistaken for the enlargement of the 
epiphyses present in rickets. In syphilis the swelling is situated between 
the epiphysial line and the shaft (see fig. 82), while in rickets the swelling 
involves the epiphysis itself (see fig. 62). Syphilitic thickening occurs in 
infants of six weeks to three months old, while the rickety enlargement is 
rarely seen before six months of age, and more commonly at a year or 
eighteen months of age. 

Treatment. — In all cases where the parents are known to have suffered 
from syphilis, or some older child has been affected, antisyphilitic treatment 
must be commenced without waiting for the development of symptoms in 
the hopes of mitigating the disease or of preventing its development. The 
anti-syphilitic treatment of the parents who have had syphilitic children forms 
an important part of prophylactic management and may prevent the taint 
from being transmitted from the mother to the foetus. In the treatment of 
infantile syphilis it should be borne in mind that the effects of the poison 
are apt to impair the functions of almost every organ in the body, and in the 
worse cases there is a marked tendency in the direction of anaemia and 
gastro-intestinal atrophy. The dietetics of the syphilitic infant require the 
most careful attention, especially if it has to be artificially fed, as such 
infants are exceedingly likely to suffer from aggravated dyspepsia and 
mal-nutrition. It should, if possible, be suckled by its mother ; if this is im- 
possible it must be artificially fed, as a wet-nurse is not permissible on 
account of the danger of her becoming inoculated by the nasal or other 
discharges from the infant. As soon as the diagnosis is made or the disease 
suspected, mercury must be given in some form or other. The usual plan 
is to give mercury and chalk-powder in half-grain doses twice a day, this 
form of mercury being used on account of its mildness and its being less 
likely to disturb the bowels than calomel. If any looseness of the bowels 
follows its administration, it may be combined with a grain of chalk and 
opium powder or the compound cinnamon powder. In a few weeks the dose 
may be increased from half a grain to a grain ; this treatment should be con- 
tinued as long as any of the special symptoms are present, or for some six 
weeks or two months, when the mercury may be omitted for a fortnight or so 
and the syrup of iodide of iron in five to ten drop doses may be substituted. 
If there is much cachexia or mal-nutrition, a few drops of cod-liver oil may 
be added. Instead of the mercury and chalk some prefer to give calomel 
in one-sixth to one-half grain doses combined with half a grain of saccharated 
carbonate of iron. In Vienna a combination of mercury and tannic acid is 
used (hydrarg. tannicum oxydulatum) when other mercury salts disturb the 
bowels ; the dose is the same as calomel. In obstinate cases, especially 
where the skin eruptions are chronic, sublimate baths as recommended by 
Baginsky may be used with good effect. A bath may be taken daily in which 



Hereditary Syphilis 403 

ten grains of corrosive sublimate are dissolved ; the child should remain in 
the bath some five minutes, care being taken that none of the water gets into 
its mouth. The baths are more cleanly than and preferable to the inunction 
of blue ointment, and act with greater certainty. During the time the infant 
is taking mercury the gums should be carefully watched, and any signs of 
stomatitis or sponginess about them should be the signal for at once dis- 
continuing all forms of mercury. 1 The coryza should be treated, when the 
obstruction or secretion is excessive, by injections of weak solutions of nitrate 
of silver (gr. i ad §i) or boracic acid : the dried secretion should be removed, 
and any soreness and excoriation about the nares or lips should be smeared 
with yellow oxide of mercury ointment, which may be applied on a small 
cameFs-hair brush. Boracic acid maybe applied locally as a dusting powder 
to the rash about the genitals or elsewhere. During the relapses mercury 
should be given in some form or other, and the mucous patches and con- 
dylomata which so frequently accompany relapsed syphilis should be fre- 
quently dusted with finely powdered calomel. In the later stages, during the 
tertiary symptoms the solution of bichloride of mercury in doses of half a 
drachm to a drachm, combined with iodide of potassium, should be given 
and continued for many months, when the syrup of iodide of iron may be 
substituted. Tertiary syphilis is apt to be very chronic, the ulcerations of 
skin and caries of bone and corneal affections remaining for months nearly 
stationary, and quickly relapsing when treatment is suspended. Iodoform 
and the yellow oxide of mercury ointments are the most useful local appli- 
cations for the skin and conjunctiva, while a solution of nitrate of silver 
(gr. x ad 5 i) may be used as an application to the specific ulcerations of 
the mouth and palate. During the treatment of syphilis, both in infancy and 
later childhood, the most generous diet which can be digested must be pre- 
scribed. Abundance of fresh air and, change must be insisted on, and the 
most scrupulous care taken to promote cleanliness and to prevent any non- 
syphilitic individual from becoming infected by any discharges from the 
patient. 

The mercurial treatment should be resumed after a fortnight's or three 
weeks' interval, even if all the symptoms have disappeared, and it should be 
continued for at least six months. 

In some cases of late congenital syphilis healing of ulcers or bone 
lesions will only be procured by the use of very large doses of iodide of 
potassium, either alone, or, better still, in combination with mercury. We 
have had to order twenty-grain doses of the iodide three times daily for a 
boy of about twelve before any material improvement was effected. 

1 It is, however, very rare for salivation to occur in children. 



D D 2 



404 



CHAPTER XXI. 

DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

Introduction. — The student who has gained his knowledge of the 
diseases of the nervous system entirely among adults, will be certain to find, 
when he comes to see the same class of diseases among children, that the 
difficulties of diagnosis are much greater in the latter, and that some diseases 
which are rarely met with among adults are common enough among children. 
This is no doubt true of disease in children generally, but it is especially 
true of the nervous system. He will find very early in his career that it is 
often exceedingly difficult to estimate the amount of pain from which a child 
or infant suffers. An infant or peevish child will cry from fear, discomfort, 
or bad temper just as loudly as from the severest pain, and it may be quite 
impossible to localise the seat of pain or, indeed, to find out what it is crying 
for. There may be a general hyperesthesia present, but it will be mostly 
very unsafe to draw any conclusions from this symptom alone as to the 
presence of organic disease, though it may be borne in mind that hyper- 
esthesia is frequently present in the early stages of meningitis. The infant 
may perhaps not use one of its limbs, and we may at first think that it is 
paralysed, but a closer examination may disclose the fact that there is some 
epiphysitis or periosteal tenderness which has prevented the child from 
using the limb. On account of the readiness with which reflex disturbances 
are evoked in the young, we often find ourselves in difficulties and in error. 
Thus the infant has one-sided convulsions ; are these due to a serious lesion 
on the opposite side of the brain, or to an intestinal catarrh or colic ? How 
often the differential diagnosis between gastric and cerebral vomiting in 
infants is difficult and for a time impossible ! The nervous system of the 
young is easily upset by a high degree of fever or a poisoned condition of 
blood, and from this cause we may have drowsiness, retraction of the head, 
and convulsions — symptoms which naturally suggest cerebral disease such as 
meningitis. 

Among the diseases which are much commoner in the young than in the 
old, meningitis stands pre-eminent, and assumes in consequence a position 
of great importance. It occurs alike in apparently healthy and robust 
infants and children and in those whose history and symptoms suggest tuber- 
culosis in some of its phases. Cerebral haemorrhage from a ruptured artery 
is practically unknown in the young, but an extensive bleeding may take 
place on the surface of the brain from over-distended veins or capillaries, and 
give rise perhaps to a lifelong hemiplegia. Convulsive disorders — the 



Cerebral Congestion — Tubercular Meningitis 405 

spasms being- local or general — are vastly more frequent during the first two 
or three years of life than at any other period, and their results much more 
serious. The infant may die in a convulsion from spasm of the glottis, or a 
meningeal haemorrhage may take place, and a serious injury to the brain 
may be thus caused. Among other diseases which are of greater frequency in 
early than in later life, acute atrophic paralysis and chorea may be mentioned. 

Clinical Examination. — The shape and size of the skull are of impor- 
tance as giving some indication of the size and configuration of the brain. 
The condition of the skull may be investigated by inspection, palpation, and 
mensuration ; neither auscultation nor percussion yields any indications of 
much practical importance. By inspection a general idea may be obtained 
of the shape of the head, whether large (macrocephalic), small (micro- 
cephalic), asymmetrical, long (dolichocephalic, as in the negro), round 
(brachycephalic, as in the Mongols), hydrocephalic, or square, as in rickets. 
By means of palpation the condition of the fontanelles can be ascertained, 
whether bulging, as in hydrocephalus ; or depressed, as in anaemia ; or widely 
open for the child's age, as in rickets. The edges of the bones may be felt 
to ascertain if they are thickened ; the parietal or frontal eminences may be 
unduly prominent, or various bosses may be present, as pointed out by 
Parrot. Undue thinness of the skull, more especially of the occipital, may 
be detected by firm pressure with the fingers, the bone being felt to bend or 
yield beneath the fingers. By means of mensuration, using calipers and a 
thin flexible piece of lead wire, a tracing of the outline of the skull, both 
longitudinally and transversely, may be made, and a graphic record, thus 
made, kept. In this way the frontal or occipital regions may be shown to 
be smaller than normal, or one parietal region may be flatter than the other, 
as in some cases of deficient development or injury at birth. 

Cerebral Congestion. — A passive congestion of the venous system 
inside the skull takes place whenever respiration ceases or is impeded, in 
consequence of an over-filling and distention of the right side of the heart. 
This is markedly so during a convulsion and in acute general bronchitis. 
Does an acute active congestion take place without passing on into an acute 
meningitis ? This question is difficult to answer. Certainly cases occur 
which suggest this. Thus we have seen school children, both boys and 
girls, who have been working hard at examinations, suffer from headache, 
vomiting, prostration, rigidity of the muscles of the neck, squint — symptoms 
which suggest cerebral irritation or an early stage of meningitis — recover 
entirely, after a few days' rest in bed, under the influence of bromides. We 
must not, however, forget that any symptoms of cerebral irritation in the 
young are extremely suggestive of a miliary tuberculosis of the arteries of 
the brain, which may be followed at any time by the symptoms of meningitis. 

Tubercular Meningitis. — In tubercular meningitis there is an inflam- 
mation of the pia mater, set up by the presence of tubercles on the vessels, 
more especially at the base of the brain. While tubercles and meningitis 
are very commonly found associated together post mortem^ it must be borne 
in mind that a simple or non-tubercular meningitis is not uncommon, and al so 
that tubercles may be present on the vessels without any meningitis, though 
the probabilities are great that if tubercles are present they will sooner or 
later light up inflammation of the meninges. Another point must also be 



406 Diseases of the Nervous System 

remembered : that a meningitis so called is in reality a meningo-encephalitis ; 
the vessels which penetrate the grey matter of the convolutions are certain 
to join in the inflammation. 

Tubercular meningitis is less common in children under the age of one 
year than in older children ; simple or purulent meningitis is perhaps rela- 
tively more common at this period, though the tubercular form certainly 
does occur, but on account of the difficulty of distinguishing between simple 
and tubercular meningitis in infants and young children we are rarely justi- 
fied in making a differential diagnosis in the absence of a post-mortem. 
Between the age of one year and the commencement of puberty tubercular 
meningitis is a common disease. 

It rarely happens that the pia mater is the first part of the body to be- 
come the seat of tubercle ; a tubercular meningitis is in the large majority 
of cases preceded or at least acccompanied by grey granulations or caseating 
tubercle in some other part of the body. A tubercular meningitis is often 
the closing act of a general tubercular process ; it may occur early or late,, 
and, when once established, quickly brings the end. The ftost-mortem evi- 
dence of this is clear and decisive, for in the bodies of those dying with 
tubercular meningitis grey granulations or caseating tubercle will almost 
certainly be found in the lungs, bronchial glands, brain, spleen, or other 
organs. Clinically the same thing is also evident : children suffering from 
hip-joint disease, spinal caries, caseating cervical glands, or chronic tuber- 
cular peritonitis, are not infrequently cut off by an intercurrent attack of 
tubercular meningitis, or the latter follows whooping cough, measles, or 
pneumonia. In the large majority of cases there is a definite history of ill- 
health before the actual brain symptoms supervene. An exception to this 
is however, seen in the case of infants and children under two years of age, 
in whom occasionally the attacks are sudden, supervening in the midst of 
apparent health. 

What determines the growth of tubercle on the pia mater and the subse- 
quent meningitis ? No certain answer can be given to this question. It is- 
easy, and perhaps natural enough, to attribute it to over-excitement of the 
brain, or excessive brain-work ; and possibly this may be so in some cases 
in tubercular children, who have been badly fed and subjected to unfavour- 
able life-conditions, while their brains are being driven at the highest pressure ; 
but such cases must be exceptional. It must be borne in mind that tuber- 
cular meningitis attacks children a few months old and children in hospital,, 
and under conditions in which it is impossible that over-brain- work can have 
had anything to do with the supervention of the meningitis. We cannot say 
why the tubercular process should in one case attack the brain and in other 
cases the peritoneum, pleura, or lungs. 

Symptoms and Course. Premonitory. — The onset is insidious and the 
early symptoms are ill-defined, being those of general malaise rather than 
of actual disease. In most cases there is a history of ill-health for several 
months, perhaps succeeding an attack of measles or whooping cough, during 
which time the child has wasted or lost flesh and become flabby. There 
may have been cough, dyspepsia, constipation, loss of appetite, otitis, en- 
largement of glands, or more or less feverishness, especially at night ; such 
symptoms are not in any way distinctive and are often the result of a chronic 



Tubercular Meningitis 407 

intestinal or gastric catarrh : yet, if there is a family history which suggests 
tubercle, they necessarily excite suspicion. In some cases definite brain 
symptoms precede by many weeks the actual attack of meningitis, and 
then perhaps pass away or remit for a while. Among these may be men- 
tioned headache, squint, a staggering gait, an unusual tendency to fall, a 
temporary loss of control over the sphincters. The late Dr. Oxley records a 
case in which the boy's disposition entirely changed, and he showed a constant 
tendency to bite on the least provocation ; often there is extreme irritability, 
which is all the more suspicious if it occurs in a good-tempered child. Such 
symptoms are possibly due to the irritation caused by the presence of tubercle 
on the vessels or in the brain, # which may perhaps precede for some time the 
attack of meningitis ; or it is quite conceivable that a temporary congestion 
or even a patch of meningitis may be present. 

It is impossible during the premonitory stage to do more than suspect 
the onset of tubercular meningitis or tuberculosis in some form or other ; in 
a large number of such suspected cases recovery gradually takes place with- 
out any definite diagnosis having been arrived at ; in these cases, however, 
we are hardly ever warranted in assuming that our treatment has been the 
means of warding off an attack, and we may be left in ignorance as to its nature. 
In some cases, especially in infants, there are no preliminary symptoms : the 
infant, while in apparent health, begins to vomit and gradually becomes 
comatose, or almost the first symptom which attracts attention may be a 
hemiplegia. In such cases a simple meningitis is suspected, but the post- 
mortem may show it to be tubercular. 

The premonitory symptoms gradually pass into the first of the three 
stages into which the attacks are usually divided — namely, the stage of excite- 
ment. At the commencement of this stage the symptoms may be chiefly 
gastric, or they may be definitely cerebral from the first. In the former 
case the most prominent, and indeed sometimes for several days the only 
symptom, is vomiting. This may begin after a meal and be attributed to 
some improper food, but it continues in spite of the most careful dieting, is 
usually accompanied by a clean tongue, and, while aggravated by food, often 
recurs, accompanied by much retching and nausea, when the stomach is empty. 
Too much stress must not be laid on the character of the vomiting, and 
perhaps for a few days a doubt may be entertained as to its true nature, 
whether due to cerebral disease or gastric irritation. The vomiting of menin- 
gitis is usually erratic, coming and going without any apparent cause. At 
this stage the child may be perfectly intelligent, and no direct cerebral sym- 
ptoms may be present. Constipation is usually present : the abdomen, which 
is at first rounded, becomes flabby, and later retracted, from the contraction 
of the intestinal walls which takes place. Before long other symptoms, more 
directly pointing to the head, become developed. There are headache, giddi- 
ness, great irritability, intolerance of light and noise. The child likes to be 
nursed by its mother, lies on her lap, and resists the interference of others. 
Its temper has completely changed ; it is feverish and extremely irritable. 

The symptoms may be more definitely cerebral from the first, and the 
vomiting may not be a prominent symptom. The child complains of head- 
ache, which is often intense ; there is giddiness and staggering gait ; its 
sleep is disturbed by dreams, or it wakes up with a shrill cry of distress, 



408 Diseases of the Nervous System 

often of a piercing character, and known as the 'hydrocephalic cry. The 
child neglects its toys, preferring to lie quiet and undisturbed. The pulse is 
usually quickened, the temperature raised a degree or two at night, and the 
tongue becomes coated with' fur, which has often a brown or yellowish tinge. 
Remissions are apt to occur, and for a while perhaps the little patient is 
again himself, bright and chatty, and ready for his toys, but to the intense 
disappointment of the friends the old symptoms return with greater intensity. 
So far the symptoms have been those of cerebral excitement, caused in all 
probability by the inflammatory congestion of the pia mater which is present ; 
following this, comes the stage in which effusion is taking place and' the 
brain functions become more and more effacedg 

The seco?id stage, often called the stage of transition, is marked by the 
commencement of drowsiness. The child becomes more and more dull and 
heavy ; it is no longer found on its mother's lap, but in bed, in a half-drowsy 
state. It likes to lie quiet, does not wish to be disturbed, and if roused it 
answers in a snappish manner and then curls up again and is off to sleep. 
The vomiting now is usually less urgent or perhaps ceases ; the abdomen is 
retracted, the bowels confined. The pulse is usually slower than in the 
earlier stages, and is frequently irregular and hesitating. Commencing optic 
neuritis may be observed, but the child in this stage will often keep its 
eyes spasmodically closed, so that observations on the discs are rendered 
difficult. The edges of both discs appear blurred and indistinct, from the 
presence of swelling ; the veins become distended and tortuous, but the 
changes are never so marked as they are when a cerebral tumour is present. 
The intensely congested and swollen discs, with various minute haemorrhages 
so often seen in other forms of cerebral disease, never occur, possibly because 
there is not sufficient time for these extreme changes to develop. Miliary 
tubercles may be present in the choroid, but these — as far, at least, as our 
experience goes — are only present in cases of general miliary tuberculosis. 
Various other phenomena are apt to supervene, such as convulsions, muscular 
twitchings, paralyses, and spastic contraction of the muscles of the neck and 
back, less often of the limbs. The convulsions may be general and bring 
about a fatal result, especially in young children. The paralyses may involve 
the muscles of the eye, face, or limbs of one side. Retraction of the head 
is very common : it is sometimes so extreme that the back of the head comes 
in contact with the spine ; the back is frequently arched. There is often a 
spasmodic contraction of the masseters, so that the child grinds its teeth, 
making a peculiar and unpleasant grating sound. There is apt to be incon- 
tinence of the urine and faeces. As the child becomes more and more 
drowsy the respirations become altered in character, approaching the 
* Cheyne-Stokes' type — i.e. the respiratory movements become shallower and 
shorter, until they cease ; then a distinct pause in the respirations takes place, 
to be followed by a deep, sighing inspiration, which is again followed by a 
series of shallow respiratory movements, or the pause is followed first by 
shallow then by deeper respirations, as in fig. 83. 

From a condition of drowsiness the child passes into the third stage, or 
stage of coma. It can no longer be roused or recognise its friends ; the con- 
junctivae become insensible, the pupils dilated and sluggish, and now the 
optic discs can be examined without difficulty. The muscles of the limbs 



Tubercular Meningitis 409 

and abdomen are now weak, flabby, and toneless. The tongue is now coated 
with a thick brown fur, and sordes appear on the teeth and black crusts on 
the lips. The skin is harsh and dry, and the wasting becomes extreme. 
Excessive secretion takes place from the conjunctivae, so that the eyes 
become smeared with mucus or pus. The pulse becomes weak and rapid. 
The coma is usually profound, so that the child cannot be roused even for a 
moment, but usually the power of swallowing is retained to the last. In this 
miserable condition the patient lasts for many days, perhaps a week, and 
even after it appears moribund slight improvement may take place. The 
total duration of the disease is usually about three weeks, but, especially in 
young children, death may take place much sooner. 

The temperature throughout the course is most uncertain, but always of 
an irregular, intermittent type, sometimes varying three or four degrees during 
the twenty-four hours ; at other times the flights are much less marked. The 
temperature is of course modified if there is an extensive tubercular process 
in progress in the lungs and other parts. The paralyses which are apt to 
occur are seldom marked, often only temporary, being rather paresis than 
paralysis : sometimes, however, when extensive softening takes place in one 
hemisphere from thrombosis of some large vessel, the paralysis of an arm, 



'WMNWW^r- 



Fig. 83. — Tracing from a case of Meningitis, showing ' Cheyne-Stokes' respiration. 
(After Landois and Stirling.) 

or arm and leg, may be complete. Anaesthesia is rarely, if ever, present ; 
hyperesthesia is not uncommon in the early stages, but more as a part 
of a general irritability than anything else. 

Whilst in typical attacks the various stages are fairly well marked, cases 
are frequently met with which are extremely irregular, where the typical 
symptoms are absent, and no diagnosis is made until the child is comatose 
and moribund. In such cases the symptoms may be indefinite for a week 
or two, then a marked improvement takes place, which gives hopes that our 
diagnosis of meningitis is incorrect, when suddenly convulsions and coma 
supervene and death speedily occurs. The fact that a remission of many 
of the symptoms may take place, the child being decidedly improved for 
a while, must be constantly borne in mind. In other cases the course is 
short and sharp, in this respect resembling some cases of simple meningitis. 
Thus, for instance, a boy of eight years, who came of a tubercular family, 
attended at school till April 23, though for the last few days he had not felt 
well. He then stayed at home on account of cough and weakness ; he began 
to vomit on May 3 ; the next day he became drowsy, gradually passing into 
•coma, and died on May 8. At the post-mortem miliary tubercles, with 



4io Diseases of the Nervous System 

some pneumonia, were present in the lungs and in the abdominal organs ; 
there was also tubercular meningitis, with much fluid in the lateral ventricles 
and subarachnoid space. 

In infants of six months and under the symptoms are often the reverse 
of characteristic ; the infant perhaps vomits food, but in other ways appears 
quite well, and the vomiting is not unnaturally looked upon as due to some 
gastric irritation ; then perhaps some rigidity about the muscles of the neck 
and slight retraction of the head are noticed, and the infant gradually passes 
into a condition of drowsiness and coma. Muscular twitchings of the facial 
muscles or frequent clonic spasms of the muscles of a limb or arm may be 
present. In other cases the infant appears to be ' teething,' there is some 
slight fever and restlessness, but nothing to indicate cerebral disturbance ; 
then suddenly convulsions come on, followed by paralysis of an arm and leg, 
and perhaps coma. The state of the fontanelle is often a help in diagnosis 
in doubtful cases, as is also the rigidity of the muscles of the neck and con- 
sequent retraction of the head. The fontanelle is full and bulging, and in 
the later stages the veins on the forehead may be more prominent than usual, 
and the head may actually enlarge from the presence of an excess of fluid 
in the lateral ventricles. The retraction of the head is not absolutely 
diagnostic, it occurs in cases of chronic meningitis, and in rare cases it 
appears to be the result of reflex irritation from the pulmonary and ab- 
dominal viscera. Hutton has noted it in a case of commencing pneumonia 
in an infant. 

Simple Meningitis. — Simple meningitis is not so common a disease as 
tubercular, though it doubtless is more common than is usually thought, as 
there is little doubt that it is often mistaken for the tubercular variety ; indeed, 
it may be quite impossible to distinguish one from the other during life. It 
is perhaps most common during the first and second year, though it is by 
no means confined to these periods. It may be idiopathic, arising without 
any discoverable cause ; there is, however, often a history of a fall or blow 
on the head, and it is also apt to supervene during an attack of pneumonia, 
pyaemia, or typhoid fever, or to arise from an otitis or from carious bone in 
other positions. It appears to occur in hot weather, especially after exposure 
to the sun. It is said also to occur in the course of rheumatism arid 
erysipelas. We have once seen it in scarlet fever, death taking place on the 
twenty-first day, but unfortunately there was no post-?nortem, and, as the 
girl had also discharge from both ears, it was possibly due to an extension 
of the inflammation from the tympanum to the membranes of the brain. It 
occurs both sporadically and also in epidemics, in connection with menin- 
gitis of the cord or cerebro-spinal meningitis. Syphilis is a cause of menin- 
gitis, but this is rarely acute ; it gives rise to a chronic basal meningitis, or 
a local meningitis in the neighbourhood of a gumma. 

Symptoms. — It is unnecessary to discuss the symptoms of simple menin- 
gitis in detail, inasmuch as they closely resemble those of the tubercular 
variety ; it will be more useful to point out the typical forms in which menin- 
gitis occurs. 

Acute Form. — In some cases, both in infants and older children, the 
attack may run a very acute course, death from convulsions taking place in 
two or three days. The acute meningitis in some of these cases is asso- 






Simple Meningitis 41 r 

dated with a pleuropneumonia or peritonitis. As an instance of rapid 
death from what was probably an acute meningitis, though the post-mortem 
examination showed no effused lymph, the following case may be taken as 
an example : — 

Case. — Beatrice B. , aged 5J years, was a healthy child till six months ago, when she 
was taken with pain in the head, fever, and vomiting, but recovered in a day or two. 
Two days before admission, when playing in the street, she ran in, complaining of pain 
in the head, and vomited ; she continued to vomit constantly for two days ; she had a fit 
shortly before admission. There had been no injury to the head ; the weather was hot at 
the time (August) On admission she looked ill, her face having an expression of anxiety : 
two hours after admission she was convulsed and died. Her temperature was not taken. 
At the post-mortem all the organs were healthy, the capillaries of the brain were intensely 
injected, and there was much clear fluid in the lateral ventricles ; the arachnoid membrane 
was somewhat opaque. 

In this case microscopical examination showed that the capillaries of the 
meninges and grey matter of the brain were distended and gorged with 
blood, and, though it cannot be certainly assumed that this congestion was 
primary and inflammatory, there is a strong probability that the case was 
one of acute inflammatory congestion of the brain and membranes. Similar 
cases of rapid death from acute hyperemia of the brain after exposure to a 
hot sun are recorded by Lewis Smith and Soltman. Henoch mentions a 
similar case in a girl of five years, the attack beginning in the same way, 
with headache and vomiting, death taking place within forty-eight hours, 
preceded by convulsions and coma. At the post-mortem a purulent exuda- 
tion was present on the convexity and at the base of the brain. 

In another case with an acute course, admitted to hospital under Dr. Hutton, the child, 
a girl of three and a quarter years, was seized with vomiting and purging (in August) ; 
the next day, when admitted, she was in a semi-collapsed condition. A few hours after- 
wards she lapsed into unconsciousness. She was delirious, and there were muscular 
twitchings. Death took place rather suddenly at the end of the second day of the illness. 
At the -post-mortem the pia mater was intensely congested, the arachnoid opaque, the 
Sylvian fissures were glued together with lymph, there were no tubercles ; there were 
patches of congestion in the intestines and commencing pneumonia of the base of the 
right lung. 

These extremely acute cases are exceptional, and a doubt may often 
surround the diagnosis, as acute meningitis in the early stages may with 
difficulty be distinguished from the onset of some zymotic disease, as scarlet 
fever or typhus, or perhaps more likely of pneumonia ; and if the course 
terminates early in a convulsion it may be impossible even at the post- 
mortem to say with certainty what has been the exact nature of the case. 
Death from a convulsion, accompanied by spasm of the glottis, gives rise to 
a mechanical engorgement of both lungs and brain, and caution is required 
in positively asserting that an early meningitis or pneumonia is present. 

In the majority of cases acute meningitis runs a course of a week or ten 
days, the symptoms resembling those described under tubercular meningitis. 
There may be a history of an injury, or of a past otitis, or of exposure to the 
sun, or possibly of excessive brain-work. The early symptoms are those 
of intense headache, with injection of the conjunctivae, vomiting, delirium, 
strabismus, and often high fever, perhaps as high as 103 to 105 . Later, 



412 Diseases of the Nervous System 

the pulse becomes slow and hesitating, the abdomen is retracted, the cer- 
vical muscles are rigid, and Cheyne-Stokes respiration, coma, and various 
paralyses ensue. At the post-mortem a more or less intense, perhaps puru- 
lent, meningitis is found affecting the convexity and base of the brain. 

Subacute Form. — In other cases the symptoms are less intense and the 
course longer. Infants are often the sufferers in these cases. The menin- 
gitis may be secondary, coming on in the course of other diseases, as, for 
instance, broncho-pneumonia ; instead of the infant improving, as was ex- 
pected, cerebral symptoms, such as vomiting, drowsiness, retraction of the 
abdomen, and cervical opisthotonos, make their appearance. The infant may- 
remain for weeks in a semi-comatose condition, being able to swallow, and at 
times perhaps appearing sensible and recognising those about it ; it gradually 
wastes, the cervical opisthotonos becomes extreme, possibly the legs draw 
up, the head enlarges, bed-sores form, and the child dies convulsed. At 
the post-mortem the base of the brain, including the pons and cerebellum, 
is glued to the bone by organising lymph, the lateral ventricles are intensely 
distended, the choroid plexus dilated and covered with lymph, and possibly 
the aqueduct of Sylvius is occluded. In such cases the possibility of the 
meningitis being due to syphilis must be borne in mind. A subacute menin- 
gitis may occur in older children, and recovery from what are apparently 
such attacks takes place. Thus in a case of our own — that of a boy who died 
suddenly in apparent health, and on whom a coroner's inquest was held — -an 
acute hydrocephalus was present, with some adhesions between the brain 
and the skull, apparently the remains of a meningitis from which there was 
a history of the boy having suffered some months before. 

As an example of a simple subacute meningitis following an injury, the 
following case of Dr. Hutton's may be referred to : — 

Case. — Basal Meningitis, Hydivcephalus. — William C, aged 8 years, fell into a 
cellar, striking the back of his head, some three months before admission. He vomited 
off and on for a day or two, but did not lie up; he suffered from pain in the back of his 
head almost constantly after the fall. He was admitted with squint, and pupils of unequal 
size ; he had convulsions, optic neuritis, and lapsed into a semi-comatose state with 
Cheyne-Stokes respiration. He died twenty-four days after admission. At the post-?nortem 
the dura mater was thickened and congested, there was much lymph at the base and 
between the hemispheres, and also between the latter and the cerebellum ; the lateral 
ventricles were much dilated and distended with serum. There were no tubercles any- 
where. 

The following case illustrates the association of subacute meningitis and 
hydrocephalus with pneumonia : — 

B. V. R. , aged 5 years, was always a healthy girl till seven weeks before admission, 
when she had an attack of feverishness and vomiting ; she has vomited more or less ever 
since ; she has also been losing flesh. On admission she was drowsy and irritable, 
screaming when disturbed with a shrill cry; the head was thrown back, the neck retracted ; 
there was no optic neuritis. A few days after she had two fits. She continued to vomit 
at frequent intervals. There was much rigidity of the muscles of the neck, with the head 
thrown back ; the hands and arms remained normal, while the hips and knees were flexed 
and the abdomen retracted. Later she suffered from double pneumonia at the bases, she 
wasted more and more, gradually became unconscious, and died ten or eleven weeks from 
the commencement of her illness. An examination of the brain showed that the Sylvian 
fissures were matted together with fibroid adhesions ; similar adhesions were present in 



Cerebrospinal Meningitis 413 

the interpeduncular space and surrounding the third and fourth nerves ; fibroid adhesions 
were also present on the upper surface of the cerebellum. The lateral ventricles were 
much dilated and distended with fluid ; there has also been an inflammatory condition of 
their lining membrane, with exudation of fibrin. There was no tubercle anywhere ; there 
was a double pneumonia becoming caseous. 

Cerebro-spinal Meningitis. — Cases in which an inflammation of the 
meninges of the cord is associated with meningitis occur both sporadically 
and in epidemics. Sporadic cases are not uncommon, especially in infants ; 
epidemics are rare in this country, but limited outbreaks have occurred in 
Dublin and Glasgow. The symptoms of cerebro-spinal meningitis in infants 
closely resemble those of simple meningitis, but usually there is more marked 
rigidity of the cervical muscles and muscles of the spine, the legs may be 
rigid and drawn up, and there maybe more or less rigidity about the muscles 
of the arm and forearm. Sometimes there is opisthotonos resembling tetanus. 
In older children pain in the back and limbs may be complained of, being 
more especially referred to the back of the neck or sacrum ; sharp shooting 
pains may be complained of in the limbs. There may also be general 
hyperesthesia. In the epidemic form purpura and herpetic eruptions are 
common. Pneumonia is a common complication. The diagnosis between 
cerebral meningitis and a cerebro-spinal meningitis in infants is very difficult, 
often impossible, as it is difficult to localise pain and to arrive at a conclusion 
as regards a general hyperesthesia. Retraction of the head and more or less 
rigidity in the limbs may be present in both, but they are most marked when 
the spinal meninges are affected. Both tetanus and tetany may be 
mistaken for it ; in the former there is marked trismus before the onset of 
the opisthotonos, and the temperature is normal or only slightly raised ; 
and in the latter the peculiar spasm of the muscles of the hands and feet, 
and normal temperature, suffice to distinguish the two diseases. 

Latent Form. — Meningitis, like peritonitis and pleurisy, may be present 
without giving rise to any very definite cerebral symptoms ; this is especially 
so when it occurs secondarily, and the symptoms to which it gives rise may 
be overshadowed by the primary disease. It may occur in association with 
acute pneumonia or peritonitis, or acute intestinal catarrh, without its presence 
being suspected, partly because the headache, delirium, and fever are 
naturally attributed to the more obvious disease present, and there is neces- 
sarily a difficulty in unravelling the complex association of symptoms and 
referring each to its cause. In some few instances a meningitis may exist 
without there being any cerebral symptoms whatever, as in the following- 
case : — 

An emaciated child (boy) of four years of age, who had recently suffered from whooping 
cough, was admitted to hospital with some dulness at the base of one lung, There was 
a history of diarrhoea, and during the fortnight preceding his death he had five or six 
diarrhoeal stools daily. There was a hectic temperature, no vomiting, headache, or optic 
neuritis ; he was perfectly intelligent, and died apparently of exhaustion. It was supposed 
that there was general tuberculosis. At the post- mortetn the lungs were found adherent to 
the diaphragm ; some inspissated pus was present at the left base, evidently the remains 
of a small empyema ; there were no tubercles anywhere. There was some purulent 
lymph covering the inner surface of the dura mater, the convex surface of the brain, and 
the vessels in the transverse fissure, and bathing the surfaces of the lateral ventricles ; 
the base of the brain was matted with lymph. There was clear fluid in both tympanic 
cavities, but no pus. 



414 Diseases of the Nervous System 

It is in wasted, anaemic children that such lesions as purulent menin- 
gitis, pleurisy, or peritonitis may exist without giving rise to marked 
symptoms. 

Prognosis. — As soon as a diagnosis of tubercular meningitis is made 
there is little hope of recovery. In any case the hope must be rather that 
our diagnosis is wrong than that a permanent recovery can take place from 
tubercular meningitis. Yet undoubtedly the meningitis produced by the pre- 
sence of tubercle does not always kill at once, and, moreover, in any case there 
is the hope that the meningitis is a simple one without the presence of tubercle. 
We have seen at least three cases — in which there was good evidence to show 
that they were suffering from tubercular meningitis — recover for a time and 
die subsequently of a second attack or of a general tuberculosis ; one of these 
cases may be shortly referred to. 

Case. — Tubercular Meningitis. Temporary Recovery. — Mary S. , aged 6f years, was 
quite wall till a month or two before admission to hospital, when several ' cold abscesses ' 
formed on her legs and discharged. Lately she has had headache, been giddy, staggered 
in her gait, and rambled at night. For several nights after admission she was restless, 
and screamed with pain shooting through her head ; an internal squint was noted in the 
left eye ; she was fairly sensible in the daytime, but complained of headache, and fre- 
quently passed her motions under her ; there was occasional vomiting. She was treated 
with ice to her head and complete rest in bed, and bromides. There was slight optic 
neuritis, which gradually subsided during her stay. She gradually improved, and was 
discharged after a three months' stay, apparently quite well. She was readmitted six 
months after with undoubted signs of meningitis, and died after a fortnight's illness. 
The post-mortem showed miliary tubercles in the lungs, cheesy nodules in the liver, recent 
tubercles on the vessels at the base of the brain, and recent lymph ; there was also very 
distinct fibrous tissue at the base, as if resulting from a past inflammation ; the inter- 
peduncular space was matted, so that the third and fourth nerves had to be dissected out 
and cleaned of fibrous tissue, and the lobes along the Sylvian fissures were firmly matted 
together. The history of the case and the postmortem appearance made it clear that a 
recovery had taken place from a basal meningitis in a tubercular subject. 

A permanent recovery from an attack of tubercular meningitis means in 
the vast majority of cases a recovery from a general tuberculosis — a result 
which is exceedingly improbable. 

The prognosis becomes bad in the extreme where the patient has sunk 
into a drowsy condition and Cheyne-Stokes respiration is present, though 
several days may elapse before the end comes. 

The prognosis in simple meningitis is certainly more hopeful, especially 
in the subacute or more chronic cases. In those with an acute onset, high 
fever, and delirium, but little hope can be entertained, while the subacute may 
recover with chronic hydrocephalus and rigidity of the lower limbs and de- 
fective intelligence. Nevertheless, cases which are looked upon as almost 
certainly fatal will occasionally recover. 

Diagnosis. — In a disease which begins so insidiously and assumes such 
varied forms the diagnosis is necessarily difficult. It must be in the 
experience of most to have made mistakes in diagnosis, in suspecting the 
onset of tubercular meningitis where the patient is only suffering from some 
dyspepsia or intestinal catarrh, and, on the other hand, making light of the 
anxieties of the friends when subsequent events have justified their fears. As 
regards diagnosis in the early stages too much stress must not be laid on 



Diagnosis of Meningitis 415 

irritability, grinding the teeth at night, loss of appetite, wasting, and sleepless- 
ness, as these may be symptoms of a perfectly recoverable disease. On the 
other hand, sickness, giddiness, frequent stumbling, staggering gait, tempo- 
rary squint, loss of power of the sphincters, even though they remitted after 
a while, would justify grave suspicions. They may indicate the presence of 
tubercle or some irritation of the brain, which may be quickly followed by 
definite symptoms of meningitis. 

The principal errors which are likely to be made may be summed up as 
follows : 

1. Mistaking the vomiting of meningitis for some form of gastro-intestinal 
disturbance. 

This is a very common mistake in the early stages in cases of meningitis 
which begin with much vomiting. 

The vomiting of meningitis, like the vomiting of gastric catarrh, usually 
follows the ingestion of food, but is more likely to follow any disturbance of 
the patient ; it may occur when the stomach is empty and the tongue clean. 
It is not very amenable to treatment, and is indifferent to the character of the 
food taken. The vomiting of a gastric disturbance mostly ceases after the 
stomach and bowels have been unloaded. In any case of causeless vomiting 
in a child a careful look-out must be kept for more definite brain symptoms, 
such as convulsions, dilated sluggish pupils, retracted head, and retracted 
abdomen. A hesitating or intermittent pulse would strongly suggest the 
onset of meningitis. The past history of the patient is often important. 
The vomiting and convulsions present at times during dentition may be a 
source of difficulty. 

2. The mistake may be made of attributing to meningitis cerebral sym- 
ptoms due to the presence of some febrile disorder or reflex irritation. A 
child cutting his teeth may be irritable, heavy, drowsy, may start in his sleep, 
and be feverish, simply from the effects of dentition or from undigested or 
improper food in his alimentary canal. The presence of fever of short stand- 
ing is against meningitis, as also is evidence of dyspepsia, such as flatulence 
and colic ; the condition of the gums should be carefully examined. A few 
days would decide the diagnosis. The diagnosis between typhoid and 
meningitis is not usually difficult, that between typhoid and acute miliary 
tuberculosis being often much more so. The symptoms presented by a child 
sickening for typhoid may not be unlike those presented in the early stages 
of meningitis ; vomiting, however, is not a symptom of typhoid : the fever 
present and the condition of the abdomen would usually decide the diagnosis. 
The possibility of a simple meningitis occurring in the course of typhoid or 
pneumonia must be borne in mind, though it is not a common complication 
in either case. 

3. At the end of certain exhausting diseases, such as acute diarrhoea, 
marasmus, &c, in infants, cerebral symptoms due to arterial anaemia of 
the vessels of the brain are apt to arise, such as convulsions, coma, con- 
tracted pupils, convergent squint, &c. This condition has been called 
'false hydrocephalus.' The history of the case, the depressed fontanelle, 
the almost pulseless condition of the infant, and the rapid onset and course 
of the disease, would usually distinguish it from meningitis. 

The differential diagnosis between tubercular and non-tubercular menin- 



416 Diseases of tJie Nervous System 

gitis is often impossible. A family history of tubercle or a history of the 
individual having suffered from caseous glands or other tubercular manifes- 
tations, or having recently suffered from whooping cough or measles, would 
naturally favour a diagnosis of the tubercular variety, as would also an 
insidious onset. On the other hand, the history of a blow, or an otitis, or 
exposure to a hot sun, and a stormy onset, would favour the diagnosis of 
the non-tubercular form. 

The diagnosis between acute meningitis and otitis is often difficult, and 
yet it is of the greatest importance. The relation between the two conditions- 
is somewhat complex : a meningitis may undoubtedly arise from contiguity 
of diseased bone in the ear or acute suppurative otitis ; a purulent meningitis- 
may exist with suppuration in both tympanic cavities, or the latter cavities 
may contain cloudy fluid only, under circumstances which make it probable 
that the meningitis and otitis are both dependent on the same cause, and are 
not related as cause and effect. There is much reason to believe that an 
acute suppuration in the middle ear may closely simulate acute meningitis, 
and there is little doubt that they have often been mistaken one for the 
other. Cases which have been diagnosed as acute meningitis have quickly- 
recovered after a discharge of pus from the ear, either bursting through the 
tympanic membrane spontaneously or being relieved by incision. In cases 
of double suppurative otitis there may be intense pain in the head, fever, 
delirium, convulsions, optic neuritis, and deafness. The point of greatest 
diagnostic importance is the deafness without facial paralysis ; for, as Gowers 
points out, meningitis ' never gravely injures the auditory nerve without the 
adjacent facial nerves ; ' nevertheless the diagnosis between otitis and otitis 
with superadded meningitis is exceedingly difficult and often impossible. 

Morbid Anatomy. — The bodies of those who have died of tubercular 
meningitis are usually wasted in a high degree, but in some acute cases they 
may be fairly nourished. On removing the skull-cap and exposing the 
convex surface of the brain the veins oh the surface will be found to be 
unusually full of blood ; the convolutions are flattened, having been com- 
pressed by the distended lateral ventricles, and their surfaces are dry and 
sticky. More or less purulent-looking lymph is present : it may be usually seen 
on the lateral, less often on the convex surface. On examining the base, the 
effusion of lymph will be found to have taken place much more freely than 
on the convex or lateral surfaces. The Sylvian fissures will be seen to be 
matted with lymph ; the interpeduncular space, with the optic commissures 
and tracts, the third, fourth, and eighth nerves, and the inferior surface 
of the pons, and cerebellum, will be found in the same condition. Lymph 
may generally also be found around the medulla and spinal cord. An ex- 
amination of the small arterial branches will show that they are studded 
with minute grey or yellowish tubercles ; the lumen of some may be oc- 
cluded with thrombi. 

In some cases hardly any lymph will be found, but instead the arachnoid 
is opaque and there is more or less effusion of cloudy fluid beneath it, while 
the brain substance is cedematous and watery. 

Important changes are also present in the lateral ventricles. The vessels 
in the ventricles and great fissure forming the choroid plexuses and velum 
interpositum are studded with tubercles and besmeared with lymph ; the 



Tubercular Meningitis 417 

lateral ventricles are distended with fluid, while in the 'majority of cases 
the parts around, the corpus callosum, fornix, and optic thalamus, have 
undergone white softening and may be washed away or ragged out by a 
stream of water. The presence of fluid in excess in the lateral ventricles 
is due to the inflammatory processes going on in the choroid plexuses ; this 
gives rise when in excess to dilatation of the ventricles, softening of the sur- 
rounding parts, and flattening of the convolutions. It was these mechanical 
effects which so struck the older observers like Whytt, who overlooked the 
presence of tubercles as the primary cause, and saw only in such cases an 
' acute hydrocephalus' or ' water on the brain.' What further justifies these 
older observations is that in some cases the amount of lymph is very small 
and tubercles are found with difficulty, while there is much subarachnoid 
fluid as well as distention of the ventricles, and the brain substance is soft 
and cedematous. In a few cases large tracts of the superficial or central 
parts of the brain are softened and diffluent, the brain substance being 
yellow or plum-coloured from the presence of extravasated and altered blood, 
effects due to thrombosis or some disturbed condition of the circulation. 
A microscopical examination of hardened portions of the grey matter will 
show tubercles and effusion of leucocytes around the capillary arteries which 
enter the surface of the brain. 

How do the symptoms duringlife correspond with the appearances found 
after death ? The older writers were probably correct in ascribing the 
excitement during the first stage to the inflammatory engorgement of the 
arterial system of the brain ; the later stages of drowsiness and coma to the 
effusion of fluid into the lateral ventricles, which gradually compressed the 
surrounding parts and interfered with their blood supply ; the hemiplegia, 
paralysis of facial, &c, to the softening which so frequently takes place. ' The 
retraction of the head and stiffening of the limbs are also due, we are in- 
clined to think, to the pressure exerted on the motor tract by the ventricular 
effusion. 

Other tubercular lesions are constantly found in association with tuber 
cular meningitis, the commonest of these being caseous mediastinal glands. 
The lungs also are rarely free from tubercle. 

In non-tubercular meningitis the distribution of the lymph, which is often 
purulent, is less exclusively basal, more often being found over the convex 
surface and between the hemispheres in the longitudinal fissure. In the 
more chronic cases the base of the brain and cerebellum may be adherent 
to the skull, and much fluid may be present in the lateral ventricles. 

Treatment. — The prophylactic treatment of tubercular meningitis is 
much the same as that of tuberculosis generally. All children who are so 
inclined require the most constant care in all the relations of life. Residence 
in cities must be prohibited, and country or seaside life insisted upon. A 
farmhouse where pure milk and cream &c. may be had, in a bracing but 
not too bleak situation, may be selected as a residence. All book- work should 
be stopped, and all forms of excitement be strictly prohibited. The diet 
should be carefully regulated ; fats, if they are found to agree, should be 
taken in fair quantities. 

The child should be warmly clad and carefully protected from changes 
of weather. The bowels, if they are inclined to be constipated, should be 

E E 



■418 Diseases of the Nervous System 

carefully regulated with hyd. c. cret. or rhubarb and soda. The slightest 
suspicion of cerebral symptoms should be met by putting the child to bed 
in a darkened room, giving it a calomel purge, and an exclusively milk diet, 
and by the free administration of bromides. One or two grains of calomel 
with some sugar may be given, and some saline, such as a quarter or half 
a seidlitz-powder, the following morning. Five to ten grains of bromide of 
potassium should be given every four hours. The vomiting is best treated 
by purging smartly, and giving peptonised milk prepared with Benger's 
peptonising powders, or Savory and Moore's tinned peptonised milk. If 
persistent vomiting follows the giving of food, all food must be stopped 
by the mouth, and Brand's extract, or peptonised milk and bromide, must 
be given by means of an enema. Nothing is gained by continuing to 
purge after the initial dose of calomel has emptied the bowels thoroughly. 
If there is much cerebral excitement, larger doses of bromide may be given 
with the tincture or succus hyoscyami. We doubt very much if blisters, 
setons, or leeches are of any service in tubercular meningitis, though in 
simple meningitis, if the excitement or delirium is severe, a leech applied to 
the temples will certainly relieve. Cold to the head is of undoubted value 
and in all cases should be applied, an ice-bag of india-rubber being used in 
preference to any other form. Leiter's tubes form a convenient method of 
applying cold to the head, and they can be used where ice cannot be obtained. 
Mercury given freely in the form of perchloride is of all drugs the one most 
likely to be of service in simple meningitis. Iodide of potassium is frequently 
prescribed, though with doubtful advantage. 

Chronic Meningitis. — A chronic inflammatory process, affecting more 
especially the convex surface of the brain, occurs occasionally during 
infancy, apparently also during intra -uterine life. In such cases the 
surface of the brain becomes adherent to the dura mater, a thickening of 
the membranes taking place, resembling the pachymeningitis of adults. 
A membranous exudation may be thrown out, and blood may be effused. Such 
a condition may be associated with a chronic hydrocephalus. The symptoms 
present in such cases are frequently not distinctive, or they may be simply 
those of chronic hydrocephalus ; there may be defective intelligence or idiocy, 
probably also convulsions ; retraction of the head and rigidity and flexion of 
the limbs are likely to be present if the child lives any length of time. The 
etiology of such cases is doubtful : they are always suggestive of hereditary 
syphilis. As chronic hydrocephalus is often associated with the meningitis, 
a diagnosis of hydrocephalus is probably all that can be made during life. 

A meningitis during intra-uterine life, by interfering with the growth and 
development of the brain, may produce various results, such as hydrocephalus, 
mal-development, or an abnormally small brain. Thus in a case 1 of Dr. 
T. Barlow's, in an infant dying at seven weeks of age, the head measured 
only io£ inches round, and the brain weighed only 9 drachms ; the convolutions 
were hardly recognisable over the greater part of the convexity, and the pia 
mater and cortex beneath it were invaded with calcareous plates ; the 
choroid plexuses of the lateral ventricles were also partially calcified. In 
this case there seems to have been an intra-uterine meningitis, followed by 

1 Path. Trans, vol. xxxviii. p. 8. 



Acute Hydrocephalus 



419 



calcification of the effused lymph and some atrophy of the subjacent brain 
tissue. In a case recorded by Dr. E. Holt l in a child of thirteen months 
the symptoms were those of a chronic hydrocephalus, from which the child 
had suffered since three months old. The enlargement of the head was 
only moderate ; there was some rigidity of the posterior cervical muscles, but 
no paresis or contractures in the limbs. At the ftost-mo7'tem the dura mater 
Avas found firmly adherent to the convexity of the brain ; lymph and blood had 
been poured out on the surface. All the cavities of the brain were dilated. 
See also Sclerosis of Brain. 

Hydrocephalus. Acute hydrocephalus occurs only in association with 
an acute meningitis. In the majority of cases of acute meningitis, whether 




Fig. 84. — Outline of head in Chronic Hydrocephalus, a a, frontal bones ; bb, parietal bones. 



tubercular or simple, there is an excess of fluid in the lateral ventricles, 
the result of an intra-ventricular meningitis, and a consequent excessive 
exudation from the vessels of the choroid plexus. In exceptional cases the 
meningitis is confined to the ventricles. In those rare cases where an acute 
or subacute meningitis ends in recovery a chronic hydrocephalus may be 
left ; in these cases the head slowly enlarges in succession to the symptoms 
of a meningitis. Excess of fluid may be found in the subarachnoid space in 
acute meningitis. 



1 Arch, of Pediatrics, Dec. ii 



E E 2 



420 



Diseases of the Nervous System 



Chronic Hydrocephalus. — The accumulation of an excess of fluid in 
the ventricles of the brain is by no mqans an uncommon condition in infants 
and children, (i) It may be congenital, the accumulation taking place before 
birth, and it may give rise to difficulty in the extraction of the head. (2) It 
may follow an acute meningitis. (3) It may arise without any apparent cause. 
(4) It may be the result of a tumour, as for instance a tumour of the cere- 
bellum, compressing the veins of Galen, and in other ways interfering with 
the circulation. 

In the majority of cases the child is born healthy, and the enlargement 
of the head is first noticed when the infant is a few weeks to a few months 
old ; usually no cause can be assigned, but some of the cases are syphilitic, 
and it is not improbable that syphilis plays an important part in the pro- 
duction of hydrocephalus by means of a chronic syphilitic meningitis. 

Enlargement of the head is pre- 
ceded in a few cases by distinct 
cerebral symptoms, as convulsions, 
fever, and drowsiness, so as to sug- 
gest the probability of the menin- 
gitis perhaps being local rather 
than general. As the fluid accumu- 
lates in the ventricles the head en- 
larges, the bones forming the vault 
of the cranium become thinned and 
open out, so that the fontanelles are 
enlarged and the edges of the bones 
at the sutures are separated from 
one another (see fig. 84). The fon- 
tanelles are bulged and have a 
fluctuating feel, the occipital and 
^parietal bones may be so thin that 
moderate pressure with the finger 
is sufficient to bulge them in. 
The cranium assumes a spherical 
form, and its increased size con- 
trasts with the child's face, which 
may be thin and sunken, giving the child a characteristic appearance. 
The forehead is rounded, and projects so as to overhang the face ; the 
parietal and occipital bones assume a similar shape, so that the head 
has a globular or rounded form. There may be nystagmus. The 
general rounded contour is broken by the prominence of the frontal and 
parietal eminences ; at these spots the bone is thick and solid, and conse- 
quently cannot be bulged out like the thinner bone elsewhere. The skin of 
the forehead and scalp is thin and shiny from being stretched, and the 
cutaneous veins are distended, especially when the infant cries ; the eyes 
project : their axes may be divergent, and there may be difficulty in closing 
the eyelids. The infant cannot raise its head, and if propped up the head 
rolls over in a helpless sort of way. The condition of the intellect varies 
considerably : in the majority of cases, where the hydrocephalus is moderate 
in degree, the intellectual powers are surprisingly good when it is considered 




Fig. 85.' — Chronic Hydrocephalus in a boy aged 
6| years. 



Chronic Hydrocephalus 421 

what amount of compression and flattening out the grey matter on the sur- 
face of the brain is exposed to by the accumulation of fluid in the lateral 
ventricles. In extreme cases there is certain to be marked intellectual 
defect, perhaps amounting to idiocy. The limbs are mostly paretic, and the 
lower extremities especially are rigid, and flexed upon the abdomen ; 
permanent contractures are apt to follow, a result probably due to com- 
pression of the pons. Atrophy of the optic nerves may take place from 
compression or stretching of the optic tracts or commissure. The course 
of the disease is usually chronic, and infants will live for months or even 
years, but ordinarily they gradually waste and die. The child shown in 
fig. 85, who was 6f years of age, had suffered from chronic hydrocephalus 
since three months old ; he was well nourished ; his head measured 
31^ inches in circumference ; he was a complete idiot. The legs were bent 
at the knee and flexed on the abdomen, but the spasm of the muscles varied 
from time to time ; the hands were kept closed, and the elbows were flexed 
and more or less rigid. We have known recovery to take place, even after 
rigidity of the legs has come on. 

In older children, when the disease comes on after the closure of the fon- 
tanelles, the head enlarges more gradually, thinning the bones and even open- 
ing up the fontanelles and sutures ; in these cases the hydrocephalus is mostly 
due to a cerebellar tumour ; blindness and imbecility gradually supervene. 

Diagnosis. — This is not difficult when the disease is well advanced ; 
difficulty, however, occurs in the early stages when the accumulation of fluid 
is small, and when hydrocephalus may be mistaken for a rickety skull, or 
simply a large head without distention of the lateral ventricles such as occurs 
in rickets. The friends of patients often ask whether a child who has a large 
head has ' water on the brain.' A diagnosis can only be made when the head 
enlarges under observation, the bones becoming thinned, the fontanelles bulged 
and fluctuating ; the globular shape which it assumes distinguishes it from 
the misshapen head of a typical case of rickets with the prominent eminences, 
flattened vertex, and thick edges of the bones. In the simply enlarged head, 
from the presence of an abnormally enlarged brain, there is no opening out 
and bulging at the fontanelles, nor usually any evidence of a thin skull. 

Morbid Anatomy. — In those cases in which the excessive quantity of fluid 
in the ventricles is caused by a cerebellar tumour the mechanism is tolerably 
clear, for any stretching of the tentorium cerebelli must compress the straight 
sinus which runs along at the base of the falx cerebri, and consequently 
check the onward flow of blood in the veins of Galen and inferior longitu- 
dinal sinus. As the veins of Galen return the blood of the choroid plexus, 
it is easy to understand how a chronic hydrocephalus may be thus produced. 
In these cases the lateral ventricles are distended with a clear fluid of low 
specific gravity, the third and fourth ventricles join in the dilatation, and the 
iter is also enlarged. In those cases which form the majority, where no 
tumour is present, and no evidence of a past or present meningitis, the 
mechanism of the hydrocephalus is by no means clear. In these cases the 
lateral ventricles and their horns may be enormously dilated, the grey 
matter on the surface is flattened out and reduced in some cases to the thick- 
ness of cardboard, the convolutions being lost or only traced with difficulty. 
The contained fluid is clear, of S.G. about 1005, with a small quantity of albu- 



422 Diseases of the Nervous System 

men and salts ; the third and fourth ventricles are dilated ; the pons is often 
flattened by the pressure of fluid in the fourth ventricle. The cause of this 
ponding up of fluid in the ventricles is by no means clear ; it has been attri- 
buted to the closure of the aperture by which the ventricles communicate 
with the subarachnoid space, which is situated near the inferior boundary of 
the fourth ventricle (Hilton). A local meningitis at this spot would readily 
seal up the opening. We doubt if this explanation suffices for those extreme 
cases of hydrocephalus so often met with : the mere obstruction to the escape 
of fluid will hardly account for the accumulation of large quantities of fluid 
which must be secreted under great tension. It seems more likely that there 
should be some obstruction to the escape of blood from the choroid plexuses^ 
or some lesion of the latter which gives rise to an excess of cerebro-spinal 
fluid being secreted. It must be remembered, however, that the fluid drawn 
off from cases of hydrocephalus is of much lower S.G. than serum, or the fluid 
drawn from a chronic inflammatory effusion, as in chronic pleurisy. 

Treatment. — The treatment of chronic hydrocephalus when once esta- 
blished is unfortunately unsatisfactory, and but little can be done to influence 
the progress of the disease. In any case in which there is reason to suspect 
syphilis some mercury should be given internally, and some ung. hydrarg. 
applied to the head, or strips of mercury plaister, to effect a moderate com- 
pression, while some of the drug will be absorbed. Some cases in infants 
appear to be benefited by this treatment ; but, presuming there is a chronic 
syphilitic meningitis, it is by no means certain to be influenced by anti-syphilitic 
treatment. Both mercury and iodides should certainly be tried, especially 
as there is no other drug which affords any chance of success. Some 
measure of success has been claimed for compression of the head by means 
of strips of plaister or an elastic bandage ; if it is decided to try this method 
its risks must be borne in mind. The circulation through the scalp is inter- 
fered with by its compression between the skull and bandage, the brain is 
also compressed between the skull and the flu d in the ventricles. We have 
seen extensive sloughing of the scalp in a case of hydrocephalus, the result 
of a too tightly applied elastic bandage. No real compression can be of any 
service, and is decidedly risky ; but a lightly applied elastic bandage may 
be of use as a support, though no marked decrease of the fluid can be looked 
for. Puncture with a fine trocar through the anterior fontanelle, avoiding the 
superior longitudinal sinus, offers more chance of at least temporary relief. 
It is usually harmless, though if too much be withdrawn there is a risk of 
collapse of the brain substance, with perhaps convulsions and sudden death. 
Half an ounce to an ounce or more may be removed, and a strip or two of 
plaister or a band of elastic webbing applied. 

Hypertrophy of the Brain. — Rickety children often have abnormally 
large heads, a condition which is frequently attributed to ' water on the 
brain.' In reality such abnormally large heads are not hydrocephalic, 
their increased size being due in some cases to the prominent frontal and 
parietal eminences, but more often to an enlarged brain. The cause of this 
enlargement is not known, and the nature of the enlargement in the brain, 
liver, or spleen, which is apt to take place in rickets, is not clearly under- 
stood. In several cases coming under notice of children in their second and 
third years, with large heads, who have had rickets in a severe form and who 



Atrophy of Brain 



423 



have died in convulsions, the brains have been large, the convolutions well 
marked, the brain substance fairly firm, and the microscopical examinations 
revealed no change that we could detect. Such brains are usually very vas- 
cular, but, as death often takes place through convulsions, it is hardly safe to 
assert that the vascularity is anything more than a secondary effect, result- 
ing from the manner of death. In some cases the increase in size has been 
attributed to an increase of the connecting elements, the neuroglia, but it is 
needless to say it is a very difficult matter to decide if this is so in a brain 
in which the enlargement is general ; in our own cases, certainly, there was 
no striking change. It is certain that enlargement of the brain in these 
cases is not accompanied by any precocity of intellect ; indeed, it is rather the 
reverse, as such children are mostly backward, not only in physical, but also 
in mental development. If the quantity of brain matter is large, the quality 
is certainly poor. 

Atrophy of the Brain ; Sclerosis of the Brain. — This condition is more 
often local than general, and is mostly secondary to some inflammatory 




Fig. So. 



-Sclerosis of Brain. From a boy of twenty months. The convolutions have disappeared, 
the surface of the brain resembling a hob-nail liver (probably syphilitic). 



lesion or softening which has preceded it either during intra-uterine life or 
after birth. Among the local regions which suffer may be mentioned the 
cerebellum, or one half of the cerebellum ; a portion of a hemisphere may 
be atrophied, so that there is a marked depression where the convolutions 
are absent, which has been called Porencephalies ; or almost any part of the 
brain may be affected. In rare cases the whole or greater part of the brain 
is shrunken and indurated, as the result of a meningo-encephalitis occurring 
during intra-uterine life, or shortly after birth ; such cases are probably 
syphilitic. As an instance of an atrophied or sclerosed brain the following 
may be mentioned. 

A child who died at the age of twenty months had been a complete idiot from his birth, 
and had suffered from convulsions ; he was blind and deaf, the legs and arms were drawn 
up and stiff. At the post-mortem the brain was found hard and shrunken over the convex 
surface ; the convolutions had completely disappeared, the surface being simply grooved 
by the vessels and granular like a ' cirrhosed ' liver ; at the base and median surfaces the 



424 Diseases of the Nervous System 

convolutions were fairly well marked. The pia mater consisted of many tortuous vessels, 
which could be dissected off. On vertical section it was seen that the grey matter and 
white matter also were hard and shrunken, and hardly distinguishable from one another. 
Microscopical examination showed an increase of connective tissue and an absence of 
nerve elements. There was descending degeneration in the pons and cord (see fig. 86). 

The brain may be of abnormally small size, and yet the brain, substance 
normal ; in such cases there is usually more or less mental defect. See 
Mental Affections in Childhood. 

Tumours of the Brain. — While cerebral tumours are by no means un- 
common during childhood, the different varieties found are few. In the 
vast majority of cases the tumour or tumours consist of caseous masses 
formed by a local tubercular process. These tubercular masses especially 
have a marked predilection for the cerebellum, but are found also com- 
paratively frequently in the pons, basal ganglia, and cerebral hemispheres, 
both on the surface and in the connecting white substance. Cysts of un- 
certain origin are also found, especially in the cerebellum. The pons seems 
the -favourite seat of gliomas when they occur. Other new growths, such as 
epithelial carcinomata, may be occasionally found growing from the choroid 
plexus or pia-mater. Periosteal sarcomata growing from the bone are not 
uncommon, compressing the grey matter. No age is exempt ; tubercular 
tumours have been found in infants a few months old, though they are more 
common somewhat later. Demme found a cheesy mass in the cerebellum 
of a newly born child, so that tumours may form during intra-uterine life. 
Little is known as to the cause which determines the growth in the brain or 
its coverings ; it appears certain, however, that an injury acts as an exciting 
cause. A fall or blow on the head is followed in the course of a few weeks 
or months by cerebral symptoms. On the fatal termination a cheesy 
tumour is found in the cerebellum. How the injury can have given rise to 
this can only be surmised ; possibly there is a local bruising and punctiform 
haemorrhage. The most common tumour to follow a blow is a tubercular 
tumour; but then tubercular tumours are vastly more common than any others; 
nevertheless a cyst or a syphiloma or a periosteal sarcoma does appear to 
follow a blow at times. 

Symptoms. — The general symptoms include : (1) persistent headache ; 
(2) paroxysmal vomiting ; (3) optic neuritis ; (4) convulsions. The local symp- 
toms are those caused by the tumour interfering with the function of some 
region, and causing some local paralysis or spasm, or incoordination of move- 
ments, or pressure on some venous channel and consequent disturbance of 
the circulation. 

Headache is almost constantly present, though in young children, who are 
unable to complain or describe their feelings, its presence or absence cannot 
be determined. Its locality may help to indicate the seat of the lesion, 
but for this purpose it is an uncertain guide ; it may be either frontal or 
occipital in tumours of the cerebellum, and it may shift about from time to 
time, but if fixed and constant at one spot it is of some value for localisation. 
It is usually tolerably constant, or not absent for long together, but is apt to 
be much worse at some times than others. It is mostly made worse by move- 
ment, and when the child is up and about, and is better when it is at rest and 
: lying down. Percussion over the seat of the headache usually makes it 



Tumours of the Brain 425 

-worse or gives acute pain, but it is seldom of any diagnostic value in 
children. The headaches most likely to be mistaken for those due to a 
tumour are the hysteroid headaches, which are often very persistent and 
severe. 

Vomiti7ig is a frequent and very characteristic symptom, and is present 
in tumours of all parts of the brain, especially of the cerebellum, pons, and 
medulla, when the root of the pneumo-gastric is involved. The vomiting 
usually comes on suddenly without warning, and without much nausea, and 
may be repeated daily or several times a week without any cause being de- 
tected : such vomiting is very suggestive of cerebral disease, though it must 
not be forgotten that hysterical vomiting also occurs, especially in girls about 
puberty. There may be nausea and constant sickness, with much retching, 
in the later stages of a cerebral tumour. It is often paroxysmal, coming on 
and lasting for several days almost constantly, being not amenable to treat- 
ment, and then suddenly improving. 

Optic neuritis occurs in the majority of cases sooner or later, and is 
especially common in tumours of the cerebellum, less so in those of the frontal 
regions. The discs become swollen, so that to examination the edges appear 
at first blurred, and then all distinction between the edges of the disc and 
retina is lost, even to the direct method of examination. The veins become 
distended and tortuous, and haemorrhages occur ; finally, after some months, 
the discs gradually pass into a condition of atrophy. The exact cause of 
optic neuritis is uncertain ; it is caused by the presence of tumours in all parts 
of the brain, but may be absent from first to last ; it has been known to occur 
in otitis and in disease of the cord without any discoverable cerebral lesion. 
In a case of our own, of acute otitis, there was optic neuritis, and no lesion of 
the brain was discovered /<?.?/ mortem. The neuritis appears to be in some 
cases a descending one, passing along the sheath of the optic tract and pro- 
ducing an intense inflammation at the papilla ; but this can hardly be the 
case often : it is much more likely to be a reflex inflammation, such as herpes 
facialis, which so often appears on the lips and face in inflammatory con- 
ditions of the respiratory tract. Optic neuritis, it is important to remember, 
may occur without any loss of sight, though as atrophy sets in the sight is 
certain to be damaged. It is often of great diagnostic importance, its presence 
being of much value as an indication of a cerebral lesion, though its absence 
in any given case where other symptoms point to some cerebral lesion does 
not necessarily negative the diagnosis. Optic neuritis may come on either 
early or late in the disease. 

Giddiness is often complained of, most commonly in disease of the cere- 
bellum and pons. 

Convulsions. — The first symptom may be a convulsion, which may never 
be repeated, or convulsions may be frequent during the course of the disease, 
and may occur in the case of tumours of any part, but more especially when 
the growth involves or compresses the motor cortical centres than when the 
cerebellum is involved. Such convulsions may be epileptiform, but without 
aura. In some of these cases the nature of the aura and the commencement 
of the fits in some special part, affords some indication of the seat of the 
tumour which is situated in the cortex. The convulsions which commence 
in one part, may quickly become general. 



426 Diseases of the Nervous System 

Paralysis. — The various paralyses and other local symptoms will be re 
ferred to more especially later on under the regional symptoms. 

Tumours of the Cerebellum. — One of the common seats for a cheesy 
mass is in "one of the lateral lobes of the cerebellum. It is not uncommon to 
find these masses varying in size from a pea upwards in one of the lateral 
lobes of a child dying of tubercular meningitis, without any definite signs of 
its presence during life. In cases of cerebellar tumour which have proved 
fatal, a cheesy mass may be found which has, perhaps, become adherent to 
the posterior fossa of the skull and tentorium, and has, perhaps, extended 
across the middle line, encroaching on the medulla, and so compressed the 
motor tracts passing downwards to the cord. Another pressure effect is the 
compression of the straight sinus by the stretching of the tentorium, and a 
consequent ponding up of the blood in the venae Galeni, and chronic effusion 
of fluid in the lateral ventricles. A large cerebellar tumour is almost certain 
to be accompanied by chronic hydrocephalus, the lateral ventricles are 
greatly dilated, the skull thinned, and perhaps the pons may be more or less 
compressed and flattened by the pressure of the fluid. A tumour of the 
middle lobe is more likely to compress the motor tracts in the floor of the 
fourth ventricle than one in the lateral lobes. 

A simple cyst in the cerebellum is not uncommon. 

Symptoms. — The early symptoms are headache, mostly occipital, optic 
neuritis, vomiting, and giddiness ; less often internal squint, nystagmus, and 
convulsions. If the tumour is in the middle lobe there is unsteadiness of 
gait, from a difficulty in maintaining the balance, a sort of swaying motion 
when the patient attempts to stand or walk, resembling the movements of 
a drunken man. It must not be forgotten that a simple paresis of the legs 
will produce a stumbling, swaying walk not dissimilar to a drunken gait, 
though in this case there is no increased difficulty in maintaining the 
equilibrium with the eyes shut. The frequent blindness of the patient often 
renders the diagnosis between a mere paresis and a difficulty in balancing 
almost impossible. Both hydrocephalus and direct pressure on the medulla 
may give rise to paresis of the lower extremities. As the disease progresses, 
which it usually does slowly, the headache increases, so that the patient is 
glad to spend most of his time at rest, he feels fit for nothing, and takes little 
interest in toys or his playmates. The vomiting at this time is often trouble- 
some. The optic neuritis passes on to atrophy, the sight is gradually lost, 
and the pupils dilate. In the later stages, when there is chronic hydro- 
cephalus, the patient is bedridden, his legs being too weak for him to get 
about or perhaps bear his weight, and he is utterly helpless. The head en- 
larges ; the younger he is, the more marked does the enlargement become ; 
there is exaggerated tendon reflex : he is perhaps unable to sit up or hold up 
his head, as all the muscles are paretic. Other pressure symptoms may 
finally make their appearance : these may include facial paralysis, deafness, 
bulbar paresis, and sloughing of the cornea and eyeballs. The mental con- 
dition in the later stages, when the hydrocephalus is extreme, is generally 
that of imbecility, or apathy to what is going on around, and later still may 
pass into a condition of unconsciousness and coma, in which he may remain 
for weeks, or even months, gradually wasting to a mere skeleton, and deep 
bedsores, forming over the sacrum and buttocks. There is another phenome- 



Tumours of the Brain 427 

non which is much more marked in some cases than in others, and that is 
rigidity of the muscles of the neck, back, and limbs, the result probably of 
pressure on the motor tracts ; as a rule the tonic spasm follows paresis of the 
muscles, but sometimes rigidity is noted from the first. 

The muscles of the neck may become rigid, so that the head is thrown 
back and kept in this condition ; the arms are bent at the elbows and 
rigid, the legs are drawn up, while the feet assume the position of equinus, 
Sometimes there is marked pain, shooting down the neck and back, espe- 
cially when the middle lobe is affected. It is difficult to explain why in one 
case there should be paresis, in another rigidity from the first, but it must be 
borne in mind that the pressure on the motor tracts is sometimes direct by 
the tumour itself, at other times by means of a chronic effusion in the lateral 
ventricles. 

The following case in a patient of thirteen years (under Dr. Hutton's 
care) well illustrates the symptoms present when there is direct pressure of 
the tumour itself on the pons and medulla. 

The girl was healthy till August 1884, when she began to suffer constant pain in the 
back, relieved only by lying down ; she vomited frequently, especially in the early morning 
and after food ; her gait gradually became somewhat staggering, and her sight dim ; for 
some time before admission she complained much of pain in the back, and the head was 
retracted. The pain was in all probability due to spasm of the muscles of the neck and 
back. On admission, February 25, 1885, there was marked optic atrophy, with impaired 
sight ; she could walk unaided when her eyes were directed to the ground, more unsteadily 
if the eyes were shut ; when tired there was a marked tendency to fall to the left ; there 
was ankle clonus and exaggerated knee-reflex on the left side. Duiing March there was 
much paroxysmal pain in the head and lumbar region, the head being retracted and the 
whole back arched, so that only her head and buttocks touched the bed ; a few days later 
the tonic spasms had disappeared and she could get about the ward ; she suffered from 
pins-and-needles in her feet and jumping pains in knees and ankles. In April the occipital 
pain and spinal tenderness returned from time to time, and it was noted there was ankle 
clonus in both legs and exaggerated knee-reflex ; there were also tremors in the legs ; her 
gait was also hurrying, resembling paralysis agitans. She died suddenly early in May, 
having been ill about nine months. At the post-mortem the whole middle lobe of the 
cerebellum was occupied by a cystic tumour, covered by a thin layer of cerebellar sub- 
stance, except above and below ; the cyst projected downwards, flattening and expanding 
laterally the pons and medulla. 

Caseous tumours of the cerebellum run a chronic course in most instances ; 
life may be prolonged for many months after the patients have lost their 
sight, and are bedridden and emaciated. They may live many weeks in an 
unconscious state. 

Tumours of the Pons and Medulla. — Tubercular masses not infre- 
quently invade the pons, being situated in the central part, or small masses 
may be found in the floor of the fourth ventricle. They are apt to cause 
symptoms, less, perhaps, by their direct pressure effects, which act but slowly, 
than from the softening which often surrounds them. At the post-mortem, 
when the size of the cheesy mass is discovered, we have often been surprised 
how little paralysis was present during life. Gliomas of the pons are not 
rare in older children. 

Symptoms. — The symptoms present in disease of the pons may be mani- 
fold on account of the close relations of the motor tract : the motor strands 



428 Diseases of the Nervous System 

are gathered up together, and the centres of various cranial nerves are in close 
relation. The symptoms vary according to the position of the lesion in the 
pons ; thus in a case of our own, in which a glioma commenced in the right 
lower border, there was ' alternate hemiplegia,' viz. a left hemiparesis with 
paralysis of the right external rectus, and right facial paralysis, optic neuritis, 
and vomiting. Cheesy masses are often more centrally situated, and may 
after a while involve the medulla ; there may then be double facial paralysis, 
perhaps more marked on one side than the other ; the saliva dribbles from 
the mouth, the speech is thick, and there may be difficulty in swallowing. 
There may be paresis and rigidity of the limbs, squint, and sloughing of the 
cornea from interference with the fifth. The paralyses produced by disease 
of the pons are apt to be bilateral, on account of the right and left motor 
paths and nerve centres being near together. 

Basal Ganglia and Internal Capsule. — Cheesy masses may be present 
in the caudate or lenticular nucleus or thalamus, but they only produce a 
definite hemiplegia when they involve the internal capsule. In one of our 
own cases a villous growth from the choroid plexus compressed the left 
thalamus and internal capsule, and produced a paresis of the right arm and 
leg, with marked rhythmical shaking movements when voluntary action was 
attempted, so much so that his mother said his arm used to ' work like a 
clock ; ' contractures, facial paralysis, and optic neuritis supervened before 
death. The rhythmical tremors were no doubt produced by gradual pres- 
sure on the motor path which passes along the internal capsule. In children 
there is rarely loss of sensation : this occurred, however, in one of our cases, 
in which two large cheesy masses involved the whole of the posterior limb of 
the internal capsule, the arm and leg of the opposite side being contracted 
and anaesthetic. 

Tumours of the Cortical Layer. —Irritation of any part of the motor 
area of the cortex, which includes the ascending frontal and parietal con- 
volutions and the anterior portion of the superior parietal lobule, gives rise 
to convulsions, which begin in the arm, leg, or face, according to the part 
affected. Destruction of this region, as by softening following embolism, 
or the presence of a tumour, gives rise to a hemiplegia affecting the face, 
arm, and leg, a partial destruction giving rise to a partial paralysis. The 
presence of a syphiloma, a tubercular mass, or pressure by a tumour growing 
from the membranes, is likely to give rise to epileptiform seizures, the con- 
vulsions starting in the arm, leg, or face, though they are not necessarily 
confined to the limb in which they start, but may become general. In the 
later stages a hemiplegia results. 

Tumours of the Frontal lobe produce no paralysis unless they encroach 
upon the ascending frontal convolution : in that case they may produce a 
paresis of the leg, arm, and face, according to the part involved. A tumour 
involving the posterior third of the left frontal convolution causes aphasia. 

Prognosis. — The prognosis in cerebral tumours is exceedingly unfavour- 
able, whatever their nature may be, unless perhaps syphilis may be excepted. 
Undoubtedly tubercular masses may cease to spread and become cretaceous, 
though against this must be set off the chance that other masses may form, 
or the child die of tubercular meningitis or tubercle elsewhere. Every other 
form of tumour is certain to progress from bad to worse. In the majority 



Tumours of the Brain 429 

of cases the progress is slow, often lasting over a year or more. Death may 
supervene from intercurrent disease, as tubercular meningitis, or other form 
of tubercle ; it may be sudden in tumours of the pons and cerebellum (see 
p. 378), or it may be exceedingly slow, as in cases of cerebellar tumour and 
chronic hydrocephalus. Occasionally cases in which the diagnosis of tumour 
is made partially recover, or remain stationary for many years. Gowers 
records a case of a girl of fifteen years who suffered from hemiplegia, head- 
ache, hemianopia, and optic neuritis of gradual onset ; she gradually re- 
covered, except the hemianopia and paresis of arm, and was well, with these 
exceptions, six years after. 

It is not uncommon to find cretaceous masses in the brain, evidently the 
result of the shrivelling up of a tubercular mass. This was so in the follow- 
ing case : — 

A boy aged n years was admitted into hospital, November 1881, with internal squint, 
optic neuritis, and almost complete blindness. He was intelligent and walked about ; 
there were no signs of any paralysis, he had no headache or vomiting ; during his stay he 
got better, and was discharged (January 1882) apparently in good health, though quite 
blind from optic atrophy. He was readmitted February 1883, having suffered for six- 
months with pain in his head, and recently he had lost power in the right side ; the right 
elbow was semiflexed, the wrist pronated and flexed, the fingers over-extended, except at 
the metacarpal joints ; the knee was bent, and the ankle in the position of equino-varus ; 
there was loss of sensation also on the right side, and the boy had some difficulty in find- 
ing the right arm with his left. In March there was some difficulty in swallowing, with 
paresis of left side of face and arm, followed by death. At the post-mortem there was a 
small cyst, with thickened cretaceous walls on the inferior surface of the right frontal lobe, 
evidently the remains of a tubercular mass ; there was a cheesy mass involving the left 
caudate nucleus, and optic thalamus and internal capsule ; there was a second cheesy mass 
involving the lenticular nucleus and internal capsule of the right side. In this case there 
is no doubt there was a cheesy mass in the right pre-frontal lobe on the inferior surface, 
which gave rise to optic neuritis and internal squint, and which passed into a quiescent 
state ; subsequently other tubercular masses formed, which, with a general tuberculosis, 
caused his death. 

Diagnosis. — The most important point to be decided is whether there is 
a cerebral lesion, or the symptoms are due to functional disease ; the question 
as to the nature and seat of the lesion is of less practical importance. The 
cases wdiich at first sight present a superficial resemblance to cases of 
cerebral tumour are those of chronic headaches in children at puberty, which 
are often severe, and are sometimes accompanied by vomiting or nausea. The 
latter, however, are never accompanied by optic neuritis, by sudden vomiting, 
are rarely acutely painful, and are improved, or lost for a time, by active exer- 
cise in the open air. The headaches of a cerebral tumour are severe, sometimes 
make the patient scream with pain, and are made worse by active exercise. 

The vomiting in a case of cerebral tumour is causeless, coming on the 
first thing in the morning, perhaps being constant for a day or two or more, 
then passing away for a while without any apparent reason. The paralyses 
of hysteria are not often hemiplegic, being more often paraplegic, and are 
never accompanied by optic neuritis. 

When fits are present there may be a difficulty in distinguishing between 
epilepsy and a tumour, especially as a hemiparesis is apt to remain after a 
fit. In these cases, if the convulsions have constantly a local commencement, 
they are probably due to a tumour, and later on optic neuritis or some 



430 Diseases of the Nervous System 

paralysis would decide the diagnosis. The presence of more tumours than 
one may make the differential diagnosis difficult. 

Treatment. — Except in the case of syphilomas of the brain, the treatment 
•of cerebral tumours by medicines resolves itself into a treatment of symptoms. 
Wherever there is the least chance of the tumour being syphilitic, iodide of 
potassium should be given in full doses ; though in children syphilitic disease 
of the brain is rare. If it is supposed that the tumour is tubercular, cod- 
liver oil and iodide of iron may be prescribed, while the child is kept at rest, 
and placed under the most careful hygiene. 

For the headaches, bromides, Indian hemp, and opium may have to be 
prescribed. The vomiting, which is so often troublesome, must be treated by 
perfect rest in bed, peptonised milk or ice-drinks being given in small 
quantities. Hydrocyanic acid may be given. The vomiting is exceedingly 
erratic, coming and going without any apparent cause. In some tumours at 
least the question of operation may be entertained (see infra). 

Cerebral Abscess. — In children, as in adults, the common cause of abscess 
of the brain is injury or ear disease ; less often it is the result of suppuration 
in a distant part, as an empyema or abscess of lung. Abscess is most 
common in the cerebrum, less frequent in the cerebellum or pons. 

Symptoms. — The early symptoms are those more or less of meningitis, 
namely headache, fever, vomiting, and perhaps convulsions ; they may, how- 
ever, be very slight and readily overlooked. The later symptoms, those of the 
chronic stage, vary according to the seat of the abscess, and are more or less 
those of a cerebral tumour, including optic neuritis, headache, vomiting, 
convulsions, and varying paralyses, possibly hectic, and emaciation. The 
diagnosis of abscess from meningitis or tumour is sometimes very difficult, 
as the following cases show. A girl of two years of age who was admitted 
into hospital under Dr. Hutton, had had a discharge from her right ear for 
three months, but was otherwise well and strong, till fourteen days before 
admission, when she had a right-sided convulsion lasting four hours, followed 
by unconsciousness ; four days afterwards she had a similar attack : she 
squinted, and was more or less blind after it. On admission there was 
almost complete motor and sensory paralysis of the right arm and leg, with 
loss of sensation on the left side of the face and ptosis on the left ; she became 
convulsed, the convulsions beginning in the right side, and was unconscious 
before death. At the post-mortem an abscess cavity was found in the left 
temporo-sphenoidal lobe, extending into the occipital lobe and reaching the 
internal capsule : it contained three ounces of pus. The left tympanum was 
full of pus. In the following case the abscess followed a perforating wound 
of the orbit. A boy aged six years was playing in a hayfield when by accident 
he was wounded above the left eye with the prong of a hayfork ; the eye 
swelled, but no external wound was found. During the next few weeks he 
was irritable and frequently vomited. Six months after he was brought for 
advice, as his sight was failing. On admission he was quite blind (atrophy 
of discs) and somewhat dull of comprehension ; he could walk well ; the right 
hand was weak, but not paralysed ; he remained much the same for a month, 
when he died suddenly. At the post-mortein the left frontal lobe was larger 
than that of the opposite side, its convolutions including the superior, middle, 
.and inferior, with more or less of the ascending frontal and parietal flattened ; 



Cerebral Abscess 431 

its inferior surface was adherent to the orbital plate and of a yellow tinge ; 
and there was an abscess containing four or five ounces of greenish pus. It 
was clear there had been a penetrating wound through the orbital plate into 
the brain. 

Treatment. — When pus has formed there is little hope in any method of 
treatment, except operation. 

Surgical Treatment of Cerebral Lesions. — Our knowledge of the operative 
treatment of tumours of the brain is still very limited, but enough has been 
learnt to justify a short account of the subject being given here. At present 
only those growths which lie on or near the surface of the cerebrum have 
been successfully dealt with ; tumours at the base of the brain, or involving 
the basal ganglia, may be looked upon as inaccessible to surgery at present, 
and, though cerebellar growths are not beyond our reach, but little has yet 
been done for their removal. Surgery chiefly deals with growths situated in 
the motor area of the cortex, since the localisation of the tumour is most 
satisfactorily to be made out in this region. Again, only those growths 
which are of limited size are suitable for removal, since the destruction or 
disturbance of large areas of the brain would lead to as great evils as the 
tumour itself. Assuming that the presence and exact position of a tumour 
have been ascertained by the symptoms presented, the following are the 
steps to be taken for its removal. If time permits, at least twenty-four hours 
should be devoted to preparation of the patient for the operation. The 
entire scalp should be shaved and thoroughly cleansed with turpentine ; after 
this a compress soaked in solution of corrosive sublimate, 1 in 3,000, or 
carbolic acid, 1 in 20, should be kept applied to the head until the time of 
operation. The utmost precautions should be taken to have all instruments, 
and anything likely to come into contact with the field of operation, thoroughly 
aseptic. After the child has been anaesthetised, a large flap of integument, 
having its centre over the seat of the tumour, should be reflected and the 
bone laid bare. Next a large circle of bone should be removed with a 
trephine or gouge and the dura mater exposed ; all bleeding must be arrested. 
The surface of the dura mater should then be carefully examined as to its 
colour, as to the presence of pulsation, and as to any tendency to protrusion 
through the aperture in the skull. We have noticed in a case of cerebral 
tumour thinning of the bone over the seat of the growth, with engorgement 
of the diploic vessels, but this can only be expected to be seen when the 
growth is large and superficial. Should the tumour be extra-dural, its 
removal may be now accomplished, but if it is truly cerebral a crucial 
incision should be made in the membrane and the surface of the brain 
inspected and felt with the finger for evidence, either visible or palpable, of 
the mass ; if the growth is seen, its size and connections should be studied, 
and the question of the possibility of its removal decided upon. If it is 
determined to proceed with the operation, the substance of the cortex must 
be separated from the growth, and the mass removed with as little injury 
as possible, both to brain substance and to the vessels of the part. If there is 
softening (encephalitis) of the brain round the growth, the prognosis is bad, 
but any actually disintegrated brain should be removed. All bleeding is then 
to be arrested, the dura mater sutured over the brain, and the portion of 
skull removed, which should have been kept lying in warm carbolic lotion 



43 2 Diseases of the Nervous System 

(i in 80), cut up into pieces about the size of canary seed, and replaced on the 
surface of the membrane ; or the whole disc of bone may be replaced entire. 
Provision is to be made for drainage, the wound closed and dressed anti- 
septically in the ordinary fashion. After the operation the child is kept 
absolutely quiet in bed, and fed on weak animal broths and diluted milk in 
small quantities. If the case is doing well, there will be no need to disturb 
the dressings for a week or ten days, when the wound will be found healed, 
with the exception of the drain opening. Should no growth be found, or 
should there be very extensive encephalitis, or if the tumour be too extensive 
for removal, the operation must be abandoned. Such are briefly the general 
rules to be adopted in dealing with brain tumours, and a large part of the 
description will also apply to operations for cerebral abscess, or for those 
cortical lesions which give rise to epilepsy or other troubles and necessitate 
surgical measures, A few additional remarks may be made on the two last- 
mentioned subjects. As to cerebral abscess, it is the result, apart from 
tuberculosis, most commonly of injury or disease of the ear ; in the case of 
traumatic abscess the seat of the abscess will usually, though not always,, 
correspond with the seat of the external injury, though this guide should be, 
of course, supplemented by the indications given by any paralyses that may 
be present. The steps of the operation are those already described ; should, 
however, no evidence of the abscess be seen on exposing the brain, careful 
systematic exploration to a depth of from one to two inches should be made 
in every direction from the centre of the part exposed. This is best done 
with a grooved needle, fine trocar and cannula, or director. Should pus be 
found, the opening must be enlarged and the abscess cavity drained, and the 
operation completed as above described. (For further details of cerebral 
abscess, the result of otitis, vide chapter on Diseases of the Ear.) 

Where trephining is done for Jacksonian epilepsy, it must be remembered 
that pressure or irritation may be due to a depressed or thickened portion of 
bone, to a local pachymeningitis, or to a cicatrix, or to local inflammation of 
the cortex of the brain itself. If the irritant is cranial, the offending bone 
must be removed. So also, if a local thickening of the dura mater is found, 
it should be excised. If, however, the lesion is in the brain itself, the ques- 
tion arises whether it is so extensive that removal of the injured part can be 
effected without an extent of paralysis following which would: render the 
patient's condition worse than it already is. The details of the operation are 
the same as in the case of tumour or abscess. For further information we 
must refer to the papers of Dr. Macewen, Mr. Horsley, and others. There 
is no doubt that, on the one hand, the brains of children are more tolerant of 
operation than those of adults, and, on the other hand, that brain lesions 
which would prove fatal to adults are not only recovered from in children, 
but may leave little or no permanent effects, even if left to nature. Each case 
must be judged on its merits. 

The dangers of hernia cerebri and diffuse encephalitis or meningitis are 
no doubt considerable, but with thorough antisepticism these risks may be 
generally avoided. It has been shown by Dr. Macewen that hernia cerebri, 
though it may result from imperfect wound management, may also be due to 
a pre-existing encephalitis, even in the absence of any septic condition of the 
wound. Should hernia cerebri appear, it is best dealt with by pressure 



Cerebral Hemorrhage 433 

applied over the wound by means of a plate of sheet-lead laid outside the 
inner layer of dressings. 

The subject of operative measures in disease and injur}- to the spinal 
cord is still more in its infancy than is that of cerebral surgery, and no definite 
rules can be laid down ; some account of the matter will be found under the 
head of Spinal Caries. 

It must be looked upon at present as a much more serious matter to open 
the spinal theca than to incise the dura mater ; hence greater hesitation 
should be felt in dealing with cases requiring so severe a measure. 

Cerebral haemorrhage. — We have already remarked (p. 18) that cere- 
bral haemorrhage occurring in early life is hardly ever the result of a ruptured 
artery, as atheroma is practically unknown during childhood. Haemorrhage 
does, however, not infrequently take place from the venous capillaries on the 
surface of the brain, and also, though in less degree, into the grey and white 
matter. The pia mater and its capillaries are exceedingly delicate in the 
infant, and when distended with hypervenous blood, as during some inter- 
ference to the respiration, they are exceedingly liable to rupture or to allow 
the blood to ooze through their walls. Hypervenous blood appears more 
readily to escape from the vessels by oozing than does ordinary- blood. 
Meningeal bleedings of a larger or smaller amount are constantly found in 
infants who have been born asphyxiated, or who only survive their birth a few 
days in consequence of feeble respirator}- powers (see fig. 4). The same con- 
dition is seen in infants who have been ' overlain in bed," and in those who 
have died in convulsions. Clots of various sizes may also be found in the 
central white matter, in the internal capsule, and in the masses of grey matter 
at the base of the brain. The younger the infant the greater will be the 
brain damage done by the bleeding, as the brain is exceedingly soft at birth 
and easily injured ; the more immature the brain, the more is its develop- 
ment likely to be interfered with. As the result of the brain damage there 
may be hemiplegia, diplegia, paraplegia, or idiocy, with or without paralysis. 
The paralyses which date from cerebral haemorrhage at birth are mostly 
more severe than those which follow convulsions in older children. 

Post-partum Meningeal haemorrhage, Birth palsy. — A delayed 
labour from any cause is liable to give rise to asphyxia, the vessels of the pia 
mater being gorged with dark venous blood, and a leakage takes place, the 
blood oozing from the distended vessels. The damage done by the pressure 
of the clot forming on the convex surface of the brain may be sufficient to 
permanently injure the cortical motor or other cortical centres. The newly 
born infant's brain is exceedingly soft and readily injured, as anyone knows 
who has attempted to remove one post mortem without damage ; if the 
slightest injury- is done to the brain by the saw in dividing the skull, the 
brain substance will ooze out of the saw-cut almost like clotted cream. Xow, 
not only may a considerable damage be done to the brain by a comparatively 
small surface haemorrhage, but the cortical centres are imperfectly developed 
at birth, and the pressure of a clot or a rupture of the grey matter may 
readily prevent growth and development. The consequences of this brain 
damage are various, but are often not very apparent for some months or 
more after birth. Possibly the mental powers never properly develop, 
though the limbs are strong, and the child is congenitally weakened or an 

F F 



434 Diseases of the Nervous System 

idiot ; or the lower extremities are stiff and weak, or there is a paresis of 
hemiplegic distribution, the child generally also] being mentally deficient. 
In all a history of a prolonged labour, or of being 'born blue,' can be 
obtained. 

A whole family is often more or less affected when the mother has a 
narrow pelvis, or for various reasons has difficult labours; some of the 
infants may escape if born before being fully developed. First-borns are 
apt to suffer the most, as can be readily understood. 

The following history of a family may form an illustration of the damage 
which may be done by difficult labours. Mrs. G. has always difficult labours 
in consequence of a narrow pelvis. She has had seven children, born at or 
near full time. 

i. Willie, eight years old, suffers from spastic paraplegia and is mentally 
deficient (figs. 87 and 88). (An inmate of the Royal Albert Asylum.) 

2. John died at thirteen months of convulsions ; ' head never was right.' 

3. Clara, six years, is all right. 

4. Baby, died soon after birth. 

5. Baby, born dead. 

6. Boy, two years old, is all right. 

7. Girl, four months old ; both legs semi-rigid, exaggerated tendon- 
reflexes, ankles rather stiff. 

In this family of seven, two appear to have escaped uninjured ; of the 
remaining five, two are living, having sustained a brain damage, and three 
are dead, their death no doubt being directly due to a birth-injury to the 
brain. 

Sy7nfttoms. — The most common symptom which immediately follows 
the meningeal haemorrhage is convulsions ; sometimes there is paralysis, 
and there may be rigidity. In the great majority of the cases there is no 
marked paralysis immediately following birth, or at any rate it escapes the 
mother's attention, and it is only at the end of the first year that it is 
noticed there is stiffness about the legs, which prevents it from walking or 
from making any attempts to walk. Mostly, however, when the infant is a 
few months old, a careful examination of the lower extremities will reveal an 
exaggerated knee-reflex and a stiffness of the ankle-joints. In some cases 
there is over-action of the adductors of the thighs, so that the legs are con- 
stantly crossed, with probably also more or less talipes equino-varus. Both 
arms maybe affected, or an arm and leg only ; there is usually backwardness 
in talking. When the symptoms are fully developed, as they usually are at 
two or three years of age, the rigidity of the limbs, most frequently the legs, 
is very characteristic ; there is ' spastic paraplegia.' In a severe case the 
child cannot walk or stand unaided, and lies helplessly in bed ; the knees are 
semi-flexed, with adductor spasm, the tendo Achillis is drawn up, so that the 
foot is in a position of equino-varus, there is exaggerated knee-reflex, and 
ankle clonus. In some instances the child, though unable to stand or walk 
without help, on account of the talipes equinus present, can crawl, and may 
learn to do this fairly well ; this was the case with Willie G. (see fig. 87). This 
condition may remain throughout life, and occasionally adults belonging to 
this class may be seen crawling on all fours in the streets, and gaining their 
livelihood by begging. 



Birth Palsy 



435 



Many, perhaps the majority of cases, learn to walk in some sort of a 
fashion, but with difficulty, on account of the spasm of the gastrocnemii and 
the consequent tendency there is to fall forwards, and the awkwardness and 
want of control over their movements. The arms are more rarely affected 
than the legs ; sometimes there is slight rigidity in one only or in both, which 
interferes with their use, or the elbow is flexed, the wrist flexed and pronated, 
and the fingers flexed at the metacarpophalangeal joints. There may be 




Fig. 87. — Spastic Paralysis, the result 
Meningeal Haemorrhage at Birth. Willie 
G., aged 8 years. The weight of the body 
is partly supported by being held up by the 
arms, partly by resting on the toes. 




Fig. 88. — Willie G., after division of the 
tendo Achillis and forced dorso-flexion. 



present the irregular movements known as athetosis (see p. 439). Sometimes 
there is slight facial paralysis, only noticeable when the child laughs or cries ; 
we have never seen it well marked. 

The child is usually backward in talking, and in some cases where the 
mental defect is marked they never can utter anything but meaningless 
sounds. The mental condition varies ; sometimes there is complete idiocy, 
more often some loss of intelligence, or the child is emotional, being easily 
roused to anger, and, if going to school, is teased and tormented by its com- 

f f 2 



43 6 Diseases of the Nervous System 

panions. The shape of the head is mostly unaltered ; occasionally, it is small 
and more or less flattened in the parietal regions. 

Cerebral Haemorrhage occurring- after birth. Acute Cerebral 
Palsy. — Cerebral haemorrhage may occur from various causes besides those 
in operation during the act of birth. Blood may ooze on to the surface of 
the brain or into the white or grey matter during hyperdistention of the 
cerebral veins from any cause. The commonest cause is a series of con- 
vulsions. Haemorrhage may occur, however, during whooping cough, or in 
severe vomiting, or in any cases in which there is a severe venous congestion 
of the brain. We have several times seen post mortem a meningeal bleed- 
ing in infants who have died in convulsions, and also after whooping cough. 
Such haemorrhages are most common during the first two years of life — in- 
deed, they are uncommon at any other period, and this is to be expected 
when we remember how much more delicate the capillaries and cerebral veins 
are during infancy than in later life. 

The convulsions which immediately precede the haemorrhage may be 
the result of many different conditions. Sometimes the primary illness is 
measles, acute diarrhoea, pneumonia, whooping cough, or scarlet fever ; more 
often, perhaps, the attack cannot be referred to any one of these, and the 
principal symptoms are high fever, drowsiness, and then the convulsions super- 
vene ; then, after a series of convulsions, a more or less well-marked hemi- 
plegia is noted. Such cases are often looked upon as 'brain fever 5 or 
' congestion of the brain.' In some cases there is a history of a fall. In other 
cases the convulsions are undoubtedly reflex, especially from the stomach. 
A high temperature, 105 to 106 , seems to excite convulsions. 

In all the cases we have noted the convulsions were severe, often one-sided 
at first, but tending to become general ; they may last from a few hours to a 
week ; the infant may remain a long time in a state of coma. Probably a 
small amount of bleeding may take place without producing any symptoms, 
and absorption takes place and no ill effect remains. In others there may 
be a slight and transient paresis of arm or leg or both, such as is sometimes 
seen after an epileptic fit. In another class no paralysis is left, but the child 
grows up with feeble mental powers which date from the time of the con- 
vulsions. In a common class of case a more or less complete hemiplegia or 
diplegia is left, with perhaps more or less facial paralysis. 

As an instance of reflex convulsions giving rise to cerebral haemorrhage 
we may relate the following case : — 

George L. , aged 12 years, was brought to the Children's Hospital, Manchester, suffer- 
ing from tuberculosis and also hemiplegia ; his mother gave the following history. He 
was strong and healthy when born, though the labour was somewhat tedious. There was 
no history of hereditary syphilis. He walked at twelve months of age, and was well and 
strong till two years of age. At this time he had a fit, which was attributed to his eating 
some crust of apple-pie some half an hour before the attack. He was playing on the 
doorstep at the time, he suddenly became ' black about the mouth,' and would have 
fallen but for another boy who caught him in his arms. The fit, including the unconscious 
state which followed, lasted about ten minutes. Two weeks after he had another fit, 
which lasted half an hour, and was more severe than the first ; his right arm and leg were 
especially convulsed. After this fit it was found that his right arm hung useless, and in 
trying to walk he dragged the right leg. The face was unaffected. The arm was always 
worse than the leg ; at first he could not hold anything in it. Both arm and leg slowly 
improved, but have remained more or less stiff and rigid. Ever since the first convulsion 



Cerebral Hemorrhage 



437 



he has been subject to fits, but he has not had any for the last two years. He has had on 
an average two fits a week, from when he was two years of age till he was ten years. 
They only lasted some minutes, accompanied by loss of consciousness ; he always knew 
when a fit was coming by his right thumb beginning to ' work.' He used to say ' Mother, 
my thumb's working ; ' then he would fall over almost immediately if not caught. The 
fits were mostly right-sided, but the left arm and leg would also ' work.' Lately he has 
used his right arm more than formerly, being able to hold things in it. 

When examined (September 8, 1890) it was evident he was affected with an old hemi- 
plegia : he could walk, but dragged his right leg after him. He could use his right arm 
for holding things, but could not feed himself with it ; the shoulder-joint was fairly mov- 
able, the elbow bent and semi-rigid, and the hand pronated ; the stiffness could be over- 
come by slight force. The right leg was somewhat stiff at the knee and slightly flexed as 




Fig. 89. — Horizontal Section of Brain, exposing lateral ventricles (x \). fr, fissure of 
Rolando ; a, old blood cyst ; b, b, b, b, small blood cysts. Haemorrhage at two years of 
age ; death at twelve years of age. 

he lay in bed, with the foot pointed. There was exaggerated knee reflex on the right side. 
There was no evidence of any mental weakness. 

He died of tuberculosis in February 1891. The post-mortem was made by Mr. R. W. 
Bowman, senior resident medical officer at the Children's Hospital ; we examined the 
brain next day. An examination of the outer surface of the brain showed it to be per- 
fectly normal, the membranes were healthy, there was no flattening of the convolutions or 
any evidence of an old surface haemorrhage. The internal parts were examined by making 
transverse sections. The first section taken through the centrum ovale showed nothing 
abnormal. A section made exposing the lateral ventricles, without slicing the corpus 
striatum, showed an old cyst (fig. 89 a) with brownish contents, § inches in length, situ- 
ated on the left side in the white substance between the fissure of Rolando and the corpus 
striatum ; and four small cysts B B situated on the right side in the white substance. The 
cyst marked A was apparently about \ inch in depth. There was no sclerosis or indura- 



438 



Diseases of the Nervous System 



tion in the neighbourhood of the cysts. A third section made lower than the above, and 
on a level with the upper surface of the cerebellum, and slicing the optic thalamus, caudate 
nucleus, and internal capsule (fig. 90), showed the lower limit of the cyst seen in fig. 89, 
a second old blood-cyst B, and another small one at C. Another similar cyst was found 
in the white substance of the frontal region at a lower level than fig. 90. 

Sections of the cord made in the cervical, dorsal, and lumbar regions did not show 
any sclerosis or wasting of the descending tracts : neither was there any wasting of the 
mternal capsule or crura. 

- In reviewing the history of the case, in the light of the morbid anatomy, 
there is much reason to believe that a multiple haemorrhage took place when 
the boy was two years of age, and that one or .more (A, fig. 89) of the 




— Horizontal Section through Brain at a lower level than fig. 89, showing Optic 
Thalamus and Caudate Nucleus ( x £). a, b, c, old blood cysts 

haemorrhages gave rise to the paralysis by the destruction of some of the 
white fibres en route from the motor-surface centres to the internal capsule. 
There seems to be little room for doubt that the initial convulsions were the 
'cause and not the consequence of the multiple haemorrhages. It is hardly 
conceivable that the multiple haemorrhages should be caused by any throm- 
bosis, embolism, or arteritis ; they must presumably have been due to a 
sudden engorgement of the veins due to asphyxia, such as takes place in a 
fit in consequence of spasm of the respiratory muscles. 

As an example of a hemiplegia following convulsions associated with 
measles, the following case occurring in a healthy boy of twenty months, a 
patient of Mr. Wilson of Cheadle, which came under our observation, may 
-be taken as an example. Mr.. Wilson's notes are as follows :— . 



Cerebral Hemorrhage 439 

The measles rash was first noticed on May 10 ; convulsions commenced at noon on 
the nth : these consisted of clonic spasms of the left arm and leg and right side of the 
face ; the eyes were turned to the right side and fixed ; the pupils were dilated, the tem- 
perature rose to 105 , the pulse was too fast to be counted ; the convulsions continued 
during the morning; at i P.M. the temperature was 107 F. , when the patient was put 
into a cold bath ; it was again xoj z at 4 p.m. , when he was bathed again and five grains 
of quinine given by the rectum ; at this time an examination of the lungs showed pneu- 
monia at one base ; at 6 p.m. the temperature was 103 , and the mother noticed he had 
lost the use of his left side; at 8 P.M. it was noted that the left arm was completely 
flaccid, paralysed, and apparently anaesthetic ; the leg was rigid, but on tickling the sole 
of the foot the toes moved slightly. Pneumonia developed the next day ; the child died 
on the 13th, the arm and leg remaining in the same condition ; unfortunately, no autopsy 
could be obtained. The paralysis was probably due to a surface bleeding following the 
convulsions. 

The following case may be given as illustrative of one which recovered 
from the immediate effects of the acute attack : — 

A child of thirteen months, who was cutting her lateral incisor teeth, was suddenly 
seized with vomiting, diarrhoea, and high fever ; then a series of convulsions came on 
which lasted eight hours, the right side working most ; at the end of this time it was 
noticed she had completely lost the use of the right arm and leg, and the face was drawn. 
Her speech was affected, so that she could not say any of the words she had learnt. For 
more than a month she lay quite helpless. Seven months afterwards, when twenty months 
old, she could not walk or rest her weight on the right leg ; the arm was bent at the elbow, 
the hand clenched, but the facial paralysis had disappeared ; she could say a few words, 
but was backward in intelligence. At the age of four years she had much improved : she 
could walk quite well, having apparently regained power in her leg, though there was 
slight equino-varus, but the right arm remained stiff and weak, the elbow flexed, the 
wrist bent and pronated, and the fingers clenched. The fingers closed spasmodically, so 
that she was in the habit of placing things with her left hand between the fingers of her 
right, where they were held without effort. She could talk and was very intelligent. 

These cases may be taken as types of acute cerebral paralysis due to 
cerebral haemorrhage ; the symptoms in such may De varied, but they all 
three agreed in that convulsions were present and the paralysis set in sud- 
denly and unexpectedly, as a surprise to the attendants. In the second and 
third there was high fever. 

For the succeeding few weeks, if the patient survives, he remains helpless, 
though the condition gradually improves ; if there is anaesthesia, this passes 
away ; the asphasia, if present, disappears ; the face improves, and still later 
more or less power returns in the muscles of the legs. The arm remains in 
part permanently paralysed, and in the course of some months contractures 
come on ; the greatest improvement takes place in the muscles about the 
shoulder ; the elbow is flexed, the wrist flexed and in a position of pronation, 
the fingers are bent up, enclosing the thumb. The amount of paresis and 
contracture varies considerably, according to the severity of the case. 
Peculiar movements often occur in the paralysed limbs, more especially in 
the hands, a condition to which the term ' athetosis ' has been applied. The 
movements as a rule are quite unlike chorea ; they are slow, consisting in alter- 
nate contraction of opposing muscles, giving rise to irregular movements of 
the fingers and hand ; they are involuntary, and take place in muscles in 
which there is ordinarily a certain amount of tonic spasm. The term 'mobile 
spasm' has been applied to this condition by Gowers. As the latter author 



44° Diseases of the Nervous System 

points out, the interossei and lumbricales muscles (which flex the metacarpo- 
phalangeal and extend the phalangeal joints) are mostly affected ; less often 
the long extensor, and never the long flexor of the fingers. 

In consequence, the hand is apt to assume the interosseal position. The 
movements may take place independently in the interossei, so that one or 
more fingers may be extended at a time, or all the fingers may be extended 
and separated, and the slow irregular movements of the extended fingers 
suggest the movements of the tentacles of a cuttle-fish (Gowers). The 
movements are involuntary, but are made worse by attempts at voluntary 
movements. 

The paralysed arm is apt to grow more slowly than its fellow, so that it is 
shorter and smaller, and often blue and cold. The leg, following the usual 
course in hemiplegias, recovers more quickly and perfectly than the arm ; 
there is more or less equino-varus, and there may be some shortening, but 
the child can get about fairly well. 

The intelligence often remains impaired ; sometimes there is complete 
idiocy, more often only impaired mental powers or backwardness. Epilepsy 
is also common. 

Morbid Anatomy. — If an opportunity occur of examining the brain shortly 
after the occurrence of the haemorrhage, blood varying in amount from a 
punctiform haemorrhage to a large clot or clots will be found beneath the pia, 
situated most commonly at the vertex, but also at times at the base ; it is 
usually double, but mostly more extensive on one side than the other. Blood 
clots may also be found in the central white matter, or in or about the masses 
of grey substance at the base. There may be actual destruction of brain 
substance as a result of the bleeding, and probably in most cases softening 
follows. 

If death occurs after some years, atrophic changes of varying amount will 
be found, or there may be old blood cysts, if the bleeding took place into the 
brain tissue. In cases in which there has been a hemiplegia or diplegia, 
the atrophic changes are situated in the motor area. The dura mater may be 
adherent and the pia mater thickened over this area, and instead of fully de- 
veloped convolutions in the ascending frontal and parietal convolutions a 
scarring or cicatrisation has taken place, no doubt as a result of the softening 
taking place after the haemorrhage. This was the case in the brain of a boy 
recently under the care of our colleague Dr. H. R. Hutton (see fig. 91), and 
also in a case recently shown by Dr. T. R. Railton at the Manchester Patho- 
logical Society. 1 

In Dr. Hutton's case the skull was thickened and flattened over both 
parietal regions, there was spastic diplegia, the infant was an idiot. At the 
ftost-morte7ii the dura mater was found to be adherent to the skull, the pia 
thickened over the motor area and adherent, a well-marked depression or 
sulcus being present over both motor areas. In some cases atrophy of the 
frontal or occipital lobes has been found as a result of the old haemorrhage. 

Treatment. — In connection with the treatment of post-ftartum, cerebral 

haemorrhage, the most important matter is to prevent its occurrence by so 

expediting labour, that the infant does not suffer from asphyxia. Much may 

be done to prevent, very little can be done to cure. We are powerless— as 

1 See Medical Chronicle, March 1892, p. 429. 



Cerebral Hemorrhage 



441 



far, at any rate, as drugs are concerned — to remove a cerebral clot or undo a 
brain damage. In those cases in which the bleeding is secondary to con- 
vulsions, the most important matter is to prevent any further return of the 
convulsions ; to this end the bromides and chloral must be used with a very 
free hand, and pushed so as to render the infant drowsy. Ice should be ap- 
plied to the head, and the head and shoulders kept well raised. A moderate 
purge should be given, sufficiently large to act freely on the bowels ; a piece 
of mustard-leaf may be applied to the back of the neck if the child is un- 
conscious, care being taken not to leave it on long enough to produce a sore. 
The drugs most likely to be of service are small doses of digitalis, to steady 
and increase the power of the heart, and bromide in full doses if there is 




Fig. 91. — Brain from a boy aged 18 months, showing, a, depression over both motor areas, due 
to meningeal haemorrhage at birth ; B, cerebellum only partially covered by the occipital 
lobes. The patient had a typical diplegia. (Dr. H. R. Hutton's case.) 

any tendency to convulsions. The paralysed limbs should be wrapped in 
cotton wool. As the patient is recovering from the effects of the attacks, 
nux vomica, iron, and syrup of the hypophosphites may be given. In the 
later stages, when contractures are setting in, massage should be diligently 
and intelligently employed ; but the patient's friends must be warned that 
a cure is not likely to be effected by any form of treatment, and that rubbing, 
as also galvanism, is only palliative. Every effort should be made to bring 
out the patient's voluntary power. The deformities resulting may be im- 
proved by division of tendons and the application of splints. 

With regard to prognosis, it is well to give a carefully guarded opinion 
as to the future. Nearly all cases improve, and slight paralyses get quite 
well. Severe cases improve as years go on, but it is doubtful if they ever 



442 



Diseases of the Nervous System 



completely recover. In the majority of cases there is some mental feeble- 
ness, either a mere backwardness, or there may be decided idiocy. Some 
cases become epileptic. 

Embolism. — Among the various causes producing a paralysis of hemi- 
plegic distribution we must mention embolism. Embolism chiefly occurs in 
patients suffering from endocarditis, but also it appears to occur at times 
when there is no form of heart disease present, the emboli appearing to form 
in the left auricle, or pulmonary veins. Embolism is perhaps most common 
in acute or malignant endocarditis ; this was so in the case recorded on 
page 318 (see fig. 92). 




Fig. 92. — Horizontal Section of a Brain, showing patch of softening involving the left lenticular 
nucleus and anterior limb of the internal capsule. The lenticuiar-striate artery was plugged 
with an embolus and impervious. There was complete hemiplegia of the right side. (See p. 318.) 

In the following case there was hemiplegia in consequence of a blocking 
of the middle cerebral artery, either from embolism or thrombosis : — 

A boy of one year old, who had suffered since birth from marked cyanosis due to 
obstructive pulmonary disease (fig. 48 represents the heart of this case) and constant 
dyspepsia, was seized one night with vomiting and convulsions, followed by paralysis of 
the left arm and leg. When seen on the following morning, the head and neck were 
turned to the right side, the eyes were suffused and blinking, as if some foreign body was 
present, the right pupil was smaller than the left, but both acted to light ; the child was 
apparently quite blind ; there were no retinal haemorrhages, and the optic discs were 
normal. The face was drawn to the right side ; there was complete loss of power, and 
apparently loss of sensation, in both arm and leg of the left side ; no cry could be elicited 
on pinching or pricking the skin of either limb. The child was drowsy, but not uncon- 
scious, as he appeared at times to know when he was in his mother's lap. He was 
apparently deaf for the first twenty-four hours, though there was necessarily some dim- 



Embolism of the Brain 



443 



culty in ascertaining this ; by the next day, though remaining blind, he knew the voices 
of his friends, and turned towards the direction of their voices ; it was clear, also, that he 
heard with both ears. Within a fortnight sight had returned, so that he could recognise 
his mother and his toys. His friends thought he regained his sight first in his right eye. 
By the end of six weeks sensation had returned, as far as could be judged, in the arm and 
leg, and some power was returning, as he moved both limbs of the left side. A week or 
two later he could hold a rattle in the left hand, but not raise it to his mouth ; the leg 
showed a tendency to draw up, and the knee reflex was much exaggerated. The child 
was quite intelligent and bright. Before death (seven months after seizure) much improve- 
ment had taken place : the child could put out his hand, but there was some rigidity both 
in the arm and leg. The child died of bronchitis. Post-mortem. — On removing the 
brain, it was evident the right hemisphere had shrunk, being slightly smaller than the left, 
and that there was a large cyst (porencephalus), containing clear fluid, occupying the 
central part of the convexity of the right hemisphere (see fig. 93) ; the cyst corresponded 
with the distribution of the middle cerebral artery, excepting the branch to the inferior 





Fig. 93. — Cyst formed by softening of brain substance, secondary to obstruction of the middle 
cerebral artery beyond the first branch (to inferior frontal convolution). The cyst-wall has 
fallen in from escape of its contents. Child nineteen months old ; death seven months after 
onset of paralysis. 



frontal convolution. The middle cerebral artery beyond its first branch was impervious, 
and contained old clot. It was quite clear in this case that there had been thrombosis or 
embolism of the middle cerebral, with a subsequent softening of the area supplied by it ; 
a horizontal section showed that the internal capsule had been compressed. 

No emboli were found elsewhere ; there was no endocarditis of the mitral 
or aortic valves, but a much contracted pulmonary artery and open foramen 
ovale. 

Dr. F. Taylor records a typical case of embolism following endocarditis : — 

A boy of five years, two weeks after an attack of scarlet fever, was seized with hemi- 
plegia of the right side ; the urine was albuminous. Death occurred from diphtheria 
nine weeks afterwards ; embolism of the left middle cerebral artery, with extensive soften- 
ing of the left hemisphere, was found. 

There was endocarditis of the mitral valve. Abercrombie reports a case 
of a boy aged 6 years who was under treatment for diphtheria, and who on 
the fifteenth day was seized with general convulsions and left hemiplegia ; 
he died eleven days later. The middle cerebral artery was found plugged 



444 Diseases of the Nervous System 

with an embolus ; infarcts were also found in the spleen and kidneys. There 
was no heart disease, and it was difficult to understand the source of the 
emboli, unless formed in the cavity of the heart or in the pulmonary veins ; 
this might be possible in paresis of the respiratory muscles and disturbed 
innervation of the heart, following diphtheria. 

Dr. Trevelyan reports a similar case to Dr. F. Taylor's, in a girl aged 
eight years convalescent from diphtheria, 

A sudden hemiplegia may be caused by meningitis, the immediate cause 
being softening following thrombosis or embolism of the vessels ; the 
meningitis is usually tubercular. Thus a boy of six months of age, who had 
been apparently healthy, suffered for a week or two from febrile disturbance, 
dyspepsia, and irritability, attributed not unnaturally by his friends to 
1 teething : ' one evening at 8 P.M. he was convulsed, the right arm and leg- 
twitching most : this was followed by right hemiplegia, including the face. At 
3 A.M., when seen, the infant was unconscious, with contracted pupils, Cheyne- 
Stokes respiration, the face drawn to the left, the right arm and leg com- 
pletely powerless. Death took place three days later, the temperature rising 
in the meantime to 105 . The post-mortem showed a basal meningitis (tu- 
bercular), much fluid in the lateral ventricles, and softening of the left hemi- 
sphere and corpus striatum. 

Another lesion (this a rare one) giving rise to hemiplegia is an aneurism 
of the middle cerebral artery, the result of embolism, in cases of acute 
endocarditis ; this was the case in a girl of nine years under our care who 
suffered from intermittent pyrexia and albuminuria, and in whom a loud 
systolic murmur was present. To these symptoms were added acute pain in 
the frontal region, coming on suddenly. An ophthalmoscopic examination 
showed large retinal haemorrhages surrounding the disk. A week later there 
was paresis of the right arm, no paralysis, but exaggerated tendon reflex of 
the right leg. Six weeks later she fell back unconscious while sitting up in 
bed : there was now right facial paralysis, and paralysis of the right leg. 
Death followed ten days later. An aneurism the size of a small walnut, 
on the second branch (to the ascending frontal convolution), near its origin 
from the trunk of the left middle cerebral artery, which had ruptured and 
given rise to meningeal haemorrhage, was found post mortem. 

Thrombosis of the Cerebral Sinuses and Veins. — Thrombosis of the 
cerebral sinuses or veins is not a common occurrence during infancy and 
childhood. It may occur in the superior longitudinal, lateral, or cavernous 
sinus. It is most likely to occur in extreme anaemia, after exhausting 
diseases as acute diarrhoea, where the force of the heart is weakened and a 
stasis or slowing of the venous current takes place. Thrombosis may also 
occur in the surface veins under similar circumstances, or the clotting in the 
veins may be the result of meningitis. The immediate result of the obstruc- 
tion to the veins or sinuses is to distend the venous branches behind the 
obstruction to their utmost capacity, and possibly also to give rise to puncti- 
form haemorrhage and softening of the brain. Thrombosis of venous 
channels may take place in the neighbourhood of some inflammation, as in 
otitis, and pyaemia may result. 

Symptoms. — There is a condition of great exhaustion and pallor, and to 
these are added cerebral symptoms and venous obstruction. The fontanelle 



Syphilitic Arteritis 445 

is tense, the veins of the forehead, nose, and face are distended ; there is 
epistaxis and probably convulsions ; perhaps, also, rigidity and retraction of 
the neck, and paralysis of one or more extremities. In making a diagnosis, 
it must be remembered that the so-called ' false-hydrocephaloid ' or cerebral 
anaemia, gives rise to convulsions, stupor, and coma, and is infinitely more 
common than thrombosis. We are only justified in diagnosing the latter 
when there is distention of the veins of the face and forehead, or some 
definite paralysis. Thrombosis of the cavernous sinus is most likely to occur 
in some local lesion, as a tumour, as a periosteal sarcoma of the sphenoid 
bone, or caries ; the eyeball is prominent, there is oedema of the eyelids and 
distention of the veins of the forehead. 

Treatment. — The action of the heart must be strengthened by stimulants 
and digitalis, and the tendency to exhaustion and syncope must be combated 
by beef-tea and highly concentrated forms of nourishment. The patient 
should be kept in the prone position as much as possible, with the shoulders 
and head raised. The prognosis is necessarily extremely grave. 

Arteritis. Softening-. — An acute arteritis in rare instances occurs in in- 
fants a few months old who are the subjects of congenital syphilis. Such 
cases have been recorded by Dr. T. Barlow, Chiari, and Heubner. Arteritis 
also occurs in syphilitic infants of all ages, accompanied in some cases by 
pachymeningitis and sclerosis of the brain. 1 

In infants, the principal symptoms are convulsions, in the form of 
muscular twitchings of an arm or leg, followed by paresis and contractures. 
The infant gradually becomes idiotic. The chief changes are in the arteries 
as described by Heubner, there is a thickening of the internal coat, the 
nuclei between the endothelium and the fenestrated membrane becoming 
increased in number, to be followed by fatty changes ; thrombosis takes 
place at the seat of the inflammatory changes. Softening of the brain 
follows over the area supplied by the blocked arteries. The following case 
illustrates this. 

Syphilitic Arteritis. Softening. — Infant first seen at three months of age, when suffer- 
ing from coryza and a well-marked rash. A month later the epiphyses of the lower end 
of the tibia and fibula, also the lower ends of the radius and ulna, were swollen and tender 
(fig. 82 was drawn from this case). When seven months old it began to suffer from con- 
vulsions, mostly left-sided at first, later the convulsive movements became general. In the 
course of a few months the left arm and leg, which were more or less paralysed, began to 
draw up and become more or less rigid ; the elbow was bent at right angles, the arm pro- 
nated, and the fingers flexed ; still later the right arm became similarly affected ; the child 
gradually became idiotic, and died at four months old. It was under mercurial treatment 
from three months of age. At the post-mortem the arachnoid was of a milky colour, and 
there was an excess of subarachnoid fluid ; there was no effused lymph or meningitis. 
The superficial layer of the grey matter on the convex surface of both hemispheres, espe- 
cially the right, was softened and could be readily scraped away ; the superficial layer of 
the caudate nucleus and optic thalamus were in the same condition of softening. Micro- 
scopically, the grey matter showed extensive fatty degeneration ; the minute arteries were 
extensively blocked with old thrombi, their inner coats being thickened and their nuclei 
increased in number. The large arteries were normal, as far as could be made out. 
There seems to have been an extensive syphilitic arteritis of the small meningo-encephalic 
arteries, thrombosis, and secondary softening of the superficial grey matter. 

1 J. S. Bury, M.D., Brain, April, 1883. 



446 



CHAPTER XXII. 

DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM— {continued). 

Chorea. — Chorea is a disease which occurs chiefly in children between 
the ages of six and fifteen years, and is characterised by irregular spasms of 
the voluntary muscles, and in some cases by paresis of the extremities and 
mental weakness. 

/Etiology. — Chorea can hardly be said to be hereditary, but undoubtedly 
a tendency to neuroses or 'weak nerves' runs in families, and instances 
might be adduced of emotional parents having children who suffer from 
chorea ; moreover, it is a common experience to find several sisters or brothers 
suffering from chorea, or perhaps one or more are neurotic or hysterical. 

Chorea is not common before the age of six years, and after the age of 
fifteen years the liability to. attacks becomes very much less. It is more 
common in girls than boys, in this respect resembling hysteria and other 
emotional diseases. Analysing 633 cases which have attended at the Chil- 
dren's Hospital, we find that 454 were girls, and 179 were boys, giving a 
proportion of five girls to two boys ; these figures closely correspond to the 
statistics collected by other writers. 1 In 252 cases the ages of the patients 
were analysed, giving the following result : — 

Under six years . . . . 15= 3 boys and 12 girls 

Between six and ten years . . 102 = 35 boys and 67 girls 
Between ten and fifteen years . 135 = 44 boys and 91 girls 

The youngest child was a girl of four years of age. 

The children most apt to suffer are the nervous and excitable, those who 
are easily frightened, especially if they are suffering from ill-health, the result 
of unfavourable life-conditions or rapid growth. 

By far the commonest exciting cause is a fright ; in 38 cases out of 252 
there was a definite history of the patient being frightened, the symptoms 
following in some cases next day, in others within a few days or a week. 
The causes of the fright were various : in one case, that of a boy, the symptoms 
followed three days after seeing a 'man with his throat cut;' sometimes the 
attack was ascribed to a ' dog having flown at the child,' or the patient was 
'frightened by a policeman,' or the child had been caned by the schoolmistress, 
or had had a fall downstairs. In such histories there is often something it is 
necessary to discount : probably the scoldings at school were the conse- 
quence and not the cause of the chorea ; but, on the other hand, it is certain 

1 See Fagge's Principles and Practice of Medicine, edited by Pye-Smith. 2nd edit. 



Chorea 447 

that chorea may follow within a few hours of a serious shock to the nervous 
system. 

Mental strain, as working hard for an examination, in some cases appears 
to excite an attack ; this has occurred too often in our experience to be 
attributed to any mere coincidence. Given a fast-growing and delicate girl, 
of excitable disposition and not too well fed, who is at school for many hours 
during the day and has to divide her attention between home lessons and 
various domestic duties, so that she becomes little else than a drudge, it can 
hardly be surprising that she suffers from a nervous breakdown. ' School- 
made chorea,' as Dr. Sturges calls it, is not by any means confined to the 
poorer classes, and, although among the better-to-do classes there is no ques- 
tion of poor food and household drudgery, yet there is often much forcing 
exercised to enable a girl, of perhaps delicate health, to keep pace with or 
run ahead of her stronger and more robust class-mates. 

In some instances children who are convalescent from various depressing 
diseases, such as acute rhematism, enteric fever, or scarlet fever, are attacked 
with chorea. Rheumatism excepted, enteric fever in our experience more 
often than any other disease predisposes to chorea ; other nervous dis- 
orders, such as dementia, mania, and aphasia, are not uncommon after enteric, 
and are no doubt due, as is also the chorea, to the anaemia and exhaustion 
caused by the long drain on the system during the disease. For the con- 
nexion of rheumatism with chorea see p. 360. 

Heart disease in some instances precedes the attack of chorea, or, in other 
words, chorea makes its appearance in children suffering from cardiac dis- 
ease. 

It sometimes happens that a source of irritation in some part of the body is 
the exciting cause of an attack of chorea ; thus we have seen a temporary 
chorea occasioned by suppuration in the middle ear, the choreic movements 
ceasing when the discharge made its appearance. In other cases it happens 
that chorea is an early symptom in pericarditis — this we have also seen ; in 
one case, in a little girl of four years, choreic movements preceded by a few 
days the physical signs of a pericarditis which proved fatal. We cannot help 
thinking that in such a case the chorea was symptomatic of the pericarditis, 
the latter being the primary lesion, rather than that the heart lesion was 
secondary to the chorea. 

Imitatiofi in some cases seems to be a factor in the production of chorea. 
On one occasion five cases occurred in a girls' school immediately after the 
admission of a child suffering from chorea ; in such cases, perhaps, it may 
not be imitation so much as fright at seeing others affected, as Gowers 
suggests. We have never known children in the same ward to become 
choreic in consequence of a bad case being admitted, but we have seen 
cases of chorea apparently made worse by association with a bad case. 

Symptoms. — Most of those who suffer from chorea are in some way or 
other weakly, or at least not in robust health ; they are often anaemic, rapidly 
growing girls. Not infrequently, it occurs in girls who have gone out to 
service, and who are undertaking work which is beyond their strength. Often 
the first symptoms are a loss of control over the muscles, especially the 
flexors and extensors of the fingers and wrists, and a want of precision in 
the movements of the hands. The patient drops cups and saucers on the floor, 



448 Diseases of the Nervous System 

is unable to do needlework, fumbles sadly when she attempts to tie a piece 
of string, or spills her food when she passes it to her mouth. Sometimes, 
especially in younger children, the first thing noticed is that she ' makes 
faces,' her mouth screwing up so as to make grotesque grimaces, while she 
fidgets with her fingers, and when she attempts to dress herself makes use- 
less, clumsy, ineffectual movements. All this may go on for many days, 
perhaps weeks, without the friends thinking the child is really ill, and perhaps 
she gets scolded, both at home and at school, for her clumsy ways and in- 
attention to her work. Sooner or later the movements become too obvious 
to escape attention ; indeed, it is apparent to every one that something is 
wrong. The movements, as Dr. Sturges points out, are much more vigorous 
in the upper part of the body than the lower, the hands suffering most of all. 
The fingers are opened and shut, the extensor and flexor muscles being con- 
stantly worked ; the arm is passed behind the back, then brought to the 
front ; if asked to shake hands, it is thrust rapidly forward, being directed 
with difficulty to the hand to be grasped. The tongue is protruded with a 
jerk, and perhaps drawn back again in a moment with a quick movement. 
The muscles of the face are frequently spasmodically contracted, so that queer 
grinning grimaces are constantly being made. The muscles of the neck are 
frequently contracted and relaxed, so that the head is moved from side to 
side or rotated. When the child walks, the feet join in the spasmodic 
movements, so that the gait is altered, the legs being thrown forward quickly, 
or if the patient stands the feet are restless, being shifted about from place 
to place. When the patient is at rest in bed she will lie still if not disturbed, 
but directly she is interfered with — as, for instance, to examine the chest — the 
movements begin, the hands, face, and trunk muscles being thrown into a 
state of clonic spasm. The muscles of respiration do not escape : the 
child takes a deep sighing inspiration, then perhaps there is a series of 
shallow irregular respirations. The irregular respirations may affect the 
pulse, so that it is irregular and intermittent. The movements cease during 
sleep, though sleep is not readily obtained ; indeed, in the worst cases the 
patient only sleeps when under the influence of chloral or opium, which has 
to be freely given in order to secure rest. In the milder cases the movement 
may be confined to one side ; this, however, is never the case when the 
movements are severe, though it is very common to have the clonic spasms 
more vigorous on one side than the other. A hemichorea, in which the 
movements are vigorous and entirely confined to one arm or leg, is pro- 
bably due to some organic cerebral disease. 

The temperature is usually normal throughout, sometimes subnormal ; 
if there is any fever, peri-endocarditis or rheumatism should be suspected. 
In the most severe cases the temperature may be raised a degree or two. 

There is often marked paresis of an arm or leg, far more commonly the 
former; not only is the grasp feeble, but the arm is weak and powerless, 
though complete, or indeed well-marked, paralysis does not occur. This 
paresis of an arm is sometimes the most prominent feature in the case, but 
in all cases more or less of clonic spasm may be detected in the fingers or in 
the facial muscles. These cases have been spoken of as ' paralytic chorea.' 

The electric irritability of the muscles in cases of hemichorea has been 
studied by several observers, most recently by Gowers, cases of hemichorea 



Chorea 449 

being selected on account of the possibility of comparing the muscles of one 
side with the other. In some cases no difference can be detected, but in others 
there has been noted an increase of irritability on the affected side, the 
muscles contracting with a weaker faradic and also voltaic current than those 
on the unaffected side. 

The speech is affected, in some cases from the muscles of the tongue, 
jaw and larynx not being under- efficient control. In other cases the mental 
weakness frequently present may be the cause. Headaches are often com- 
plained of; sometimes, especially in cases of 'hysterical chorea, 1 there is 
hyperesthesia or anaesthesia. 

Optic neuritis has been observed by Gowers, slight in degree in some 
cases ; in one case there was a sufficient degree to make it comparable to 
the neuritis seen in a case of cerebral tumour. In the vast majority of cases 
there are no optbalmoscopic changes. 

The mental state is often peculiar. There is a vacant, listless expression 
on the face, in many cases a dulness of comprehension. The child may 
cry on the slightest provocation. There may be actual dementia, or, on the 
other hand, maniacal excitement. 

In the worst cases the movements are severe : the child constantly 
wriggles about, and the arms and legs move sufficiently violently to throw the 
patient out of bed. The constant movements of the limbs chafe the skin on 
the extensor surfaces, so that unhealthy-looking sores may result. We have 
seen such in a fatal case become actually gangrenous before death. The 
patient is sleepless, and becomes anaemic and completely exhausted. Death, 
however, may not result from actual exhaustion, it may occur in consequence 
of pyaemia or pericarditis. Among over 634 cases there were five deaths, but 
one of these died, not from chorea, but from an intercurrent tubercular 
meningitis. All five cases were in girls ; indeed, fatal cases in boys are very 
rare. Dr. Fagge relates the case of a boy who died in nine days, and another 
boy of 12 years who died from obstructed breathing due to glossitis, the 
tongue having been severely bitten. 

The following is the history of a fatal case of chorea : — 

Chorea, Endocarditis, Death. — Maggie May B. , aged 10 years. Four members of 
the same family have recently suffered from sore throats and fever due to drain smells at 
the back of the house. No history of rheumatism or previous attack of chorea. Patient 
has been attended at home by Dr. V. Brown. She has had severe chorea at home for 
two weeks. Admitted February 27, 1891. The choreic movements are moderately severe ; 
she cannot feed herself ; the heart's action is irregular, but there is no bruit ; there is 
incontinence of urine ; sordes on her lips and teeth ; temperature, 98°-ioo c: ; sleeps badly. 
March 2. — Has been taking bromide and chloral, is quieter, and the movements are less ; 
temperature, 96°-98°. March 9. — Still improving, no bruit heard, sleeps better. 
March n. — The temperature has gone up to 104 F. this afternoon ; the movements are 
now very violent ; chloroform has been given to quiet the excessive movements. Bruit 
heard for the first time at the apex. Nepenthe in 10-minim doses seems to excite ; chloral 
appears to answer better. March 16. — Has been taking bromide, chloral, and hyoscya- 
mus ; is quieter, but takes food with difficulty ; temperature, 97°-ioi°. Extensor surfaces 
of the arms are very rough and sore from friction ; there is swelling of the right parotid. 
March 19. — Much worse to-day. Respiration, Cheyne-Stokes. Died in the evening. 

Post-mortem. — Skin covering elbows and wrists roughened and abraded, ulcer on ball 
of thumb, ulcer over styloid process of radius and lower end of ulna ; both ears are 
abraded ; hair at back of head worn off; knuckles abraded. Much swelling of right 

G G 



45° Diseases of the Nervous System 

parotid. Lungs. — Old adhesions round left ; right upper lobe dark red, solid behind, 
and sinks in water ; anterior edge emphysematous ; lower lobe semisolid. There are 
patches of consolidation in the left lung ; the back of the upper lobe is gorged. Heart 
{6\ oz.) is firmly contracted, especially left ventricle. Mitral valves show recent endo- 
carditis, the edges being beaded (see fig. 50, which was drawn from this case) ; other 
valves healthy. No dilatation or hypertrophy. Intesti7ies congested, Payer's patches 
swollen, slightly abraded in places. Liver (44 oz.) enlarged and congested. Spleen 
(4! oz.) large and soft. Kidneys congested. Brain. — Veins on surface full. Arachnoid 
membrane opaque and cloudy, excess of subarachnoid fluid. There is a patch of what 
appears to be lymph on the convex surface. In the Sylvian fissure the arachnoid is 
especially opaque. The brain substance is firm, the capillaries are congested. 

Chorea is a chronic disease lasting for many weeks, often many months, 
but it is usually not equally severe throughout this period. Ten weeks is 
often stated to be the average ; it certainly is often much longer. Relapses 
are exceedingly common ; it is not uncommon for children to have three to 
five attacks, but the tendency passes off after puberty. 

Complications. — In the majority of cases of chorea the heart is in some 
way or other affected. In some cases chorea apparently supervenes in 
children who are suffering from chronic heart disease, in a few cases it 
appears to be brought on by an attack of pericarditis, but in the majority of 
cases the heart complication comes on during the course of an attack of 
chorea. Out of 252 cases of chorea, nothing abnormal was noted in the 
heart's action in 79, in 54 there was irregularity or reduplication of the 
sounds, in 1 19 bruits, mostly heard at the apex more loudly than at the base, 
were detected. Some of these bruits were, no doubt, anaemic, inasmuch as 
they were present only at the base ; it is seldom, however, possible to say 
dogmatically that a bruit heard during the course of chorea is simply hasmic, 
and it is necessary to have the patient under observation for a long period 
during convalescence before we are in a position to say if a so-called haemic 
bruit is due to organic disease or not. It is well also to remember that 
endocarditis may occur and yet no bruit be produced ; thus we have 
sometimes failed to detect bruits in cases of chorea, but some months after- 
wards have noted undoubted organic murmurs. Both mitral and aortic 
valves may be affected ; though the former are far more commonly affected 
than the latter, while many of those in whom bruits are heard during chorea 
have suffered from rheumatism, this is by no means the case with all. 

Acute or sub-acute rheumatism was associated with chorea in 46 out 
of 252 cases, while 20 more, according to their friends' account, suffered from 
1 rheumatic pains.' Statistics with regard to the association of chorea and 
rheumatism vary considerably, but this is hardly surprising, inasmuch as we 
are largely dependent upon the histories given by friends, and their ideas 
concerning rheumatism are apt to be vague ; moreover, the symptoms of 
rheumatism are often less well-marked in children than in adults, and 
rheumatic attacks may be easily overlooked, or at least may not be recog- 
nised as rheumatic. The association of rheumatism and chorea is undoubted, 
and cannot be^'a mere coincidence ; not only do we see children suffering 
from chorea attacked with rheumatism, and vice versa, but not infrequently 
we see a sister suffering from chorea and a brother from rheumatism, or 
attacks of chorea and rheumatism alternating in the same individual. 
Rheumatic nodules are present in a few cases. 



Chorea 451 

The following case illustrates the association of chorea with rheumatism: — 

A Case of Chorea attended by Paresis and Loss of Speech for eighty-one days, and com- 
plicated with Peri-Endocarditis and many Fibrous Nodules. Death after 8^ months' 
Illness. — Edith M. N., aged 9 years, the daughter of a surgeon, was fairly strong and 
enjoyed good health till early in June 1889, when it was noticed she had developed 
decided choreic movements ; for three or four weeks previous to this some premonitory 
symptoms, such as excessive fidgetiness, had made their appearance. In the previous 
September, eight months before the beginning of the illness, she received a severe fright 
when away from home, and since then had been subject to peculiar nervous attacks. 
There is a strong rheumatic history in both parents. 

During the early weeks of June the choreic movements steadily increased, and were 
most marked in the face and right side of the body. Her speech was affected, and on 
June 19 she lost the power of speech, a condition which lasted for eighty-one days. 
About this date she lost control over her limbs ; any attempt at voluntary movement 
rendered the involuntary movements stronger and more erratic. She was unable to 
change her position in bed, and, indeed, on one occasion was nearly suffocated by slipping 
down under the bedclothes and being unable to extricate herself. On the same date 
several joints became tender, being most marked in the right elbow and wrist. 

During the next few days the movements became more violent, all the limbs being 
tossed about, the head jerked and banged from side to side, and the features constantly 
contorted. She was fed with difficulty, on account of the movements of the muscles of 
mastication and a difficulty of swallowing. Early in July a mitral regurgitant bruit was 
detected, rheumatic pains were constant, and fibrous nodules made their appearance. 
The ' rheumatic ' pains varied, sometimes the joints were tender, at other times there were 
shooting pains down the legs ; the first nodule noticed was over one of the spinous pro- 
cesses of the cervical vertebrae. These nodules were followed by many others, which 
made their appearance during the succeeding two or three months. At one time there 
were at least 200 present, being situated on the scalp, borders of the scapulae, along the 
ribs, tendons of the hands and feet. There was one present over each spinous process, 
presenting an appearance resembling Dr. Cheadle's illustration in the Lancet, May 4, 1889. 
They varied in size from a pea to a large filbert, and in some places, especially on the 
back of the head, they presented an almost bony hardness. 

The choreic movements at this time were exceedingly severe, continuing both night 
and day, the patient obtaining very little rest. The tongue and mucous membrane of the 
cheeks and lips were bitten, and troublesome ulcers resulted. The lower jaw was retracted, 
apparently from spasm of the muscles, so that the lower incisors closed inside the upper 
incisors. There were frequent involuntary movements of the bowels and bladder. 

On July 12 a friction sound was heard over the cardiac region, followed by a large 
effusion into the pericardium, with a weak and rapid pulse. By the end of July the fluid 
in the pericardium had diminished in quantity and the dyspnoea less urgent than it had 
been. The choreic movements were less violent, but a paresis of the extensors of the 
fingers and an over-action of the flexors was noted, so that a ball of cotton wool had to 
be kept in the palms of the hands to protect the skin from being injured by the nails. 
Another noteworthy point was the extreme retraction of the jaw. The emaciation and 
exhaustion had now become extreme. 

In August another attack of pericarditis occurred, with effusion, and as the fluid 
became absorbed the systolic murmur noted a month before became louder ; there was also 
a thrill and a distinct presystolic bruit. 

The condition remained much the same during August and the early part of September ; 
at this time she was kindly seen by Dr. W. B. Cheadle, of London. On the evening of 
September 8 the power of speech suddenly returned, and from this time she was able to 
converse with her friends. Later she suffered from several fresh attacks of rheumatic 
pains and violent attacks of pain over the praecordial region. 

During the latter part of September and during the next two months gradual improve- 
ment took place ; the movements ceased, the paresis of the limbs disappeared, and she 
was able to walk with help ; but the heart evidently became more and more enlarged, and 
the systolic bruit more marked. 

G G 2 



45 2 Diseases of the Nervous System 

In January signs of cardiac failure set in ; there was enlargement of the liver, great 
anaemia, dyspepsia, and dyspnoea on exertion. There were also frequent attacks of 
severe cardiac neuralgia, the pain being referred to the praecordial region, and there was a 
sense of constriction round the waist. Early in February oedema of the feet came on, 
while the attacks of cardiac pain were most distressing, and continued till her death on 
February 19, the illness having lasted nearly nine months in all. 

This case illustrates in a remarkable manner the close association between 
chorea and the rheumatic state, and the damage which the heart may suffer 
in the young without the patient suffering from a typical attack of articular 
inflammation. Apart from the severe chorea from which, the patient suffered, 
there was a continuance of the ' rheumatic state ' for several months, during 
which time there were joint tenderness, shooting pains, acid perspirations, 
continuous crops of ' fibrous nodules,' patches of erythema, and repeated 
attacks of peri-endocarditis. It is evident that the latter was chiefly in- 
strumental in bringing about the fatal termination, for it was clear there 
was not only a damaged mitral valve, but the frequent attacks of pericarditis 
must have bound the heart tightly round with fibroid adhesions. One of the 
unusual features in the case was the distressing cardiac neuralgia, the pain 
over the heart appearing to be intense, and the sense of constriction round 
the chest being very marked and difficult to relieve. There was doubtless a 
labouring ill-nourished heart struggling with its load. 

Of what prognostic importance were the large crops of fibrous nodules ? 
We may certainly say they pointed to the intensity of the ' rheumatic ' state, 
and the consequent probability of recurrent attacks of peri-endocarditis. 
It is worthy of note that these nodules were mostly situated over prominent 
parts, and where, in the choreic state of the patient, friction would be most 
intense. Thus they were present on the back of the head, over the spinous 
processes, and along the edges of the scapula. In the rheumatic state, as 
Dr. Cheadle insists, there is a special liability to irritative lesions of the 
fibrous tissues ; this is seen in the nodules — which are caused by a prolifera- 
tion, and cell-infiltration of the fibrous tissue — and in the endocardial, peri- 
cardial, and pleural inflammations. If, as he believes, there is a close 
relationship between the fibrous nodules and peri-endocarditis, the significance 
of the occurrence of nodules cannot be overrated. 

Perhaps the most interesting features in the case were those connected 
with the nervous system. For nearly three months the patient did not 
speak, and the only sounds made consisted of a sort of ' grunt.' She was 
perfectly sensible and rational, and would try to nod or shake her head, but 
any attempt at speaking, especially when the chorea was at its worst, made 
the involuntary movements of the face and neck more violent. The cause 
of the loss of speech was doubtless due to a loss of control over the muscles 
of the tongue and lips. This was also manifested in the difficulty of mas- 
ticating food. The power of speech entirely returned, and was retained up 
to the time of her death. 

Another peculiar symptom was the retraction of the jaw, which was well- 
marked, apparently being caused by over-action of the retractor muscles. 
In the later stages of the choreic attack, the weakness of the arms and the 
over-action of the flexors of the fingers were well seen. The hands were 
tightly clenched, and any attempt to force them open gave pain and brought 



Chorea 453 

on a more convulsive action of the flexors of the fingers. There was also 
some rigidity of the legs, with pointing of the toes. At this period there was 
much wasting of the muscles, with a certain amount of tenderness on pressure 
over them. 

A paresis of one arm not infrequently takes place in chorea ; such cases 
have been described as paralytic chorea. It consists in weakness rather 
than paralysis, and not infrequently precedes the other symptoms of chorea. 
A peripheral neuritis in rare cases appears to follow chorea, as it does 
also rheumatic attacks, the principal phenomena being muscular wasting 
and paresis, indefinite pains such as ' pins and needles,' and in some instances 
anaesthesia. 

In some cases there is sufficient excitement of the brain to merit the 
name of maniacal chorea or chorea insaniens. This condition is most 
common at or about puberty. There may be violent delirium and excite- 
ment, so that the patient has to be controlled by her attendants, the attacks 
resembling acute mania. Often these attacks are closely allied to or resemble 
hysteria. The following case appears to have been one of this kind : — 

The patient was a girl of fourteen years of age ; both her sister and herself had chorea 
a year and a half before the present attack, which lasted for some time, and for which 
she was treated in the Derby Infirmary. She was readmitted with choreic movements oi 
moderate intensity, but they were readily controlled by the will, and she was perfectly 
rational. She got worse, the movements being more violent ; there was difficulty of 
speech, she became extremely emotional and at times maniacal. When she was moved — 
as, for instance, when her bed was made — she would struggle and run her nails into the 
attendants. Two months after admission the knees became semiflexed and rigid, and 
there was incontinence of urine and faeces. She was so troublesome that she was sent 
home after about three months in hospital. 1 Shortly after she was admitted to the Chil- 
dren's Hospital. At this time she had sordes on her lips and teeth, she was much 
emaciated ; both knees were semiflexed and rigid, the hips were semiflexed and rigid ; 
the patellar reflex could not be obtained on account of the excessive rigidity. There 
were slight choreic movements of the arms and face ; she passed her urine and faeces into 
bed. She was extremely emotional, and there was some hyperesthesia, especially about 
the joints and muscles. She gradually began to improve in a week or two, having more 
control over the sphincters, and the legs became less rigid and she gained flesh. A fort- 
night after admission the bedsores had healed, and she was less emotional. In a month 
she could walk with help, and in three months she was discharged quite well. 

In this case there seems to have been aggravated hysteria associated 
with chorea, though at one time the girl looked very much as if she was 
suffering from organic brain disease. The emaciation, bed-sores, and rigid 
legs seemed to point to an organic lesion ; this was, however, negatived by 
her complete recovery. 

In some rare cases instead of paresis there is muscular spasm, which may 
persist for some time after the choreic movements have disappeared. The 
following case illustrates this : — 

A boy, aged ioj years, was admitted to the Children's Hospital suffering from chorea, 
which was attributed to a fright, he having seen a ' ghost at a show. ' Three sisters had 
also suffered from chorea, one having died during an attack. His attack was a moderate 
one ; no bruit was heard, there was some paresis of his right leg. He was dischai-ged in 

1 These notes were kindly furnished by Dr. W. Benthall, of Derby. 



454 Diseases of the Nervous System 

a month's time quite well. He was readmitted two months later, the choreic movements 
being pretty much confined to the right arm, which was markedly weak ; the right knee- 
joint and ankle were rigid, the muscles being in a state of spasm ; there was no pain or' 
tenderness. There was a systolic bruit at the apex. He was discharged in six weeks ; 
the choreic movements had disappeared, but the spasm in the right leg persisted. He 
had another attack of chorea eighteen months afterwards ; before this occurred, the 
muscular spasm had entirely disappeared. 

Hemichorea. — In many cases, as already pointed out, the movements 
are confined to one side of the body, or at all events they are more marked 
on one side than the other. Hemichorea is in some instances post-hemi- 
plegic, following some months or more after the hemiplegia, when contrac- 
tures are present, as in the case of cerebral tumours situated near and in- 
volving the internal capsule or pyramidal tracts ; choreiform movements 
may take place on the opposite side. In hemichorea symptomatic of brain 
disease the movements are vigorous and grotesque, the fingers, hands, feet, 
and extremities being twisted and jerked about. In one of our cases, in a 
boy of five years of age, who had a cheesy tumour in the right optic thalamus, 
at first sight the child appeared to be affected with the ordinary form of 
chorea. His left arm was in constant movement, the result of short, irregular, 
jerky contractions of the muscles of the forearm and arm, following one 
another with great rapidity, and closely resembling those seen in a severe 
case of chorea. When the boy was at rest the arm was quiet, only a sort of 
fumbling movement of his hand being noticed, but on asking him to sit up 
or give his hand, vigorous, almost violent, movements began again. Some of 
the movements were produced by all the muscles of the arm, yet some of the 
muscles acted more continuously and powerfully than others, so that the 
arm tended to be held to the side and more or less behind, while the fore- 
arm was pronated and the wrist flexed, the fingers being in continual move- 
ment. This condition of hemichorea differs from ' athetosis ' or ' mobile ' 
spasm already described (p. 439). 

Morbid Anatomy. — Various minute changes have been described in the 
brain in fatal cases of chorea, but it is quite certain that no constant and 
invariable lesion has been discovered. Embolism and thrombosis of the 
minute vessels of the cortex and basal ganglia have been described ; minute 
spots of softening, changes in the nerve cells, and enlarged perivascular 
spaces have also been found. We cannot say that any of these observations 
throw any light on the morbid anatomy of the disease, especially when we 
remember that on various occasions competent observers have found 
nothing of importance in their examination of the brain and spinal cord in 
fatal cases. Many of the changes described are no doubt secondary, the 
result of a hyperemia of the nervous centres. 

The frequent association of chorea with rheumatism and endocarditis 
suggested to Kirkes the idea that chorea was the result of minute embolism 
of the brain by fragments of fibrin washed off the mitral valves. This 
hypothesis, however, is quite inadequate to explain the phenomena presented 
by the disease ; thus chorea has followed within a few hours of a sudden 
fright, and moreover fatal cases have been recorded (though rarely) in which 
no endocarditis has been found. Embolism will not explain those cases of 
' reflex chorea' in which the exciting cause is an acute otitis, or when chorea. 



Chorea 455 

follows some injury or accompanies pregnancy ; we find that pericarditis, and 
perhaps endocarditis, act as exciting causes operating through the nervous- 
system, just in the same way as some gastric-intestinal irritation may be the 
exciting cause of convulsions in infants. 

In considering the pathology of chorea we must take into account the 
associations of chorea, though it cannot be said they help us much in coming 
to a conclusion. Chorea is associated, on the one hand, with rheumatism 
and endocarditis, and on the other with hysteria and mania ; the former 
association would suggest a blood-change, the latter simply a functional 
disturbance of the nervous system. Pathologists in formulating their 
theories have leaned either to the one or to the other. Sometimes chorea 
has been explained as secondary to endocarditis, as a result of capillary 
embolism, or as the result of a ' rheumatic ' condition of blood, in which 
some chemical poison has been present in the blood which has a specific 
action on the nervous system. At other times chorea has been looked upon 
as an emotional disease, and, like hysteria, a purely functional disease, or, as 
it has been termed, an ' insanity of the muscles ' or motor region of the brain, 
just as mania or other forms of insanity affect the seat of the mind. 

There has been also much difference of opinion with regard to the seat 
of the disease ; it has been placed in the spinal cord, basal ganglia, and 
cortex of the brain. The fact that the face is usually affected, and that more- 
over the choreic movements are frequently one-sided, would almost certainly 
point to the seat of the disease being within the cranium. The tendency of 
recent researches in physiology has been to deprive the corpus striatum of its 
alleged function as an originator or co-ordinator of motor influences, and to 
assert that it has little or nothing to do with the discharges of motor force. 
On the other hand, there is strong reason to believe that the choreic move- 
ments are the results of irregular discharges from the motor region of the 
cortex ; for the time being the will or the inhibitory influence of the frontal 
regions is in abeyance, and irregular purposeless discharges are given out 
from the cells in the motor region of the cortex. There is much reason to 
believe that the functions of the cortex are impaired in chorea, as shown not 
only by the spasmodic movements, but also by the paresis which sometimes 
occurs, and the mental dulness and emotional disturbance so often present. 
. It can easily be understood that if there is impaired nutrition of the nerve 
centres, a sudden fright, or an irritation at some distant part, may start the 
irregular discharges from the cortex, which it may soon be beyond the power 
of the will to control. 

With regard to the cardiac complications found in fatal cases we cannot 
do better than quote Dr. Sturges, who sums up as follows : — ' Vegetations, new 
or old, on the auricular surface of the mitral valves, with or without similar 
deposits on the aortic valves, and sometimes with pericarditis, are met with 
in the great majority of cases dying of, or with, or shortly after, chorea. 
This condition, however, does not, as a rule, contribute directly to the fatal 
issue ; it is found equally among those that die with and those that die of 
chorea, and in some of the most marked and typical cases of fatal chorea 
the valves of the heart have been found absolutely healthy.' 

Diagnosis. — This is not usually difficult, though it must always be borne 
in mind that the choreic movements present may be symptomatic of some 



45 6 Diseases of the Nervous System 

serious brain lesion, or of some distinct disturbing influence, such as 
pericarditis. We have seen on one or two occasions, in girls about puberty, 
choreic movements followed by emotional disturbance and paresis of limbs, 
attributed not unnaturally to hysteria, where the onset of optic neuritis and 
amblyopia has made it clear that the case was really one of cerebral 
tumour. We have seen also the onset of chorea in a girl of 4 years followed 
in a week by pericarditis and death in a few days. 

Any brain lesion which presses upon the pyramidal tract may give rise 
to movements similar to chorea ; we have several times seen this in cheesy 
tumours of the optic thalamus which compressed the internal capsule ; in 
such cases a 'hemichorea' is produced (see p. 454). It must be borne in 
mind that in true chorea, if at all intense, the movements are general, though 
perhaps worse on one side than on the other, but they are never confined to 
one side, as in the case of cerebral tumour. 

In some of the special varieties of the disease the diagnosis may be 
difficult ; thus in the case related (p. 453), where there was contraction of the 
limbs and bedsores, one might readily assume that chronic meningitis or 
other cerebral lesion was present. In a case under our care, where tuber- 
cular meningitis supervened in the course of chorea, the diagnosis was un- 
certain for a few days. The presence of optic neuritis would strongly 
point to organic disease, though, as already stated, Gowers has observed 
optic neuritis in a case of chorea. In cases of paralytic chorea the chief 
symptom may be simply paresis of one arm ; but usually a slight ex- 
amination will detect short clonic spasms, either in the affected arm or 
elsewhere. 

Prognosis. — Recovery follows in the vast majority of instances. The 
principal danger is from some heart complication, as pericarditis, and from 
exhaustion in consequence of the violence of the movements, want of sleep, 
and nourishment. The more severe the case, the longer will be its duration. 
Maniacal and hysterical choreic cases are usually very chronic. 

Treatment. — The most important element in the treatment of chorea is 
rest. It is necessary to secure for a patient suffering from chorea complete 
rest for the body, and complete absence of excitement of all kinds. In all. 
but the mild cases it is well to begin the treatment by keeping the patient 
for a few days or a week in bed completely at rest. We must bear in mind 
that voluntary movements of all kinds (in severe cases at least) make the 
involuntary movements more marked and more completely beyond the 
control of the will. On the other hand, the movements cease during sleep, 
and the more quiet a patient can be kept, the better chance there is of a 
better nutrition of the body and the nervous centres. Any excitement or 
mental effort is certain also to make matters worse, so that all forms of 
mental work must be avoided, while the surroundings of the patient must be 
made as agreeable as possible. When the movements are severe, so that 
the patient cannot sleep, some narcotic must be prescribed, and of remedies 
of this class chloral is probably the best, but it must be given in full doses 
to be of use. Ten or fifteen grains may be given, and repeated in four hours 
if the restlessness continues. Bromide of potassium may be combined with 
the chloral, though most agree that chloral is more useful than the bromide. 
Morphia seems at times to add to the excitement present, though in some cases 



Chorea 457 

it acts better than chloral. In the case recorded on p. 451 (girl aged nine 
years), chloral and bromide entirely failed. Nepenthe in 10 minim doses 
gave sleep ; later in the disease, as much as 30 minims, and on one occasion 
70 minims, were given in one night. This was, of course, only after a toler- 
ance of the drug had been established. Inhalations of chloroform are often 
useful to get the patient off to sleep. Great care must be taken to prevent 
the patient from injuring herself by tumbling out of bed, and it may be 
necessary to protect the limbs by wrapping them up in cotton wool, or to 
surround them with some soft material ; or padded boards may be placed on 
each side of the bed, or a mattress may be placed on the floor. The patient 
should be given a fair amount of liquid nourishment, and also stimulants. 
Frequent spongings are of great value in getting the skin to act and calming 
the patient. 

Even in the less severe cases of chorea it is well to confine the patient to 
bed for a week or two in the early stages ; the movements are always less 
when the child is at rest in bed, and these means are almost certain to shorten 
the duration of the attack. When improvement occurs the patient may be 
allowed to get up for a few hours a day and to be taken out into the fresh 
air, but too much exercise should be prevented. 

The drug which is most used at the present time is arsenic ; sulphate or 
oxide of zinc, cannibis indica, iron, Calabar bean, and conium have also been 
used. We confess to some scepticism with regard to the value of medicines 
in chorea, and feel sure they occupy only a subsidiary place in treatment. 
Arsenic is certainly of use in the dyspeptic conditions which so often 
accompany chorea, but it requires to be given in increasing doses as the 
stomach becomes more and more accustomed to it. Two- or three-minim 
doses may be given three times a day at first, and increased at the rate of 
an extra minim every week till six or seven minims are given. It is better 
not to continue the administration for too long together, as a temporary 
darkening of the skin is apt to take place. The administration may be 
omitted for a week or two, and then recommenced. In the latter stages iron 
may be useful, given in combination with arsenic. 

Great care should be taken to regulate the bowels ; constipation is the 
rule, and this may be overcome by small pilules of extract of aloes or some 
elixir of cascara sagrada. 

In chronic cases a change of scene, such as residence at the seaside, is 
often suggested by the friends, but in our experience this change often 
makes the movements worse and prolongs the attack, in consequence of 
the excitement attending the change and the patient attempting to do more 
than her strength permits. A change to the seaside should be deferred till 
the movements have nearly ceased and can be controlled entirely by the will. 
The same may be said of gymnastic' exercises and rhythmical movements ; 
they are of the greatest use when the movements tend to become habitual, 
while the health of the patient is good ; they are certainly not desirable in the 
earlier stages. Massage has been employed with good result by Goodhart 
and Phillips, and in some of our own and our colleagues' cases the result 
has been satisfactory. 

All through the course of chorea moral treatment is of the greatest im- 
portance. Chorea in many cases is closely allied to hysteria, and a firm but 



45 8 Diseases of the Nervous System 

kindly demeanour towards the patient is called for ; and she should be 
encouraged to control the movements as much as possible by an effort of 
will. In all severe cases a nurse should be provided, as the patient's mother 
is often the last person who should have charge of her. 

In all stages of the attack a nourishing, easily digested diet is necessary ; 
in severe cases it is necessary to feed the patient ; in such patients fluid food 
only can be administered. 

Epilepsy. — Convulsive seizures of various degrees of severity are com- 
mon during childhood and youth, and when they are idiopathic — that is, with- 
out assignable cause, no cerebral or other lesion being discoverable — the term 
' epileptic ' is applied to them. It is difficult to say in what proportion of cases 
children who suffer from convulsions during infancy become confirmed 
epileptics ; certainly the majority of those who suffer from infantile con- 
vulsions lose this tendency to convulsive seizures as they grow older. In 
only about \i\ per cent, of cases of chronic epilepsy is there a history of 
the fits commencing during the first three years of life, and in a smaller 
percentage (5^) during the first year. (Gowers.) According to statistics 
collected by Gowers, in one-fourth of the total number the attacks begin 
before the age of ten years, and nearly one-half between the ages of ten and 
twenty years. These statistics show that there is always the possibility that 
children or infants who suffer from reflex convulsions may become epileptics ; 
yet there is a strong probability, if the child does not suffer from any cerebral 
defect, or has no hereditary tendency in the direction of epilepsy, that he will 
not grow up an epileptic. Hereditary influences certainly predispose ; a 
family history of epilepsy or insanity is obtained in about one-third of the 
cases of epilepsy, in others it may be found that they come of neurotic families 
in which members have suffered from chorea or hysteria. 

Of the exciting causes there is little to be said. The first fit may be 
described by the friends as being due to a ' sunstroke,' or a ' blow on the 
head,' or a ' fright ; ' but it is unsafe to place much reliance on such state- 
ments, as they may be merely coincidences, and certainly are not sufficient 
in themselves to produce epilepsy. In the large majority of cases, it must be 
confessed, no immediate cause can be discovered. Epilepsy sometimes 
commences after scarlet fever and other zymotic diseases, but beyond the 
fact that- these fevers leave a certain amount of weakness behind, and so may 
predispose, there is nothing to suggest that they act as effectual causes. The 
approach of puberty is a time when the nervous system is in an excitable 
state, especially in girls, and epileptic fits are very apt to commence at this 
period, notably in cases where menstruation does not commence at the 
usual period, but is delayed by any cause. Constipated bowels and a 
sluggish condition of liver certainly act as predisposing causes. 

Symptoms. — Two forms of attack are usually described : the minor form, 
ox petit mat, and the major form, or grand mat ; but these two forms insen- 
sibly pass into one another, and there is no marked line of demarcation 
between them. 

The precursory symptoms differ very much : frequently the first fits and 
the succeeding fits come in the midst of perfect health, and neither the patient 
nor his friends are aware that a fit is imminent. On the other hand, the child 
may be unusually irritable, easily put out, and nothing pleases it ; it may be 



Epilepsy 459 

feverish, dull, and stupid. In some cases the fit is preceded by some warn- 
ing or aura, by which the patient becomes aware, by past experience, that an 
attack is at hand. These auras are more common in adults than in children, 
or at any rate adults are better able to describe their feelings and have a 
larger experience of fits to fall back upon. The aurae are very diverse in 
character : they may be sensations referred to an arm or leg, or to the throat ; 
there may be headache, vertigo, or faintness. 

Petit mal. — These minor attacks are very slight in character, and are 
often not admitted to be epileptic by the friends, who usually connect ' fits ' 
with the more severe and decided form of seizure. They are often spoken 
of as ' faints ' or ' attacks.' There may be no real convulsion or tonic spasm ; 
the child may stumble when walking from a momentary impairment ot 
consciousness, a peculiar look crosses its face, and for a moment it is dazed 
and forgets what has happened. Sometimes the face becomes pallid for 
a moment, and there is a slight convulsive spasm of the facial or other 
muscles. The urine is rarely passed in these seizures, nor is there any cry. 
Sometimes the attack is succeeded by drowsiness or stupor. In older 
children the behaviour may be very peculiar : after one of these minor 
seizures a mild mania may seize the patient, he becomes mischievous or 
strikes other children without provocation, or behaves in an hysterical manner. 

Grand mal. — The seizure may begin with a sharp cry or scream, as of 
sudden fright ; in many cases this cry is absent, the patient falling precipi- 
tately on to the ground in an unconscious state. The face is pallid and 
tonic spasms of the muscles begin. Sometimes these are one-sided in dis- 
tribution : the muscles of one side of the face, neck, arm, and leg of the same 
side are thrown into contraction, the head is usually rotated to the affected 
side. In other cases the spasms are general. The legs are usually extended 
and stiff, the elbows partially bent, the wrists flexed, and the fingers in a 
position of interosseous flexion. (Gowers.) The respiratory muscles join 
in the general tonic spasm, and, as the inspiratory muscles are more powerful 
than the expiratory, the breath is drawn in and held, so that the face becomes 
congested and the lips blue. There is usually spasmodic contraction of the 
muscles of the jaw, so that the tongue is bitten and held between the teeth ; 
frothy, perhaps blood-stained, saliva runs from the patient's mouth. Death 
may take place from asphyxia during this stage. Usually, however, after the 
stage of tonic spasm has lasted from a few to thirty seconds, the continued 
spasm of the muscles relaxes, and clonic or intermittent short contractions 
succeed. The muscles of the face twitch, so that the patient appears as if he 
were making grimaces ; the limbs ' work,' alternately flexing and extending— 
sometimes so violently that the head and legs are banged about and become 
bruised and injured. In other cases the clonic spasm is not so vigorous, 
there being only short, sharp, muscular contractions. The urine and some- 
times the faeces are passed. The period of the clonic spasm is variable : it 
may last many minutes, or even hours ; the patient gradually recovers con- 
sciousness, and has no recollection of what has passed. He probably is dazed 
and sleepy, goes off to sleep, and wakes up tired and sore. The fits vary 
much in intensity : often the stage of tonic spasm is short and not well 
marked, and the whole duration of the fit is not more than half a minute. 
In some cases, especially after severe attacks, a temporary paralysis, mostly 



460 Diseases of the Nervous System 

hemiplegic, is left. We are inclined to attribute this to a meningeal 
haemorrhage which has taken place during the respiratory spasm. 

Hysteroid Pits. — Some minor attacks closely resemble hysteria in that 
the spasmodic movements are o a purposeful character, as if directed by the 
will, and, moreover, the child appears to be conscious or semi-conscious 
during the fit. This form of seizure is common both in boys and girls. 
The phenomena which take place are exceedingly various ; the child may 
commence by barking like a dog, or mewing like a cat, or may attempt to 
bite the attendants ; the head may be banged about and the legs and arms 
thrown widely about, as if the child were directing the movements. The 
patient may stiffen out and arch his back as in opisthotonos. Sometimes 
the actions are still more co-ordinated. Thus in a girl of seven years, in 
hospital, when an attack came on she would jump up in bed, turn round 
once or twice, sit down again and arrange the bed-clothes, smoothing them 
carefully down, and yet be unconscious during, the fit, and have no remem- 
brance of it afterwards. A sharp word or the prick of a pin will often 
arrest these fits. That some of these cases are closely related to epilepsy is 
shown by the fact that they may alternate with true epileptic fits, or they may 
supervene at puberty in children who have suffered from chronic epilepsy. 

Post-hemiplegic Epilepsy. — Children who suffer from hemiplegia which 
dates from birth or within a year or two of birth are very apt to suffer from 
epileptiform attacks. Convulsions are very apt to attend the onset of the 
hemiplegia : the child may continue to have fits, and be subject to them for 
the rest of its life. In other cases a period of months or years may elapse 
between the onset of the hemiplegia and the commencement of the epileptic 
fits. It is often about puberty that they recur. As a rule, the convulsions 
affect the paralysed side only, but in severe cases the convulsions may be 
general. An aura or warning of the approaching fit is more common in 
post-hemiplegic epilepsy than in idiopathic epilepsy. In these cases it is 
common for mental backwardness to exist (see case p. 436). 

Course. — As already stated, the epileptic fits may date from infancy, the 
child having suffered in the early months or years of its life from convul- 
sions, and these have been succeeded by chronic epilepsy. More often the 
child has been free from convulsive seizures during infancy and early child- 
hood, and it is only during the second dentition or as purberty is approached 
that it has begun to suffer from fits. The health prior to the commence- 
ment of the fits may have been excellent, there may be no history of epilepsy 
in the family, and it may be quite impossible to explain the onset of epileptic 
fits. At first the friends are loth to believe the fits epileptic, and attribute 
them to rapid growth, dentition, weakness, or some injury. In other 
cases the health may have been indifferent or the temperament peculiar, 
the child having been of a strange disposition, nervous, easily frightened, 
morose, or backward in mental development, or may have shown signs of 
idiocy, and then, as puberty approaches, commences with epileptic fits. The 
health of the child after the commencement of the fits varies according to 
their frequency and severity. In the milder forms the children may enjoy 
the best of health, may be merry, romping children, able to take their part 
in rough school games, and be of average or more than ordinary quickness 
and intelligence. In other cases, especially when the fits occur frequently, 






Epilepsy 46 1 

the health suffers, the patient becomes sallow and anaemic, his digestion 
and appetite are poor, and the liver and bowels sluggish. The memory is 
apt to fail more or less, and in the worst cases a condition allied to dementia 
may supervene. The intervals between the fits differ considerably, not only 
in different patients, but in the same individual ; sometimes many months or 
even years will pass without a fit, at other times the fits follow one another 
at intervals of a few minutes, so that the patient is no sooner out of one fit 
than he is into another. To this latter condition the term 'status epilepticus' 
has been applied. In the petit mal the fits usually occur oftener than in the 
more severe attacks. Fits are apt to occur at any time in the twenty-four 
hours, at night or by day, but there seems to be a special tendency for them 
to recur in the early morning when the patient is getting up. 

Prognosis. — The prognosis is bad in those who have suffered from fits 
from infancy, and who are mentally deficient or in whom some mental 
change has taken place. The chance of the entire cessation of the fits is a 
poor one in those who have fits frequently. The less frequent the fits, the 
greater is the probability that they may cease altogether. Even in those who 
have only suffered from fits at long intervals a cautious prognosis must be 
given, as those who have so suffered are never safe, and a recurrence may 
at any time take place. The danger to life is least in the minor attacks, but 
as time goes on the major attacks may supervene. There is always the 
possibility that the fits may cease when the epoch of puberty is passed, and 
in the case of girls when menstruation is thoroughly established. It must 
always be borne in mind that epileptics may at any time meet with a sudden 
death from injuries received during a fit : they may fall into the fire, or into 
water, or they may be suffocated in bed at night. Less often death takes 
place in the fit from asphyxia, due to prolonged spasm of the glottis and 
respiratory muscles. 

DiagJiosis. — In some cases of petit mal the attack maybe so slight that a 
doubt may exist whether the fits are really epileptic or not ; but all recurring 
' faints ' or attacks of giddiness must be looked upon with great suspicion, 
and if there is a loss of consciousness, however short, they are almost 
certainly epileptic. Difficulty may often arise in distinguishing hysterical 
attacks from true epilepsy, especially the attacks described as hysteroid. It 
may be simply a matter of opinion whether some of these attacks are best 
classed with epilepsy or hysteria ; in any given case careful inquiry must be 
made for typical epileptic fits, which sometimes occur immediately before 
the hysteroid fits. The diagnosis is usually easy between typical epileptic 
and typical hysterical fits ; it is often very uncertain in atypical ones. Loss 
of consciousness, biting the tongue, or tonic followed by clonic spasms, if 
present, are decisive in favour of epilepsy. There may often be considerable 
difficulty in distinguishing between reflex convulsions and epileptic fits. 
Under three years of age, if there are the signs of rickets, the probabilities 
are strongly in favour of their being reflex. After this age reflex con- 
vulsions may occur at the commencement of some zymotic disease, or 
possibly as the result of cutting the permanent teeth, or from worms ; but the 
chances are immensely in favour of epilepsy if they are on the type of those 
in idiopathic epilepsy ; in all cases where the attacks were epileptiform in 
character, in which there was loss of consciousness, spasm followed by stupor, 



462 Diseases of the Nervous System 

even though the child was cutting one of the permanent teeth or had worms, 
we should be inclined to believe they were really epileptic. Parents naturally 
like to believe that the fits are due to dentition, to rapid growth, to a dis- 
ordered liver or stomach, especially in those cases where there are no here- 
ditary tendencies present, but we cannot accept these as anything more than 
exciting causes, and in all such cases there is only too much reason to fear 
that there may be a recurrence of the attacks. Convulsions may occur as the 
result of brain disease, recent as well as old. A tumour or syphilis may be 
present in this case ; there may be some marked aura, especially visual or 
auditory ; the convulsions will be mostly one-sided ; moreover, there is 
headache, giddiness, vomiting, paralysis, and optic neuritis. 

Treatmeiit. — A child subject to epileptic fits should be placed under the 
most favourable conditions possible, and should be most carefully guarded 
from excitement, over-fatigue, and over-feeding. A healthy country life, with 
plenty of outdoor exercise and sufficient employment for the mind, should be 
enjoined. A moderate amount of brain work should be allowed, but no forcing 
of any kind should be permitted. It is well to allow no work and not much 
exercise before breakfast, as at this time there appears to be an especial 
liability to fits. The diet should be simple and unstimulating ; in some cases 
coming under our notice children have done better when butcher's meat 
has been excluded from their diet or only taken sparingly. How useful a 
regular life is, is seen by the improvement which nearly always takes 
place on the child's admission to hospital. It is needless to say that all 
children subject to fits should be carefully watched : a public or large 
school is certainly not the place for them, as they require more individual 
attention than is possible under such conditions. There is always the 
possibility that they may fall into the fire, or into water, or be suffocated 
in bed by a fit occurring during the night. The state of the bowels should 
be most carefully attended to, as there can be no question that constipated 
bowels predispose to the attacks. Effervescing citrate of potash, magnesia, 
or cascara, with occasional small doses of calomel, is useful. Of all medicines 
which check the tendency to fits the bromides take first place. Bromide of 
potassium or sodium may be given in doses of 10 to 40. grains a day, according 
to age and to the frequency of the fits. The saline taste is readily covered 
by well diluting with water, and adding syrup of orange peel, aromatic sp. of 
ammonia, or liq. ext. of liquorice. (F. 29.) 

Sometimes a laxative may be combined with the bromide to counteract 
its constipating action : sulphate of magnesia, tincture or infusion of rhu- 
barb, or ' cascara cordial ' or ' elixir,' may be used, but, as a laxative can be 
given as required, it is usually unnecessary to combine one with the bromide. 
The bromide should be administered for a month at least after the fits, and 
then may be reduced in quantity ; but it will be well to continue the use of 
bromide in gradually smaller doses for six months at least after the last fit ; it 
may be combined with digitalis or tonics such as cinchona, iron, or nux vomica. 

Large doses of bromide give rise to a lethargic heavy condition in the 
patient ; there may be slow drawling speech, and a slow circulation. Acne is 
apt to make its appearance after a few doses of bromide in some patients. 

There is no other drug that at all approaches bromide in epilepsy. Nitrite 
of sodium, belladonna, zinc oxide or lactate (£ to 5 grs.), borax (5 to 10 grs.), 



Infantile Convulsions 463 

nitroglycerine ( 5 ^ to T ^o of a grain), and strychnine have all been used with 
more or less advantage when bromide fails. 

The question of surgical interference must depend upon the diagnosis ; 
in idiopathic epilepsy trephining or ligature of the carotids is hardly justi- 
fiable. If there is reason to -believe that a tumour in the cortex exists, an 
operation may be considered (see p. 431). 

Infantile Convulsions. Eclampsia.— Infancy predisposes to those 
irregular nerve discharges which go by the name of ' convulsions ' or 
eclampsia. The undeveloped state of the cortical centres during infancy, 
and the consequent absence or imperfection of the controlling or inhibitory 
influences exercised by these centres in later life, allow the 'lower grade 5 
centres in the pons, medulla, and cord to discharge their stored nervous force, 
when stimulated, in a way which does not occur in later years, when the 
higher centres are fully developed. The reflex actions exhibited by the 
brainless frog are more easily provoked and more vigorous than the reflex 
actions exhibited by a frog with the brain intact ; the higher centres appear- 
ing to exercise a controlling influence. 

While infancy is the time of life in which convulsions are most easily 
provoked, yet healthy infants do not become convulsed unless the stimulus 
is strong ; it is the delicate ones who suffer, and those who have inherited 
neurotic tendencies. The commonest predisposing cause, however, is rickets, 
though in what way it acts is uncertain ; yet it is certain that all the tissues in 
rickets are badly nourished and built up, and the nervous system is no excep- 
tion to this : the nerve centres are, in fact, in unstable equilibrium, and apt to 
discharge their nervous force in a purposeless and irregular manner. In the 
large majority of children who suffer from convulsions between the ages of 
six months and three years the signs of rickets are present. 

An anaemic condition, great exhaustion from any cause, as well as 
hereditary tendencies, predispose to convulsions during the whole period of 
childhood, but more especially during the first few months of life. 

The exciting causes of convulsions are mostly reflex : the irritation takes 
place at some distant part, the stimulus passes up to the nerve centre along 
some afferent nerve, giving rise to a discharge from a nerve centre or 
centres, the impulse travelling along the efferent nerves to the muscles. The 
exciting cause may be direct, acting on the centres, as when poisons circulat- 
ing in the blood, uraemia, or a high temperature give rise to convulsions. 

Reflex convulsions may be said to be disorderly physiological reflex acts. 
In a normal reflex act the nervous mechanism is in order, and a useful 
movement takes place : in a convulsion there is an irregular and wasteful 
discharge of nerve force which fulfils no useful end. An infant's movements 
consist almost entirely of reflex acts of the simplest character, the nerve 
centres in action being of the 'lower grade' group, situated in the spinal 
cord, medulla, and pons : such are the acts of swallowing, sucking, crying, 
breathing ; in each case there is some form of irritation, or a stimulus acting 
on the nerve centre and transmitted to it by an afferent nerve, and an im- 
pulse is sent along an afferent nerve to a muscle or group of muscles, and a 
definite, perhaps complex, act is performed. In morbid states of the nerve 
centres an afferent impulse calls forth a series of irregular and muscular move- 
ments, mostly in the form of clonic spasms, which may be limited to one 



464 Diseases of the Nervous System 

group of muscles, or may implicate almost all the voluntary muscles in the 
body. Thus the presence of a hard lump of curd in the stomach or bowels, 
instead of provoking vomiting or increased* peristaltic action, as physio- 
logically it should do, acts as a stimulus over a wide area, and some distant 
nerve centre, or perhaps many nerve centres, are thrown into activity. As a 
consequence of the irritation in the alimentary canal, the facial muscles may 
twitch, the legs be drawn up, the eyes roll about, the fingers be clenched ; 
there may be spasm of the respiratory muscles, and all the muscles of the 
extremities may be thrown into clonic spasm. Possibly the respiratory 
muscles only may be involved, and spasm of the glottis and of the respiratory 
muscles may result. Dyspepsia or the presence of indigestible food is a 
fertile source of infantile convulsions in the newly born ; newly born infants 
when fed on artificial food frequently suffer from convulsions, which dis- 
appear at once when a wet-nurse is obtained. In making ftost-i7iortems on 
infants and young children who have died in convulsions it is no uncommon 
thing to find an overloaded stomach, and possibly pieces of meat and other 
indigestible food in the stomach. 

Dentition is another not uncommon cause ; the pressure of the advancing 
tooth upon the gum, or the tension of the tooth in its socket, may through the 
branches of the 5th nerve produce general convulsions. Bronchitis or 
pneumonia may be the exciting cause, though the latter sometimes produces 
convulsions in consequence of the high fever that is present. 

The exciting cause of the convulsions may act directly on the centres 
themselves. Thus the onset of meningitis or any part of its course may be 
marked by convulsions ; an infant has a series of convulsions which are per- 
haps more or less one-sided, and when they cease it is noticed to be hemi- 
plegic, due, as we have already explained, to cerebral haemorrhage (see Cere- 
bral Haemorrhage). The acute stage of infantile paralysis may be attended 
with convulsions. Convulsions may be caused by chronic brain disease. 
An altered condition of blood may be the exciting cause ; thus a temperature 
of 104 or 105 is exceedingly likely to be accompanied by convulsions, the 
convulsions ceasing when the temperature falls, and being perhaps repeated 
when it rises again. Heat-convulsions are exceedingly apt to be fatal. A 
hypervenous condition of blood excites convulsions, as seen in infants born 
in a condition of asphyxia. The onset of some zymotic disease, as scarlet 
fever, or measles, is sometimes marked by convulsions. 

Symptoms.- — The convulsive attacks vary greatly in their severity, and in 
the extent of the muscles involved. They may simply be slight jerky move- 
ments of the head and neck, or a limb, or there may be slight twitchings of 
the muscles of the mouth or eyelids. The fingers may jerk and the thumbs 
turn in, movements to which the name of carpo-pedal contractions have been 
applied. Such slight convulsions are often spoken of by nurses and parents 
as ' inward fits ; ' they are most common in young babies with dyspepsia, or 
those who are suffering from some abdominal trouble. 

A typical convulsion closely resembles an epileptic fit, but the stage of 
tonic spasm is usually shorter, while the clonic spasms or muscular twitch- 
ings are more prolonged and vigorous. 

The commencement of a fit is frequently marked by spasm of the glottis, 
so that the nurse thinks for the moment the infant is choking ; at other 



Infantile Convulsions 465 

times the rolling upwards of the eyeballs and twitchings of the facial 
muscles first call attention to the child. The face becomes pallid, the eyes 
are turned up so as to show 'the whites,' the limbs are extended and 
stiffened, the hands are clenched, the neck and back are arched, the jaw 
closes spasmodically ; in a few moments the lips and face become of a 
bluish tinge from the respiratory spasm ; the tonic spasm quickly passes into 
clonic, the hands, feet, and face ' work ' for a few seconds or more, and the 
child becomes quiescent and the fit is over. The child becomes unconscious 
during the fit, and may remain dazed for a few minutes to half an hour after. 

The fits may be severe, much of the type of a major epileptic fit, the 
tongue being held tightly between the gums or injured by the teeth, the child 
frothing at the mouth and becoming cyanosed, and remaining comatosed or 
drowsy for some time. 

On the other hand, the convulsions may be partial only : one side may be 
affected, the leg, arm, and side of the face twitching, or the laryngeal muscles 
or respiratory muscles alone may suffer. 

The frequency with which fits occur differs very much : a child may have 
a single one, and it may never be repeated ; or they may recur daily, or 
there may be a constant succession of fits for twenty-four or forty-eight 
hours, the child never becoming conscious. 

Death may take place in the fit from spasm of the glottis. In other 
cases death seems to be caused in some way through the nervous system, as 
after death no evidence of asphyxia can be found. 

Convulsions in older children are indistinguishable from epileptic fits, and 
doubtless many of such cases for which no cause is found are really epileptic, 
or at any rate showing a tendency in that direction. 

Convulsions may be associated with idiocy or some mental defect, and 
it is not always easy to say to what extent the convulsions depend upon the 
presence of some cerebral lesion or malformation, or whether the mental 
defect is produced by the frequently recurring fits. It is not uncommon to 
see children of a few months to a year old who are frequently convulsed, 
and who are evidently idiots, not able to sit up or hold anything in their 
hands, and not recognising their friends. In these cases the prognosis, as 
far as the mental development is concerned, is grave, though the fits often 
become less frequent or cease as the infant develops. 

Prognosis. — This must always be uncertain, and naturally depends upon 
the exciting causes. The first fit may prove fatal through spasm of the 
glottis ; on the other hand, it is common to get a history of children being as 
infants constantly convulsed and yet growing up into comparatively strong 
children. Naturally much must depend upon what the exciting cause of the 
fit is : if it suggest commencing meningitis the prognosis is necessarily bad ; 
if there is hyperpyrexia and commencing pneumonia, it is very grave. Con- 
vulsions following on some exhausting disease, as diarrhoea, are mostly fatal. 
Convulsions associated with laryngismus are always serious, and the prognosis 
must be very guarded. In those cases where the fits in young infants are 
frequently repeated it must be borne in mind that they may prove to be 
epileptic or associated with mental deficiency, and a guarded prognosis must 
be given. If there is reason to believe that the convulsions are due to 
dyspepsia or are symptomatic of rickets, the prognosis as far as the cerebral 

H H 



466 Diseases of the Nervous System 

development of the child is good, but there is always the risk of its dying 
in a fit. 

Diagnosis. — The exciting cause of the convulsions maybe difficult or im- 
possible to determine. Convulsions in infants shortly after birth may be 
due to a hypervenous state of the blood resulting from congenital heart 
disease or atelectasis ; if these can be excluded there is a strong probability that 
the fits are due to some digestive disturbance, especially if the infant is being 
artificially nursed. In infants over six months of age, with the symptoms of 
rickets, the fits are in all probability reflex and due to some dentition or 
alimentary troubles ; but the possibility of their being due to commencing 
meningitis or to the presence of tubercles in the brain must always be borne 
in mind, even in the case of fat, healthy-looking infants. Vomiting, irregu- 
larity or hesitation of the pulse-beat, or an unnatural softness of the abdomen 
would suggest meningitis. The possibility of the convulsions in infants 
being followed by a hemiplegia or a paralysis of one or more limbs must not 
be forgotten. In convulsions in young children the chest should be carefully 
examined and the temperature taken, and the skin inspected to ascertain 
the presence or absence of a rash. In frequently recurring fits there is a 
possibility that the child may grow up mentally deficient, and a careful 
inquiry should be made as to the child's intelligence. 

The fact that infants often suffer from one-sided convulsions, or that the 
convulsion begins on one side, must not be taken to indicate that there is brain 
disease of the opposite side, inasmuch as reflex convulsions due to intestinal 
irritation may be one-sided in the first instance. 

Morbid Anatomy. — C on vulsions per se leave no trace in the dead body, 
though usually there are the signs of death from asphyxia, the latter being 
most marked in those dying suddenly in strong health. The veins on the 
surface of the brain are full of dark blood, there are punctiform or larger 
haemorrhages, and the brain may be unusually full of blood and wet from 
excess of cerebro-spinal fluid on the surface and in the lateral ventricles, but 
these are due to death taking place through stasis of blood in the lungs and 
a consequent engorgement of the general venous system. The post-mortem 
•examination of the state of the cerebral vessels gives us no clue to their con- 
dition, whether of engorgement or anaemia, during the fit itself, except such 
as are produced by venous obstruction. In many cases the autopsy 
throws no light on either : on the cause of the fit or the conditions which 
accompanied the fit. In others the appearances of commencing bronchitis 
or pneumonia or acute intestinal catarrh may be found. Difficulties are, 
however, likely to be met with at the post-mortem in distinguishing between 
early pneumonia and the sodden and cedematous lung often present which 
is due to the manner of death — namely, asphyxia from obstruction to the 
entrance of air into the larynx. 

In making an examination for medico-legal inquiries as to the cause of 
death, whether from a convulsion or from some other cause, great caution 
must be exercised in coming to a conclusion, especially in infants. An infant 
may have been 'overlain,' i.e. suffocated beneath the bedclothes in consequence 
of the mother going to sleep with the infant at the breast, the mother perhaps 
alleging that the infant had died in a fit. In both cases the after-death 
appearances may perhaps be much alike — namely, those of death from 



Infantile Convulsions 467 

asphyxia. In many cases, however, a distinction may be made between a 
rapidly produced asphyxia, as in death from a fit, and a more slowly produced 
asphyxia, as in slow suffocation beneath the bedclothes : in the former the 
lungs are simply gorged with dark fluid blood, in the latter case the lungs 
are sodden and cedematous, containing a large amount of frothy fluid. In 
any case where the tongue is held between the teeth and has been injured, 
and there are signs of rickets, the lungs gorged with dark fluid, and the veins 
on the surface of the brain overfull, there is a strong probability that the 
child has died in a fit. It must not, however, be too hastily assumed that 
a convulsion has not been the cause of death, because the typical signs of 
asphyxia are not present ; death appears to take place in some cases pro- 
bably through the nervous system, before asphyxia takes place. 

Treatment. — The treatment of convulsions must necessarily be chiefly 
directed to removing the cause. During the convulsion itself, if there is a 
high temperature (io4°-io6°), no time should be lost in placing the infant 
or child in a tepid bath and pouring cold water over the child and into the 
bath in order to lower the temperature, which is probably exciting the con- 
vulsions, and antifebrin or quinine may be given. In reflex convulsions in a 
robust child, especially if there is colic or abdominal disturbance, a warm 
bath, or a mustard bath so as to redden the skin, is likely to prove of service, 
or the child's socks may be wrung out of mustard and water and placed on 
the feet. If there is reason to suppose the convulsions are due to cerebral 
disease, or the convulsions come on at the end of an exhausting illness, the 
warm bath is not likely to be of any service and may be injurious. If the 
child has taken any indigestible food, which is lying in the stomach or in 
the bowels, an emetic or one or two grains of calomel should be administered, 
according to the effect desired. If the gums are swollen and tender, an 
incision, or simply scarifying them, may do good If there is otitis, it may 
be well to puncture the membrane. 

The inhalation of a few drops of chloroform or nitrite of amyl will 
usually check the violence of the convulsive spasms, and 'should certainly 
be tried if the convulsions last any time or are violent. Of medicines 
which diminish the irritability of the nervous centres, the bromides, chloral, 
and belladonna hold the first place. Bromide of potassium or sodium must 
be given freely if the convulsions recur time after time. If the child can 
swallow, 3 to 5 grains may be given to an infant of six months to a year old, 
and repeated every hour or two for several doses, according as the convulsions 
are present or not ; smaller doses, less often repeated, should be given if im- 
provement takes place. No harm is likely to ensue by pushing the bromide. 
The bromide may be given by the rectum if necessary. Chloral is also use- 
ful, in some cases more useful than bromide, but it must be used more 
sparingly ; a two or three grain dose may be given to an infant under a year, 
and repeated in an hour if the convulsions are still present ; but its soporific 
effect must be watched. Bromide, chloral, and cannabis indica are often 
given in combination with advantage in convulsions. Cold to the head in 
the form of ice or wet cloths should be used if meningitis is suspected, and 
the infant should be carefully protected from all excitement. 

Convulsions in infants a few weeks old, who are artificially fed, are 
due in the large majority of cases to dyspepsia, and no time should be lost in 

h h 2 



468 Diseases of the Nervous System 

procuring a wet-nurse, or at any rate in giving the infant the most suitable 
food that can be procured. The bromides will have but little effect in stop- 
ping the convulsions as long as acute dyspepsia or colic is present. 

Hysteria. — Functional nerve disturbances, both in the form of sensory 
derangements, paresis, contractures, and eclampsia, are by no means uncom- 
mon in children. Hysteria when it occurs during early life mostly affects 
girls, but it occurs also in boys ; the approach of puberty is the most common 
period. 

A tendency to hysteria runs in families, and is transmitted from parents 
to children, but the injudicious way in which children are often brought up, 
their weaknesses pampered and their ailments intensified by an injudicious 
sympathy, often tends to aggravate an hereditary tendency to nerve disorders: 
While it most frequently happens that hysterical children come of neurotic 
families and belong to the well-to-do classes, yet such children may be 
found in country districts among country folks, where neurotic tendencies 
might be least expected. ' Fasting girls ' who have had a temporary notoriety, 
' cataleptics,' and religious maniacs have been found in cottage homes and 
among surroundings that one would have supposed were little likely to 
foster hysterical affections. 

Hysteria in its milder or severer forms is often associated with other 
diseases, such as epilepsy, chorea, and various mental affections ; it may also 
be engrafted on to organic brain disease, such as meningitis or some spinal 
affections. 

Hysterical phenomena are rare before the age of six years and are most 
common about puberty, especially in those cases where menstruation has 
failed to become established. 

Symptoms. Sensory Disturbances.— Perhaps the most common form 
of hysteria in girls is hyperesthesia ; there is a complaint of tenderness 
or pain which cannot be accounted for except by a neurosis. There is some 
local tenderness about the spine or one of the joints, especially the hip, the 
girl screaming with pain when the joint is moved ; the thyroid gland or 
front of the larynx is sometimes hypersensitive. Headaches are very common: 
these may be frontal or occipital, or may take the form of the ' clavus ' of 
adults. Hysteria is apt to mimic various diseases which are normally 
accompanied by severe pain, such as peritonitis, pleurisy, rheumatism ; it 
must, however, be always borne in mind that there may be some actual 
disease present, and the sensory disturbance is only an exaggerated condition 
of what would normally exist. 

Anaesthesia is much less common in children than hyperesthesia ; but 
hysterical hemianesthesia involving the special senses occasionally occurs. 
Sleeplessness is not uncommon, the patients asserting that they cannot sleep, 
and only perhaps dozing off when it is time to get up. 

Motor Disturbances. — Paralysis, or rather paresis, is common ; the larynx 
is perhaps most frequently affected, but paraplegia is not infrequent. Hys- 
terical aphonia in girls has the same characters as in adults : there is loss 
of voice, the patient always speaking in a whisper ; sometimes the voice is 
entirely lost. 

Paraplegia may come on suddenly after a convulsion, or the legs may 
gradually give way under the child, until it can no longer stand and is 



Hysteria 469 

therefore confined to bed. There may be loss of sensation, but in our ex- 
perience this is uncommon. The loss of power is never complete : the 
patient moves the legs in bed, and often some attempt will be made to 
stand with help, or she may draw up the legs to prevent them touching the 
ground, and will sink to the ground rather than support her own weight. 
The electrical reactions are normal, and usually the knee-jerk is also normal, 
and there is no ankle-clonus. In other cases, more especially those which 
have lasted some time, there is more or less tonic contracture of the legs ; 
the hip and knee-joints are semiflexed, and the foot takes the position of 
equino-varus. In this condition, if the spasmodic contraction is not too 
marked, there may be excessive knee-reflex, and ankle-clonus may be 
present ; if there is marked contracture, no knee-reflex can be obtained on 
account of the rigid contracture of the opposing muscles. The contracture 
is present during sleep, but usually goes off when the patient is under 
chloroform. 

In hysterical paraplegia there is no incontinence of urine or faeces ; this 
is certainly the rule, but retention of urine will occur, and in some conditions, 
such as ' hysterical chorea,' both urine and faeces will at times be passed 
involuntarily. We have seen on several occasions girls who were suffering 
from hysteria, simulating hip-disease or peritonitis, pass their water in 
bed, so that the bed and linen have been saturated with stinking urine, rather 
than use a bed-pan, as they were afraid of being moved on account of the 
pain it caused. In such cases bed-sores may form and the patient become 
emaciated. 

Co?ivulsive Attacks. — These are of the usual hysterical type. There is a 
fit of screaming or crying or violent laughter, tonic contraction of the 
muscles, more especially of the back, so that opisthotonos is produced ; the 
arms and legs are dashed about and the head perhaps made to strike the 
pillow or bed violently. The patient remains conscious during the attack, 
and she rarely injures herself, and the tongue is not bitten. 

The so-called ' hysteroid ' fits have already been referred to (p. 460). 
Cerebral Symptoms. — Hysteria is closely allied to some forms of insanity, 
and various forms of hysterical insanity occur in girls about puberty. One 
of the commonest of these is a refusal of food. The girl's appetite becomes 
poor, she gradually grows thin, and this excites the sympathy and alarm of 
her friends. The morbid craving for sympathy becomes intensified. She 
resists all their entreaties to take food, and clenches her teeth when it is 
offered, or only takes the smallest quantities, and frequently is guilty of 
deceit, concealing food in her clothes. She gradually wastes till she becomes 
a perfect skeleton, the skin is rough and harsh, the abdomen flattened, and 
the breath foul. Bed-sores not infrequently form. In some of these cases 
there is melancholia or eclampsia. Morbid conscientiousness is ^sometimes 
present ; the girl perhaps takes away marks from herself at school, or ac- 
cuses herself of having told untruths or of having stolen her schoolfellows' 
things. 

Diag?iosis. — The first step in diagnosis is necessarily to attempt to exclude 
organic disease, which hysteria so often mimics. In sensory hysterical dis- 
orders, such as headaches, and in various forms of paralysis, the question is 
whether or not there is cerebral tumour or spinal disease. Probably the 



470 Diseases of the Nervous System 

commonest mistake is to assume that organic disease exists when the condition 
is one of hysteria only; but, on the other hand, we have known the symptoms 
in the early stages of a cerebral tumour attributed to hysteria. It is often 
necessary to wait before a definite diagnosis can be arrived at. But it is 
always necessary to bear in mind that an organic lesion may exist and yet 
undoubted hysterical symptoms be present. 

Treatment. — The treatment of hysteria in its worse forms is principally 
moral. The management of the patient must pass from the parents to a 
suitable nurse, or, better still, the patient should be removed to hospital or into 
lodgings away from her friends. If once the child is under firm control, is 
deprived of the morbid sympathy it craves for, and is at the same time en- 
couraged to put forth all its voluntary power, an improvement in its condition 
will immediately begin. In cases of paralysis, in addition to isolation from 
the parents and all sympathising friends, massage and faradisation are of 
much advantage. The patient must be made to use the weakened limbs in 
moderation, and encouraged to believe that they will get entirely well. 

In less severe cases change from city to a healthy country life is of great 
importance. Life at a farm with its many outdoor attractions and occupa- 
tions is perhaps the best adapted for hysterical children. Effort must be 
made to interest them in many things outside themselves in order to break 
the vicious habit of dwelling inordinately on their own feelings and ailments. 
In many of these cases the general health is poor and menstruation delayed. 
In such, iron in the form of bromide of iron, as in Fletcher's syrup, is useful, 
while the bowels should be regularly acted on by small doses of aloes, or some 
mineral water such as Rubinat or Hunyadi Janos. 

Headaches. — Children, especially girls of seven years of age on to 
puberty, are very liable to headaches, sufficiently severe to lay them up for 
part of a day or perhaps longer. These headaches may arise from various 
causes, and it is important to try, if possible, and ascertain their origin ; 
diagnosis is frequently by no means easy, as pain is referred to the forehead 
in many different morbid states and conditions. Frontal headache is by far 
the commonest form of reflected pain. It is important in the first place to 
exclude hypermetropia as a cause of frontal headache. Straining the accom- 
modation of the eyes, especially when the subject is below par, may give rise 
to frontal headache, aching being referred to the eyeballs, while at the same 
time, when an attempt is made to read, the letters run together and the 
eyes easily water. A diagnosis is easily made with the ophthalmoscope, 
examining the retinal vessels by the direct method, as well as by the use of 
test-types. 

Headaches are very common in rapidly growing children, who are, to 
use an ordinary expression, ' outgrowing their strength.' Such headaches 
may be due merely to weariness or to the irritable state of the nerves which 
comes on when over-tired or fagged ; or they may be due to anaemia or 
dyspepsia. The latter is probably the most frequent cause. The appetite 
may be good or capricious, more food is taken than the digestive organs can 
cope with, and dyspepsia or a subacute gastric or intestinal catarrh is the 
result. A sick headache is complained of, the child looks heavy and dark 
about the eyes, there is nausea or actual vomiting, perhaps some fever, and 
it takes a day or two to regain the ordinary state of health. Headaches due 



Headaches 47 1 

to overwork of the eyes and brain are especially common in schoolboys and 
girls when preparing for examinations and taking too little exercise and re- 
creation. With the headache there is often sleeplessness at night, anaemia, 
and more or less dyspepsia. There is usually no difficulty of diagnosis here, 
as the history of the case will render its nature plain. 

There is a form of headache which is by no means uncommon, which is 
distinctly neurotic, and which does not appear to be connected in any way 
with dyspepsia, sluggish liver, overwork at school, or organic disease. The 
child is usually a girl of ten or twelve years of age, who suffers with a severe 
headache, often accompanied with sickness, once or twice a week, perhaps 
oftener, which comes on at irregular times, and is sufficiently severe for her 
to take to bed or to lie on the sofa for most of the day, and to incapacitate her 
for all work or play. Such headaches are made worse by noises and exer- 
tion ; at times there is violent sickness or retching, and perhaps giddiness in 
the erect posture. The bowels are usually constipated, the tongue clean, and in 
the intervals between the attacks the child is in good health and able to go 
to school and take moderate exercise. The causes of such headaches are very 
difficult to discover ; a tendency to such is often hereditary, and, while worse 
during the period of puberty, the tendency may remain throughout life. 
They are often very obstinate, and medicine fails to relieve as long as the 
patient remains at home, leading a sedentary town life ; they are almost 
always better during the holidays spent away at the seaside, or whilst lead- 
ing a healthy country life, but recur again when a return is made to town 
life, with school and the ordinary home routine. 

In some other cases the headaches are more distinctly hysterical, the 
pains being described as of a ' shooting' or ' boring' character, and coming 
on when the spirits are depressed or there is some unpleasant duty or dis- 
tasteful study to be undertaken. On the other hand, all headaches are for- 
gotten if the patient is roused by some excitement or the prospect of some 
unusual pleasure. When the headache is present, the patient demands the 
sympathy of all her friends, and is apt to lapse into a chronic invalid, 
expecting to receive the commiserations and attentions of the whole house- 
hold. She objects to go out or ride or drive ; the least noise or loud talking 
brings on the headache. The appetite perhaps becomes poor, she becomes 
thinner, and the whole health suffers, or, on the other hand, in some cases the 
appetite is not affected. These hysterical headaches are commonest at or 
about puberty, when menstruation is commencing, but they may be present 
in boys and in girls of nine or ten years of age. 

The most important question in connection with diagnosis is with regard 
to the presence or absence of organic disease. Are tubercles forming in the 
meninges of the brain? Is there a cerebral tumour, or are the headaches 
either reflected from the digestive system or purely nervous in character ? 
The diagnosis between cerebral disease and functional disease is usually not 
difficult if the history given by the friends can be relied upon, or if there is an 
opportunity of watching the patient for a few weeks. The headache accom- 
panying the early stages of tubercle of the meninges is associated with 
irritability, wasting, hectic fever, loss of appetite, shivering, and cough ; and a 
few weeks more or less will almost certainly see developed more marked 
cerebral symptoms, such as squint, vomiting, and involuntary passage of 



47 2 Diseases of the Nervous System 

feces. The. headache due to cerebral tumour is mostly constant, though worse 
at times than at others ; it is always made worse by movement ; there are 
irregular causeless vomiting and optic neuritis. 

Treatment. — The treatment of headaches is naturally directed to removing 
the cause. The treatment of headaches of rapidly growing children will 
mainly consist in the avoidance of over-exertion or fatigue, a very moderate 
amount of brain-work, a healthy country life, and a careful regulation of the 
diet. The digestive organs are probably being given more work than they 
are able to perform, a gastric or intestinal catarrh is set up, and the disordered 
state of digestion is expressed by a frontal headache. Vomiting in these 
cases nearly always relieves the headache ; if it does not take place, perhaps 
there are feverishness and nausea and headache for a day or two. When 
these headaches are coming on, the simplest and best remedy is an emetic 
such as a teaspoonful or two of ipecacuanha wine, to be followed by a little 
judicious starvation or the lightest possible diet for a few days. For the 
avoidance of such sick headaches meat should be allowed in only moderate 
quantities, and it should be well cut up and masticated slowly, and care 
should be taken to regulate the bowels from time to time with some effer- 
vescing citrate of potash, Rubinat or Carlsbad water, before breakfast. In 
the neurotic forms of headache, arising independently of digestive derange- 
ments, the treatment is often very unsatisfactory. When the attack comes 
on, and is evidently severe, bed is the best place, with a wetted handkerchief 
to the head in the hope of getting the child to sleep ; coffee, effervescing 
citrate of cafifem (i to 2 grains of the pure salt), monobromide of camphor 
(1 to 2 grains), ext. guaranas liq. (10 to 15 drops), ext. cannabis indicse, or bro- 
mides may be tried. Antipyrin (2 to 5 grains) has been used with good 
effect. In the intervals between the headaches the most important treat- 
ment relates to regulating the bowels and to insisting on a simple but 
nutritious diet. In some cases good has followed the entire avoidance of 
butcher's meat. A healthy country life or change of scene is often of the 
greatest service and generally effectively cures, for a while at least. In 
hysterical headaches the patient should be encouraged to struggle against 
them. 



473 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYST&M-^-COntmued. 

Speech-anomalies. — By the end of the first year of life a healthy child 
rjegins to make some progress in acquiring articulate speech. At this time 
it can mostly make some sort of sounds, and begins to use these sounds 
for expressing its wants or to show that it recognises its friends and toys. 
The labials such as b, ft, m, the explosives such as d and t, and the 
resonants ;;/ and n are the earliest sounds acquired. Thus sounds such as 
M-m, bd-bd, dd-dd, nd-nd, may be repeated in a meaningless sort of way at 
first, but before long are applied to persons or things. During the second 
year the vocabulary increases fast, and the child quickly imitates and re- 
peats the words it hears, so that by the end of the second year it not only 
uses a number of words, but can string a few nouns and adjectives together, 
or has learnt the meaning of short sentences. At this period, and for the 
next year or two, words are indistinctly or improperly pronounced, with a 
tendency to clip them short or to drop consonants. Some consonants pre- 
sent greater difficulty to the young child than others, and are constantly 
dropped out of words ; thus s, especially when it precedes another conso- 
nant, is omitted, as cool for school, kwek for squeak, no for snow. Difficulties 
often arise with the aspirate dentals as th and sh : Ruth becomes Roof; the 
vibratory consonant r is a great stumbling-block, and the distinct pronuncia- 
tion of it is, perhaps, never acquired : grub is apt to become gwub, and 
roof, woof 

Some children are more backward in talking than others, and are at the 
same time behindhand with walking and with their teeth, and it is only after 
the end of the second year is passed that they begin to make progress. This 
may happen with rickety children, or with those who have had some serious 
disease to contend with. Other children not only do not begin to talk when 
the usual time arrives, but as months and years go on make no attempt, or 
their articulation is indistinct and imperfect for their age. In another class 
of case the child learns to talk fairly well or imperfectly, then an illness 
comes on and it loses the power of speech. The principal causes of im- 
perfection, or absence, of speech may be tabulated thus : — 

i. Deaf mutism. — The infant may be born wholly or partially word-deaf, 
or may become so from the effects of disease. The child is mute because it 
is deaf. 

2. There is some physical defect in the formation of the mouth or "vocal 
apparatus. 

3. The child may be feeble-minded, or have some defect of the brain. 



474 Diseases of the Nervous System 

4. There may be aphasia associated with right hemiplegia or due to some 
functional cause. 

5. The difficulty of speech may be due to stammering or hesitancy of 
speech. 

Deaf-mutism, —Deaf-mutes are those who cannot speak because they 
cannot hear : the deafness may be due to congenital defect, or they may be- 
-come deaf through illness before they have learnt to talk ; as a rule, if the child 
becomes deaf before he is seven years of age, dumbness will result. The 
congenital variety appears mostly to be the result of hereditary taint, con- 
genital deafness having occurred previously in the same family. It is doubtful 
if the marriage of cousins has anything to do with it. The morbid ana- 
tomy is very uncertain, as there are but few post-mortem records of such 
cases ; in some cases there is reason to believe that congenital deafness is 
the result of inflammation of the internal ear during intra-uterine life. How 
early is it possible to detect deafness ? The diagnosis is necessarily very 
difficult during the first few months of life, especially when we remember 
that congenital deafness is rarely complete, the ringing of bells, whistling, &c, 
being heard when the ear is quite incapable of detecting articulate sounds. 
' Word-deafness' is congenital as well as the result of disease. During the 
first few weeks after birth the healthy infant gives no response or signs of 
recognising sounds, but loud noises will wake it up. It is only during the 
third and fourth months that the infant appears to recognise sounds and voices, 
but, as some infants are more backward than others with regard to percep- 
tions, it is only after six months of age, or from that to a year, that a definite 
knowledge can be come to with regard to deafness. When the infant is a 
year old, and has never uttered an articulate sound, while it shows no want 
of intelligence in other ways, and its muscular power and growth is in ac- 
cordance with the normal standard, there is strong reason to believe that 
its speech defect is due to deafness. The diagnosis between a failure to 
speak due to partial deafness or word-deafness and failure on account of 
mental feebleness is often extremely difficult, perhaps, in certain cases, for 
a time impossible, in the absence of other signs of mental defect. 

1. Acquired Deaf-mutism. — When a child under seven years loses its 
hearing in consequence of disease, its speech becomes indistinct and more or 
less unintelligible, and it loses the power of speech altogether, either quickly or 
gradually, according to its age and intelligence. The loss of speech will 
necessarily depend to some extent upon the amount of deafness. According 
to Hartmann it is possible, if the child is intelligent and great care is taken 
to correct its mistakes in talking and to induce it to talk, that speech may be 
retained. 

The lesion which commonly produces deafness is an inflammation of the 
labyrinth, either idiopathic or secondary to meningitis, scarlet fever, typhoid, 
or whooping cough. The difficulty of distinguishing between acute otitis and 
meningitis has already been pointed out (p. 416), and consequently the 
extent to which deafness is produced by one or the other is uncertain. 
Attacks of cerebro-spinal meningitis undoubtedly frequently produce deaf- 
ness, as does also scarlet fever. In this country scarlet fever plays a more 
important part than other diseases in destroying the auditory apparatus. 
Hartmann believes that an inflammation of the labyrinth and consequent 



Defects in Speed i 475 

injury to the terminal apparatus of the auditory nerve, and not suppuration in 
the middle ear, is the cause of deafness ; though the latter frequently takes 
place, it is not necessarily present. A naso-pharyngeal catarrh seems to be 
an occasional cause of labyrinthine disease. 

The hearing power of deaf-mutes is usually tested with a bell and 
tuning-fork, the two ears being tested separately. Statistics collected by 
Hartmann show that in 865 cases of deaf-mutism in different institutions 60 
per cent, were totally deaf, about one-fourth (24-3 per cent.) heard sounds 
such as the ringing of a bell, while 1 5 per cent, heard words or vowel sounds 
when pronounced loudly close to their ears. 

2. Physical Defects in the Itlouth. — Parents not infrequently bring a 
child to consult a medical man with regard to his backwardness or indis- 
tinctness in speech, which is attributed to his being tongue-tied or to some 
deformity of the mouth or palate. In the majority of such cases no physical 
defect can be detected, the defect being rather in the nervous mechanism 
of speech. It is quite conceivable that a more than usually attached fraenum 
may be present and interfere, however slightly, with the movements of the 
tongue, and the dentals, t, d, s, are badly pronounced. 1 A highly arched or 
deformed palate may render speech imperfect, the child speaking like one 
with cleft palate ; but it must not be forgotten that weak-minded children 
may have high palates and the defective speech be due to mental feebleness. 
Defective speech is also present in those with large tonsils and post-nasal 
adenoids ; there is a characteristic ' stuffiness ' about the voice, and difficulties 
with the resonants m, ;z, ng, inasmuch as in the pronunciation of these the 
nasal chambers act as a resounding cavity. Paresis of the soft palate may 
be present, especially after diphtheria, the voice having a nasal twang and 
difficulty being experienced in pronouncing the explosive labials ft and d, as 
the air escapes into the nasal cavity, the soft palate failing to act. 

3. Mental Defect. — Perhaps the commonest form of defective speech is 
that connected with the nervous mechanism. The child perhaps appears per- 
fectly intelligent and bright, no defect can be discovered in the mouth, yet 
his pronunciation of certain sounds is defective, as if he used his tongue or 
lips imperfectly, or had not them under perfect control. He may have 
especial difficulty with the dentals, such as t, d, s, ;z, and consonants which 
require great precision in the use of the tongue ; or the difficulty may be 
with the labials, as ft, d, /, m ; or he may lisp in an exaggerated manner. All 
degrees of difficulty of speech may exist : it may be so marked that the child 
avoids conversation as much as possible and expresses his assent or his 
wants by signs. This form of difficulty of speech is often hereditary. It is 
possible that in some of these cases the hearing is at fault and the child 
suffers from partial word-deafness, in a similar way to a child suffering from 
colour-blindness, or a faulty development of the co-ordinating motor centre 
of speech. Some children talk a sort of gibberish which perhaps their 
brothers or sisters understand, but no one who has not been with them a 
great deal can make out. 2 

1 See 'Some Forms of Defective Speech,' Warrington Haward, Lancet, vol. i. p. in, 
1887. 

2 See Dr. W. B. Hadden 'On Certain Defects of Speech in Children,' Journal of 
Mental Science, January 1891. 



476 Diseases of the Nervous System 

If, however, instead of imperfect speech, the child of five or six years of 
age does not talk at all, there is probably some mental defect, the child fail- 
ing to understand what is said, or although it may understand the speaker, 
yet there is a failure in the process of converting thoughts into words. 

4. Aphasia. — Children, like adults, may suffer from aphasia due to 
organic disease, or from a functional aphasia. In the former the aphasia 
may be the consequence of embolism of the left middle cerebral artery, and 
be associated with a right hemiplegia, or a tubercular tumour may compress 
the left third frontal convolution. 

Functional aphasia is not uncommon and occurs usually after exhausting 
fevers ; as, for instance, in typhoid after the febrile stage is passed many 
months may elapse before the child speaks. It may occur after pneumonia ; 
thus a child of two and a half years suffered from inflammation of the lungs 
in October ; his mother said his talking left him while getting better. He 
didn't speak a word till the following April, when he said 'drink ;' the follow- 
ing month he began gradually to talk again. (See also case p. 451.) 

The power of speech is lost suddenly at times in consequence of a nervous 
break-down. Dr. Langdon Down records the cases of two brothers, who had 
spoken well and understood two languages, completely losing the power of 
speech at the period of the second dentition. 

5. stammering- is rare before the period of the second dentition, though 
we have met with one case of a child of three years who occasionally stam- 
mered. Boys are far more commonly affected than girls. It is especially 
apt to supervene in boys who are overworked at school, and who inherit 
neurotic tendencies. 

Treatment of Defective Speech. — The treatment necessarily depends on the 
cause of the defective speech. Surgical treatment maybe required in the 
first place : enlarged tonsils must be excised and post-nasal adenoids removed, 
defects in the hard or soft palate must be remedied as far as possible by sur- 
gical and mechanical means. Special instruction in articulation, especially 
directed to the difficult sounds, must then be practised. For this purpose 
the teacher faces the pupil, showing him by exaggerated movements of his 
own lips, tongue, or larynx the positions they should assume to form the 
desired sounds, and practising the pupil in these movements. In fact, the 
oral method now so commonly in use for the instruction of deaf-mutes 
must be practised in all cases of defective speech. 

The education of deaf-mutes has received much attention of recent years, 
more especially in Germany, and schools are now established throughout the 
country where the education of deaf-mutes is carried on on the oral system. 
By this system the senses of sight and touch are made as far as possible to 
take the place of the defective sense of hearing. 

If the patient has become deaf after it has learnt to speak, everything 
must be done to assist it to retain the faculty of speech and to discourage the 
use of sign-language. The child must be encouraged to speak, the words 
that are wrongly pronounced being corrected as far as possible by showing 
the child the exact position of the mouth, lips, tongue, or larynx, and by 
making it repeat the word until it has pronounced it correctly. New words 
are taught in a similar manner and by showing the child the objects, or 
pictures of the objects, taught. 



Mental Defects 477 

The instruction of congenital deaf-mutes is most usefully commenced at 
six years of age ; before this time it is difficult to fix the child's attention for 
sufficiently long together ; indeed, many children do not manage to learn much 
till they are seven years of age. It need not be said that the training of deaf- 
mutes in the use of oral language is a tedious and difficult process, requiring 
a special training and much patience on the part of the teacher. The deaf- 
mute has not only to learn to speak, but also to understand what is said to 
him, by watching the movements of the speaker's lips. After many years of 
training the cleverer deaf-mutes are able to leave school and converse with 
others sufficiently to enable them to learn a trade and earn their own living. 1 

Mental Affections in Childhood. — All degrees of intellectual feebleness 
are met with during infancy and childhood, ranging from complete amentia, 
the result of an ill-developed or damaged brain, to mere backwardness or 
dulness of the mental powers. The classification of such is roughly made 
when we speak of idiots, imbeciles, and backward children, though in using 
these terms it must be borne in mind that no sharp line can be drawn 
between idiots and imbeciles, and, moreover, there are objections to both 
terms, inasmuch as the one is a term of reproach and the other is frequently 
applied to those who are the subjects of senile dementia. Dr. Langdon 
Down has proposed a classification based upon etiology and having the 
merit of simplicity, which is often of practical value with regard to treatment 
and prognosis. His classification is as follows : — 

1. Congenital idiocy. 4; Cretinism. 

2. Developmental idiocy. 5. Backward children. 

3. Accidental or acquired idiocy. 6. Syphilitic idiocy. 

1. The congenital group includes by far the largest class, those in whom 
some mal-development of brain or some brain-damage takes place early in 
intra-uterine life, and who in consequence are never in possession of an 
average amount of brain power. The members of this group usually show 
within a few months of birth that they are not like ordinary children. The 
mother notices that the infant when a month or two old does not take 
notice as it should ; it pays no attention to a bright light or sound, it does not 
recognise its friends by a smile, or appear to hear its nurse's voice. As time 
goes on it makes no attempt to sit up or hold toys in its hands, its muscular 
system is weak, and its face wears a vacant expression. At a year or 
eighteen months old it has made no progress in walking or in using its 
limbs, or perhaps it cannot utter any articulate sound ; it slavers continually, 
the saliva running from its mouth on to its frock, and it has no control over 
its urine and faeces. As its muscular power gradually increases, it learns 
to walk, perhaps to say a few words, and, if carefully looked after, to become 
more cleanly in its habits. At three or four years of age it cannot understand 
anything that is said to it, it takes no notice of anything in its daily walk, 
and can only utter one or two articulate sounds. Often they are peppery in 
their temper and mischievous. 

The physical characters as well as the degree of intelligence possessed 

1 For details of the methods of oral instruction, see Deaf-mutism, by Hartmann 
(Cassell's translation). 



478 Diseases of the Nervous System 

by congenital idiots are very various. They mostly have coarse, harsh skins, 
slow circulations, and suffer from constipation. They are exceedingly apt 
to suffer from various tubercular manifestations. They nearly always remain 
stunted in growth. Congenital idiocy may.be associated with a peculiar 
formation of the skull, corresponding roughly to the configuration of the 
brain inside ; while some crania are small, it must not be supposed that small 
heads are constantly present in congenital idiots : in some cases the head 
is symmetrical and well shaped, and of average size. Congenital idiots may 
have microcephalic (Aztec type) or small heads, macrocephalic or large 
heads, dolichocephalic or long heads, brachycephalic or broad heads (Mon- 
golian type). Sometimes there is a want of symmetry on the two sides of 
the cranium, or there is a deficient development of the frontal or occipital 
region. Various conditions of the mouth found in congenital idiots have 
been especially emphasised by Langdon Down ; these, it is needless to say, 
are not universally present. The palate is inordinately high and arched, and 
often unsymmetrical ; the tongue is usually large, and its movements are apt 
to be badly co-ordinated and awkward ; the fungiform papillae are hyper- 
trophied ; the mucous membrane of the pharynx is apt to be thickened and 
congested, the tonsils hypertrophied, and post-nasal adenoids maybe present. 
Slavering due to paresis of the muscles of the lips and tongue, as well as 
to the hypertrophy of the glands of the mouth, is very common. Dr. 
Langdon Down looks upon slavering as of some diagnostic importance-, 
being nearly always connected with mental feebleness. The teeth are late 
in appearing and quickly become carious. 

2. Developmental. — In this group are included those who showno marked 
signs of being wanting in intelligence during infancy, but who during child- 
hood or youth may show signs, often suddenly, of a mental breakdown and 
arrest of the development of the mental powers. This change may come at 
any time during childhood, but more especially on the approach of puberty. 
This sudden change often comes as a great surprise to the friends ; the child's 
head is well-formed, he looks intelligent, quite unlike the appearance of an 
idiot, and they are at a loss to account for the change, or attribute it to 
some trifling disorder. Sometimes the first intimation of the crisis is that 
the child ceases to talk : such was the case in a little boy seen by us, 1 who 
was perfectly intelligent and bright up to 4.^ years, when he suddenly ceased 
to speak and gave over playing with toys, his principal employment being 
to throw his toys on the floor and proceed to kick them about the room ; he 
hardly seemed to know his mother, though at other times he appeared to 
understand. He eventually recovered. 

In other cases the change comes at the second dentition or at puberty : 
such children are apt to be morbidly conscientious, believe they have told 
lies or stolen, or, on the other hand, they become wayward, mischievous, 
unkind to their brothers and sisters, and disobedient. (See Hysteria.) 

Epileptic fits are apt to appear at this period. Dr. Langdon Down has 
noticed that these cases often have a scaphocephalic head, which is ' prow- 
shaped' anteriorly, the prow corresponding with the inter-frontal suture, 
which forms a prominent ridge. Such cases, according to this author, are 

1 A patient of Dr. Herbert Renshaw's, of Sale. 



Cretinoid Idiocy 479 

apt to break down by over-pressure at school or from over-excitement during 
childhood. 

3. Accidental or Acquired. — To this class belong those who do not inherit 
any insane tendency, and who would become healthy, intelligent children but 
for some accident which damages the brain at birth, or some lesion at a later 
period. Reference has been already made to cases of ftost-partum paralysis 
(see p. 433) due to meningeal haemorrhage occurring during birth ; such are 
often not only paralysed, but mentally feeble. There is strong reason to 
believe, as already stated, that damage done to the convolutions on the 
surface of the brain by a meningeal haemorrhage when an infant is in a con- 
dition of asphyxia is the cause of the feebleness of intellect, and possibly 
such may escape paralysis, the motor centres escaping damage. In another 
class of case the infant is quite well, and its development is satisfactory 7 , till 
it has some acute illness with cerebral symptoms, mostly during its second 
year. This may be followed by hemiplegia, or there may be no paralysis 
but the mental development is interfered with. Such children often suffer 
from convulsions and finally become epileptics. 

4. Cretinoid Idiocy. Sporadic Cretinism. Congenital Myx- 
oedema. — Cretinism is endemic in mountainous districts of Europe, es- 
pecially in the Swiss Alps ; it is comparatively rare in this country, though 
examples may be met with in the hilly parts of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and 
Somersetshire. Examples of this form of cretinism may be met with in 
asylums. Dr. Shuttleworth records a remarkable case, who died at the age 
of twenty years in the Royal Albert Asylum at Lancaster. In such cases there 
is usually, but not universally, an enlarged thyroid gland, and goitre usually 
prevails in the same localities. 

The form of cretinism of most interest is the form which was described 
by Hilton Fagge under the name of ' sporadic cretinism.' It is, however, by 
no means unlikely that these cases are in reality more related to myxcedema 
than to the form of cretinism so well known in the mountainous districts of 
Europe. They differ from the latter in that the thyroid is absent, and the 
skin and subcutaneous tissues are thick and myxcedematous. Examples of 
this form have been met with in all parts of the country, and it does not 
seem to be more common in hilly districts than in large cities or in level 
country districts. 

In many of the cases which have come under observation there has 
been a history of the child being born of healthy parents, and of being well till 
some illness occurred such as measles or typhoid fever, after which the child 
ceased to grow and gradually developed the peculiar physiognomy of 
cretinism. In one of our own cases the boy was said to have been well till 
an attack of enteric fever at seven years of age; in a case recorded by Fletcher 
Beach the disease dated from whooping cough at twenty months. In other 
cases the history points to the child having been affected from birth. There 
is reason also to believe that cretinoid changes are in operation during 
pregnancy, and that some of the cases in which softening of the bones is 
supposed to be due to infantile osteo-malacia are in reality foetal cretinism. 

The physiognomy of cretins is very peculiar and characteristic. They 
are dwarfs, being markedly stunted in growth : in one of our own cases, that 
of a boy aged 12 years, he measured 34 inches high and weighed 28 pounds. 



480 



Diseases of the Nervous System 



In two cases of Hilton Fagge's, one, aged 16^-. years, was only 32 inches high; 
another, 20 years old, was only 28 inches in height. 

Their heads are large and broad, often flattened at the vertex ; the face 
is broad, the eyes wide apart, the nose flattened, and the lips are large and 
pouting. The tongue is strikingly large and thick, and sometimes hangs 

from the mouth ; the belly is tumid, 
the lower limbs are disproportion- 
ately short as compared with the 
body, the gait is awkward and 
waddling. The skin is coarse and 
thick, and of a sallow colour ; in 
some the subcutaneous tissues are 
thick and myxedematous. Usually 
no thyroid is present, or, if present, 
is very small, but in almost all cases 
described peculiar fatty tumours 
are present in the posterior tri- 
angles of the neck behind the 
sterno-mastoid muscles and imme- 
diately above the clavicles. These 
tumours are soft, movable, and lobu- 
lated ; they send processes behind 
the sterno-mastoid muscles and also 
beneath the clavicles. 

The degree of intelligence in 
these cases differs : mostly they are 
childish in their ways rather than 
imbecile. In one of our cases the 
boy was employed by his father, 
who was a butcher, to stand outside 
the shop on Saturday nights and 
shout out the price of meat. His 
peculiar appearance and quaint re- 
marks always attracted customers. 
Cretins are apt to suffer from tuber- 
culosis both of the bones and in- 
ternal organs. 
Fig. 94 represents a boy of five years, the subject of cretinism. He was never right 
from his birth ; his brothers and sisters were healthy. He has never talked, only utters 
grunting sounds. Hardly understands anything said to him, but laughs if amused. The 
skin is coarse and the subcutaneous tissues thick. He has large lips and tongue ; his 
hands and feet are disproportionately large. No thyroid gland can be felt ; the supra- 
clavicular pads are present. He has caries of the ethmoid bone and a chronic discharge 
of pus from the left eye. Fig. 95 illustrates a similar case, four years of age ; she could 
not stand without help. 

5. Backward Children. — The name sufficiently indicates this class of 
case. It is often difficult to say whether a child is only behindhand in de- 
velopment or his mental powers are deficient. In most cases time will de- 
cide this. Backwardness is at times associated with epileptiform fits, or other 
nervous troubles. Children of this class are a constant source of anxiety to 




Fig. 94. — Cretin, 
31 



Walter P., aged 5 years, height 
inches, weight 28 lbs. 



Idiocy in Congenital Syphilis 



481 



their parents ; they go to school and always gravitate to the bottom of their 
class, being perhaps left behind by their younger brothers or children many 
years younger than themselves ; out of school they are bullied or teased by 
their playmates. It is often difficult to know what to do with them; certainly 
neither a large school nor home life is suitable. They are best educated in 
a small school where backward boys are received and special attention paid 
to them. 

6. Idiocy due to Congenital Syphilis. — The statistics of asylums 
for idiots and imbeciles do not support the view that mental feebleness in 
children is due to any large 

extent to the results of in- T £< 

herited syphilis. Dr. G. E. <>-.-'->- 

Shuttleworth ] records that -;r 

out of 1,000 inmates at the >. ^ ^ 

Royal Albert Asylum for 
Idiots at Lancaster, in only 
ten cases was there any rea- 
son for suspecting syphilis, 
and in four only the evidence 
was satisfactory. We have 
already referred (pp. 423 and 
445) to certain lesions, such 
as meningo-encephalitis and 
endarteritis, which give rise to 
brain softening and complete 
dementia ; but such cases are 
rare, and are usually fatal at 
a comparatively early period 
of life. The commoner form 
of syphilitic idiocy does not 
manifest itself till the child is 
some six or seven years old or 
even later, and takes the form 
of a sort of dementia or ner- 
vous break-down. The child 
has perhaps learnt to read and 
shown a fair amount of in- 
telligence ; it then gradually 
becomes more and more 

stupid and dull, and finally becomes completely demented. In some cases 
there is some form of paralysis and a tendency to epileptic seizures. In 
all such cases it is important to inquire for a history of syphilis, and to 
carefully examine the patient for evidence of this. Keratitis, scarring about 
the mouth, pegged teeth, disseminated choroiditis, &c, should be looked for. 

The changes found in the brain in these cases consist in a chronic end- 
arteritis, a thickening of the skull, and a chronic meningitis. 

1 ' The Influence of Hereditary Syphilis in the Production of Idiocy or Dementia,' by 
J. S. Bury, M.D. — Brain, Part XXI. ' Idiocy and Imbecility due to Inherited Syphilis,' 
by G. E. Shuttleworth, B.A., M.D.— American Journal of Insanity, January 1888. 

I I 




Fig. 95. — Cretin. 



482 Diseases of the Nervous System 

Morbid Anatomy. — Space will not allow of any description of the malfor- 
mations or lesions found in the brains of idiots or imbeciles. The varieties 
of malformation found are very numerous ; the brain may be abnormally 
small, the frontal or posterior lobes may be ill-developed, the two halves 
may not correspond, or the corpus callosum or commissures may be 
absent. In another class of case there may be chronic meningitis, pachy- 
meningitis, or atrophy of the cortical centres. 

Treatme?it. — The physical and intellectual training of children of deficient 
mental power is best undertaken in some institution specially equipped for 
the purpose. Home is certainly not the best place for their education. In 
the large majority of instances they are either over-indulged or neglected by 
their parents, brothers, and sisters. The association of the cleverer brothers 
and sisters often produces a feeling of discouragement in the feeble-minded, 
and of hopelessness at the wide gap which separates them from others. The 
discipline of a well-managed school or institution is of the greatest advantage 
in teaching them self-control and self-respect, and the companionship of 
those who are more or less on an equality as far as intelligence is concerned 
is calculated to bring out their mental powers far more than is the association 
with those that are greatly their superiors. If a school education is necessary 
for the children of parents who are in comfortable circumstances, how much 
more is the shelter of an institution necessary for the feeble-minded among 
the lower classes ! The Board school refuses to be troubled with them; they 
are teased and worried by their companions in the streets, while they are 
alternately over-indulged or scolded and neglected by their parents ; their 
life is miserable, and they grow up useless members of society and an en- 
cumbrance to their friends. Unfortunately the several excellent public 
institutions for the training and education of feeble-minded children in this 
country are too few in number for the work they have to do. Moreover, they 
labour under an unfortunate name — viz. ' Asylums for Idiots and Imbeciles,' 
when as a matter of fact they are not asylums for providing a home for 
useless members of society, but schools where weak-minded children are 
trained to take their part in the battle of life. These circumstances un- 
doubtedly operate in the minds of parents, who might otherwise be not averse 
to sending their children to training-schools, but who shrink from branding 
them as idiots or imbeciles. 

As an example of what a training-school can be, the ' Albert Asylum' at 
Lancaster may be taken as a model. Children are received of all degrees 
of mental deficiency, from the most feeble-minded idiot to the merely back- 
ward child ; the children of the poorest, who can contribute nothing towards 
their maintenance, are admitted ; while there is an attached private house for 
the reception of the children of the wealthy, replete with all the luxuries of 
home life. 

It is needless to say that children who are idiots or weak-minded need a 
plentiful supply of good food; that especial care must be taken to keep their 
apartments warm as well as ventilated, as they are exceedingly prone to suffer 
from pneumonia and tuberculosis. 

No provision is made in this country for the education of the dull or 
backward children of the lower middle or working classes. For children of 
ordinary intelligence the Board schools of our large towns provide an. 



Craniectomy 483 

excellent education, but no special classes are formed for those of dull 
comprehension ; they are refused admission to the ordinary classes, and 
frequently mope their time away at home, with no education at all. There 
can be little doubt that in all large towns in this country, as in Norway and 
Sweden, small classes should be provided for the dull and backward scholars, 
so as to obviate the necessity of refusing them an education, as is done at 
present. In the worst cases of this class, where there is real mental deficiency, 
education away from home is unquestionably the best. 

Craniectomy. — Recently an operation under this name has been intro- 
duced, based on the fact that in certain cases of mental deficiency the defect 
is due to premature closure of the cranial sutures and consequent arrest of 
growth of the brain. The operation consists in the removal of a strip of 
bone along one or both sides of the middle line of the skull, or in some cases 
over the motor area, thus allowing the brain room to grow. The operation 
is a somewhat serious one, but has been followed by at any rate temporary 
improvement in some cases. We have tried it in two cases of hopeless de- 
ficiency, the result of infantile meningeal haemorrhage, but in such conditions, 
as might have been expected, no marked improvement followed. It is clear 
that a good result can only be looked for when the brain is small and un- 
developed, but not actually anywhere destroyed. Both our cases recovered, 
but in one there was for a time marked hyperpyrexia, apparently a direct result 
of the operation from disturbance of the brain, and not due to septic causes ; 
one of Mr. Horsleys cases died of a similar condition. The brain from one 
of our cases, which died some months after the operation from causes uncon- 
nected with it, is figured at page 441 (fig. 91). 

Cases suitable for the operation are those in which there is mental de- 
ficiency with microcephalus and closure of the sutures. 



484 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM — continued. 

Spina Bifida. — Spina bifida is a congenital malformation in which there 
is non-union of the laminae of one or more vertebra?, together with a protru- 
sion of a sac composed of the spinal cord or its membranes through this 
opening. 1 The protrusion may occur at any part of the spine, and may ex- 
tend throughout nearly its whole length ; usually only three or four vertebrae 
are involved, and the lumbar or sacral region is the part most commonly 
affected. 2 Very rarely the bodies of the vertebrae are divided, and the hernia 
projects forwards or laterally. In some instances there is no protrusion, 
though the laminae have not united (' spina bifida occulta '), and occasionally 
there is more than one hernia. 

Three kinds of spina bifida are recognised :— 

1. Protrusion of the spinal membranes only : ' spinal meningocele.' 

2. Protrusion of the membranes together with the spinal cord and nerves : 
' meningo-myelocele.' 

3. Protrusion of the membranes and cord, the central canal of the latter 
being dilated to form the sac : ' syringo-myelocele.' 

To these should be added the cases where the medullary plates fail to 
coalesce — ' myelocele ' — and the central canal opens upon the surface, a con- 
dition incompatible with life for more than a few days. Also a meningo- 
cele may coexist with a' syringo-myelocele,' constituting a 'syringo-meningo- 
cele,' and finally there is ' spina bifida occulta.' 3 

The second kind of deformity is much the most common, forming 63 per 
cent, of all the cases. 

In the first form the swelling is usually small, and may protrude merely 
between two almost normal spines ; the cavity of the sac is the subarachnoid 
space, the swelling is often covered with well-formed skin, and paralytic com- 
plications are often absent. 

The vertebral laminae vary much in development ; the gap may be very 
wide and the laminae much stunted, or they may form prominent everted 
borders to the orifice. 

The central canal of the cord is often dilated in the first two forms as 
well as in the third, and the position of the cord in the sac varies ; it may be 

1 The deformity may be considered as due to a failure of the mesoblast to interpose 
itself between the spinal and cutaneous epiblast, with or without lack of coalescence of the 
medullary folds themselves. 

2 Eighty-nine cases out of 125 collected by the Clinical Society were lumbar or sacral. 

3 Vide Bland Sutton, Lancet, February 25, 1888. 



Spina Bifida 485 

slung up in the sac by a sort of mesentery, but in any case is very imper- 
fectly developed, and is occasionally transfixed by a bony process crossing 
the canal. 

Syringo-myelocele is very rare ; the sac is composed of spinal membranes 
plus the cord, and, the cavity being the dilated central canal, the nerves are 
embedded in the sac wall and do not cross the cavity. 

The fluid in a spina bifida consists of 989 parts of water with soluble salts 
and a trace of sugar, or at least some copper-reducing substance ; also small 
quantities of globulin ; it is, in fact, cerebro-spinal fluid. Where, however, 
the cavity of the sac is continuous with the subdural space, no sugar will 
be found. 1 

In meningo-myelocele, the common form, the sac is formed of dura 
mater lined by arachnoid (both ' layers '), hence the cavity is the subarach- 
noid space. The spinal cord traverses the sac and blends with its roof ; from 
the flattened thinned-out cord the spinal nerves arise and pass across the 
sac to their respective foramina. The surface of the sac may be covered 
entirely with skin, or may be thin and transparent, only consisting at its 
upper part of the membranes, or membranes covered with an imperfect 
epidermic layer, while at the sides the skin is usually better formed. Some- 
times a dimple or longitudinal furrow in the middle line marks the attach- 
ment of the cord and shows its presence in the sac, an important point in 
the question of treatment. Sometimes the sac is loculated. 

The tumour resulting from spina bifida is median in position," usually 
sessile, fluctuant, translucent in varying degree, according to the amount of 
healthy skin covering it. The contents can be partially reduced into the 
spinal canal, unless the communication has been shut off (false spina bifida). 
The surface is not uncommonly ulcerated, and is sometimes marked by 
naevoid tissue, as in the case of meningoceles. The swelling becomes tense 
on the child crying, and there is often, some associated deformity ; hydro- 
cephalus, meningocele, talipes, harelip, a peculiar webbed condition of the 
thighs (' siren '), or other deformity may coexist, and the subjects of spina 
bifida are often marasmic and soon die ; in other cases, however, they are 
fat and hearty. We have seen them too fat, the subject of a sort of diffuse 
lipomatous condition such as is sometimes seen in cases of talipes. On the 
whole, paraplegia, talipes, and hydrocephalus are the three commonest com- 
plications. ' Trophic ' ulcers are sometimes seen on the feet. 

Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of spina bifida can only be doubtful where 
there is a complete skin-covering to the tumour. In such cases congenital, 
sacral, or other tumours — hygroma, teratoma, or lipoma — may be mistaken 
for spina bifida, and the possibility of the communication with the spinal cord 
having been shut off must also be borne in mind. The presence of solid 
masses in a median tumour and the absence of general fluctuation would 
point to a teratoma or lipoma, while a hygroma is more spongy, usually 
flatter, and often not exactly median. The presence of naevus-stains may 
raise the question of whether the whole swelling is not naevoid. The fixity 
of the tumour to the spine, its reducibility, the possibility of feeling the edges 

1 A case of this nature was reported by Pearce Gould in the Clin. Soc. Trans., 1882, 
Injection cured the patient. 

- Lateral meningocele has been, however, met with. 



486 Diseases of the Nervous System 

of the opening in the laminae, and the coexistence of other deformities may- 
throw light upon a doubtful case. In some instances puncture with a fine 
needle and examination of the fluid drawn off may be required ; a highly 
albuminous fluid would be inconsistent with spina bifida. Non-congenital 
tumours cannot, of course, be confounded with spina bifida. The per- 
sistence of communication with the meningeal cavities can be determined 
by variations in size of the swelling. The term ' false spina bifida,' usually 
limited to cases where the sac no longer communicates with the subarachnoid 
space, is sometimes applied to any median congenital tumour along the spine. 

Prognosis. — Nearly all cases of spina bifida left to themselves die, 
mostly from meningitis after rupture of the sac, or from marasmus ; some, 
however, recover completely, the sac shrinking up and forming a mere 
puckered cicatrix. Occasionally spontaneous cure takes place in utero, 
and even rupture is not universally fatal. Cure of the spina bifida, it must 
be remembered, does not imply cure of paralysis or other complications. 

Treatment. — Though simple repeated tappings, pressure, ligature, and 
excision have all occasionally proved successful in the treatment of spina 
bifida, the Clinical Society's report shows that the safest and most gene- 
rally applicable plan is that of injection, and probably Morton's fluid 1 is 
the best for this purpose. Either ligature or excision is almost necessarily 
fatal where the case is one of meningo-myelocele, and, as this is the most 
common form, 2 and it is impossible to be sure in any given case that a 
simple meningocele is present, the plan should rarely or never be adopted. 3 

Treatment by injection is managed as follows : — The child should be 
held back downwards, and a fairly fine injecting syringe should be charged 
with Morton's fluid ; the needle is then passed in obliquely through the skin 
and from fifteen minims to a drachm of the fluid injected. Care must be taken 
that the puncture is made through skin and not through thin membrane, 
and that it is well away from the middle line, both to diminish the risk of 
subsequent leakage and to avoid injury to the cord or nerves. After the 
injection, the child must be kept upon its back, the puncture sealed with 
collodion, the tumour packed well round with absorbent wool, and a flannel 
bandage applied. It is perhaps better to withdraw some fluid before injecting, 
and the child must be kept entirely in the supine position, to prevent the 
fluid from passing into the spinal canal. If the tumour does not shrink and 
no ill effects follow, the njection should be repeated at intervals of a fort- 
night. Occasionally the tumour does not begin to shrink for a month or 
two after an injection, as in a case related to us by Dr. Wallace, of Long- 
sight. 

Injection may fail to produce any effect, may result in immediate death, 
may be followed by leakage or by hydrocephalus ; a single injection may 
cure, or several may be required. This plan should be employed in all 
cases unless the child is obviously marasmic or dying from rupture of the 

1 Iodine gr. x, iodide of potassium gr. xxx, glycerine V\. The amount of iodine may 
be increased up to gr. xxx. 

2 Prescott Hewett found only one case out of twenty in which there was no nerve 
■element in the sac. 

3 Mr. Mayo Robson, of Leeds, and others, have had some successful cases, but the facts 
remain as above stated. 



Spina Bifidc. 



487 



sac, or unless the tumour is quiescent and giving rise to no trouble ; or, of 
course, if it is shrinking spontaneously, no treatment should be adopted. 

Sometimes a spina bifida is ruptured at birth, or sloughs shortly after- 
wards from pressure ; nothing can be done for such a case except to dust it 
over with iodoform and protect it carefully from pressure and contamination 
with the child's discharges. We have not seen a case recover when the sac 

has been ruptured in this way, though 
recovery does occasionally occur 
(Maylard). Superficial ulceration is 
less serious and should be managed 
in the same way. Even if the spina 
bifida is cured by injection, it is not 





Fig. 96. —A case of cured Spina Bifida 
(by injection), with coexisting 
Talipes. 



Fig. 97.— Shows a section through a Spina 
Bifida cured by injection. A small cavity 
still remains. The child died some time after 
of scarlet fever. 

rare for hydrocephalus to appear 
later ; hence the mortality, direct or 
indirect, among these cases, is very 
high. 

As already mentioned, in certain 
cases the sac becomes shut off from 
the general cavity of the membranes and the cyst remains without com- 
munication with any important structures : such result can only occur in 
meningoceles ; the tumour then usually requires no treatment ; it may, how- 
ever, be tapped or injected and excised with probable impunity. These cases 
and sacral spina bifida are the ones most likely to be successfully treated by 
excision. 

In connection with spina bifida must be mentioned the so-called sacral 
or coccygeal dimple described by Lawson Tait and others. This is a 
small dimple or depression in the skin over the lower part of the sacrum or 
upper part of the coccyx ; it can often be obliterated by traction upon the 
skin. It probably results from imperfect obliteration of the dorsal furrow, 
a sort of incomplete spina bifida. Fig. 98 shows a more marked condition 
of the same thing, which was associated with talipes. It has been pointed 
out by Dr. Dunlop, of Jersey, 1 that the dimple may be associated with bending 



1 Lancet, May 6, 



Diseases of the Nervous System 

back of the coccyx. Another view of the origin of this little depression, which 
is quite commonly to be found, is that it represents the 'posterior umbilicus,' 
or ' blastopore.' It has been supposed to be the remains of the neurenteric 

canal. Congenital sacral fistulae are a more 
marked condition of the same thing : they may 
cause trouble by retention of sebaceous secretion 
and require removal ; a tuft of hair or ' caudal 
appendage' has been found in the neighbour- 
hood of these fistulas (Terrillon, Gueniot, &c). 
The case here figured (fig. 98) appears to be an 
intermediate condition between the ordinary 
spina bifida and the rare condition described as 
' spina bifida occulta,' in which the laminae of 
one or more vertebrae are deficient, but there is 
no hernial protrusion. In ' spina bifida occulta' 
the site of the deficiency is marked by a local 
overgrowth of hair, and there appears to be 
usually a coexisting (resulting) tendency to the 
development of perforating ulcer of the foot and 
pes varus. We have noticed an overgrowth of 
hair and a formation of trophic ulcers in a case 
of spina bifida cured by injection ; both the 
hypertrichosis and the ulcer developed only 
when the tumour was more or less completely 
shrunken. In such cases endarteritis and neu- 




Fig. 98.— Slight sacral Spina Bifida 
which has undergone sponta- 
neous cure. The girl had also 
Talipes and was mentally dull. 
There was an ulcer on the dorsum 
of the foot. 



great hypertrophy of the muscular coat of the 
arteries. For further details we must refer to 
Mr. Bland Sutton's paper in the Lancet for 
July 2, 1887; vide also Recklinghausen, Arch.f. 
Kinderh., Bd. viii., H. 6, abstracted in 'Archives 
of Paediatrics,' February 1888. 

Meningocele. — Malformations correspond- 
ing to spina bifida are not rarely met with in the head. The most common 
form is a hernia of the meninges forming a meningocele, the cavity of which 
is the subarachnoid space. In other instances the protrusion contains brain 
substance as well — encephalocele, or hydrencephalocele, or meningo-ence- 
phalocele ; the last is, according to Treves, the commonest, and pure 
meningocele the rarest form. 

These herniae are most common in the occipital region, the protrusion 
taking place through a median opening corresponding to the space between 
the centres of ossification of the supra-occipital bone. In other instances it 
occurs at the root of the nose, through the suture between the frontal and nasal 
bones, or at one or other angle of the orbit, or at other parts, 1 the pharynx, 
&c. The general characters of these cysts need no further description 



1 The late Dr. Carrington has recorded a case of interparietal hydrencephalocele {Clin. 
Soc. Trans. , 1881) ; and the protrusion sometimes takes place through the foramen mag- 
num (Holmes, St. George's Hospital Reports, 1866) : in this case the cyst was Ioculated. 



Meningocele 489 

here ; they are precisely those of a spina bifida, except that the skin over a 
meningocele is more often normal. The fluid is often partially or wholly 
reducible, and its reduction may give rise to pressure symptoms ; the swell- 
ing becomes more tense when the child cries, and is more or less trans- 
lucent according to its contents, whether fluid or cerebral. The course of 
these cases is often the same as that of a spina bifida : the swelling grows 
and ruptures, and the child dies ; sometimes, however, it shrinks after or 
without rupturing. 

Diagnosis. — The diagnosis is in most cases easy : the swelling is in the 
position of a weak spot in the skull ; it is congenital. The opening in the 
skull can usually be felt, and the other characters mentioned suffice to dis- 
tinguish it. Sometimes, however, especially when small, it is difficult or im- 
possible to distinguish meningoceles from dermoid cysts, or cysts connected 
with naevi, especially as naevoid patches are common on the surface of 
meningoceles. Dermoid cysts sometimes cause perforation of the skull 
beneath them, and hence are very difficult in such cases to diagnose with 




Fig. 99. — Occipital Meningocele. 




%. 100. — Frontal Meningocele. Spontaneous cure, with 
resulting deformity of the nose. (Dr. Moritz's case.) 



certainty ; they are, however, usually more mobile and less affected by pres- 
sure than meningoceles. The deformity is often accompanied by idiocy, 
paralysis, or spastic contractures, and other malformations. In some cases 
the protrusion may attain enormous bulk, the greater part of the cranial con- 
tents being lodged outside the skull. Most museums contain specimens of 
this sort, which have, however, no practical surgical bearing. 

Treatment. — Unless the tumour is enlarging, no treatment except pro- 
tection is wise ; should anything be desirable, repeated tappings or injection, 
as in the case of spina bifida, is the best course for meningoceles. Attempts 
have been made to excise the tumours, with sufficient success to encourage 
further trials, in selected cases. We have successfully excised an occipital 
meningocele in which the tumour did not communicate with the membranes ; 
but in the operation the membranes, or at least another sac, were opened. 
No ill result followed. If excision is attempted the skin should be as far as 
possible dissected back from the membranes, and the latter either tucked 
into the skull or removed and their edges stitched together. We have also 
recently excised an occipital meningo-encephalocele in which a piece of the 



49° Diseases of the Nervous System 

cerebellum of the size of a walnut was removed, the child recovered, though 
it is developing hydrocephalus since the operation. 1 

Schatz reports favourably of the treatment of occipital meningoceles by 
puncture and pressure, and records a cure in three cases by constriction~of 
the pedicle with clamps. (Berlin. Klin. Woch., 1885, No. 28, p. 371.) 

Much deformity is sometimes produced by the presence and shrinkage of 
a meningocele (fig. 100, kindly given us by our friend Dr. Moritz). 

Occasionally meningoceles protrude through the roof of the pharynx or 
nasal cavities : in such cases mistakes as to the nature of the swelling have 
led to speedily fatal results after operation. 2 

Spinal meningitis. — Spinal meningitis mostly occurs in its acute form 
in association with cerebral meningitis, and in its chronic form in connection 
with spinal caries. Acute cerebro-spinal meningitis has already been 
referred to (p. 413), and the symptoms of spinal meningitis, when super- 
added to those of cerebral meningitis, discussed. The dissociation of the; 
symptoms of each is not easy, as cerebral disease gives rise to symptoms- 
closely resembling those given by a spinal lesion. Thus, basal meningitis, 
especially when it occurs low down around the pons, medulla, and cere- 
bellum, will produce tetanoid rigidity with spasms of the muscles of the 
back and neck. A tumour of the middle lobe of the cerebellum may produce 
acute pain referred to the spine and spasm of the erector spinae (see case 
p. 427). On the other hand, spinal meningitis, either tubercular, simple, or 
purulent, may be found post mortem, having given no definite symptoms 
during life, certainly not those usually associated with spinal meningitis. 

The most characteristic symptoms of spinal meningitis are shooting 
pains down the limbs and round the body, with hyperesthesia of the skin, 
rigors, quickened pulse, and fever. There are rigidity about the limbs, 
retraction of the head, and tenderness about the spine. The diagnosis is 
often difficult : hysteria, tetany, and the cramps, associated with acute 
intestinal catarrh, as well as cerebral meningitis, may be mistaken for it. 
Synovitis of the vertebral joints may resemble meningitis of the cord. If 
the spinal meningitis pass into the chronic stage, paresis of the upper and. 
lower extremities may come on. 

Spinal meningitis is necessarily a disease which tends to a fatal termina- 
tion, but not so certainly as cerebral meningitis : certainly, cases diagnosed 
as spinal meningitis recover. Cases such as the following are not altogether 
uncommon : A girl aged 13 years complained six days before admission of 
pain in the back ; her head was drawn back, she could not sleep for the 
pain. On admission she was evidently acutely ill ; she lay on her side in bed, 
with her legs drawn up, and there was great retraction of the head ; there 
was much pain along the spine, aggravated on movement ; pain shooting 
along the arms was complained of; the pulse was 108, the temperature varied 
from 98 to 102 Fahr. She was given chloral hydrate, and an ice-bag was 
applied to the spine ; for five or six days she continued acutely ill, the tem- 

1 Mr. Jessop, of Leeds, also records a successful case of excision, but there was no 
distinct communication with the interior of the skull ; hence it has little bearing on the 
general question. — Brit. Med. Jour., December 30, 1882. 

2 For tables as to the frequency of different varieties, &c, vide Treves' Manual of 
Surgery, vol. ii. 



Spinal Meningitis 491 

perature varying from 97 to 102 : there were several rigors on succeeding 
days : the head was retracted, any forcible movement forward caused pain, 
there was exaggerated knee-jerk, and ankle-clonus was present. The 
symptoms gradually subsided about a week after admission, leaving her very 
weak and emaciated. In six weeks she was discharged well. Such cases 
may be open to the suspicion that the inflammatory lesion present was in 
the vertebral joints or spinal muscles rather than in the spinal canal ; but, 
on the other hand, none of the other joints or muscles were affected, and there 
is no reason why a spinal meningitis should not occur and get well again. 

Treatment. — Rest in bed, with perfect quietness, is essential. Ice to the 
spine is probably the best local application that can be used. The pain 
must be relieved by small morphia injections, or opium may be given by the 
mouth. Instead of opium, bromides and chloral may be first tried. 

Paraplegia. — By far the commonest cause of paraplegia during child- 
hood is compression of the cord from caries of the bones of the vertebrae. 
Other forms of paraplegia may occur which may be due to myelitis, pressure 
on the cord by a tumour, following measles or other zymotic disease, an 
acute atrophic paralysis affecting both legs, and some other anomalous 
paralyses of uncertain origin. There is also the spastic paralysis of cerebral 
origin and hysterical paraplegia. 

Paraplegia from Potfs Disease. — It is important to bear in mind that 
the paraplegia which occurs in association with caries of the spine is less 
often due to direct pressure from the deformity produced by the falling 
together and bending of the vertebrae than to the inflammatory products 
which are thrown out around the cord. We may therefore have a paraplegia 
without the slightest external deformity of the spine, and, moreover, a perfect 
recovery may ensue in a given case by absorption of the inflammatory 
products — a result that could hardly be expected if the compression was due 
to the direct pressure of a bent spine. The inflammatory process which 
commences in the body of a vertebra is apt to spread, so that lymph or 
curdy pus is effused outside the dura mater, between the latter and the 
bone, or inside the dura mater, and the cord is compressed, or the cord may 
also be affected by the inflammatory process. Pressure on, and inflam- 
matory changes in the cord itself may take place in any part of the cord — 
cervical, dorsal, or lumbar region. Pressure is also exceedingly likely to 
affect some of the nerves, the latter being surrounded and compressed by 
inflammatory products as they pass through the dura mater and foramina. 

Symptoms. — Symptoms of compression of the cord or its branches may 
come on early or late in the disease. In^the majority of cases the early symp- 
toms are those connected with deformity of the spine and perhaps irritation of 
the sensory nerves, and it is only late in the disease, when the deformity has 
been well marked for many months, that symptoms of pressure on the cord 
supervene. In the minority of cases it is the weakness and paresis of legs 
with exaggerated knee-jerk that suggest the onset of spinal caries. It is im- 
portant to bear in mind that a paraplegia may exist for many months 
without any deformity of the spinal column being present, the latter eventually 
supervening, and explaining the cause of the paraplegia which had remained 
in doubt. Gowers mentions the case of a patient who had complete para- 
plegia for six months ; an experienced surgeon who examined him was un- 



492 Diseases of the Nervous System 

able to detect the existence of spinal caries, and yet a few months later 
undoubted symptoms of bone disease set in. 

The motor paresis usually comes on gradually : the child is weak upon 
its legs, quickly tiring, and supports itself whenever possible by the help of 
chairs or tables. When the dorsal cord is compressed the reflexes are 
exaggerated ; if the sole of the foot is tickled as the child lies in bed the foot 
is sharply withdrawn ; if the knee is bent by holding the ankle in the operator's 
hand, a sharp tap on the patellar tendon gives rise to an exaggerated c knee- 
jerk ; ' ankle-clonus can usually be readily obtained. Gradually a spastic 
paraplegia comes on : the child cannot walk, Or later cannot stand, without 
help, and when lying down in bed the knees tend to draw up and the feet to 
be extended in consequence of the rigidity of the calf muscles. Usually 
there is no loss of sensation. The sphincters may be affected and bladder 
troubles may ensue if the lumbar cord becomes involved by descending in- 
flammation. Prior to the onset of motor or cord symptoms, there may be 
various shooting pains experienced along the intercostal nerves ; children 
with commencing caries of the spine will complain of ' belly-ache ' or refer 
the pain to the pit of the stomach or sternum. Thus pain referred to 
the umbilicus suggests that there is irritation of the tenth dorsal nerves 
(eighth dorsal vertebra), or pain at the ensiform cartilage to the sixth and 
seventh nerves (fourth and fifth dorsal vertebrae), or over the thorax to the 
upper dorsal nerves. There may be hyperaesthesia or anaesthesia of the skin. 

When the cervical region of the cord suffers the symptoms are apt to be 
more marked than when the dorsal region is affected ; there may be pains 
shooting down the arms, shoulders, neck, and scalp, according to the position 
of the lesion ; hyperaesthesia and later anaesthesia of the skin. The sensation 
of pins-and-needles is often complained of. There is gradual loss of power 
in one or both arms, and wasting of the muscles. The shoulder muscles, 
serratus, flexors of the elbow and supinators are affected when the fifth and 
sixth are involved ; the extensors of the wrist and fingers when the sixth and 
seventh ; and the extensors of the elbow, flexors of the wrist and fingers, 
and pronators, when the seventh and eighth are involved. A spastic para- 
plegia may come on, as in disease of the dorsal cord. 

When the lumbar enlargement is compressed, or its branches, there is 
paraplegia, the reflexes are not exaggerated, but are abolished, and no 
knee-jerk can be obtained — that is, if the pressure is severe enough to interfere 
with the functional activity of the grey matter of this region. The sphincters, 
both of the bladder and rectum, are likely to become paralysed if a compres- 
sion myelitis of the lumbar cord takes place. 

The course of the disease varies exceedingly, and depends upon the extent 
and chronicity of the inflammatory processes in the bones. Recovery from 
the paralysis may take place after the patient has been bed-ridden and help- 
less for many months and even years, and where recovery was hardly thought 
to be possible. On the other hand, the progress may be from bad to worse, 
there being a gradually extending myelitis, so that the sphincters become 
paralysed and the patient suffers from incontinence of both urine and faeces. 
Sensation may become impaired, and the patient at last dies of exhaustion or 
the results of cystitis, or not infrequently of tuberculosis or lardaceous disease. 
For treatment see Disease of Spine. 



Myelitis 493 

Myelitis. — By far the commonest inflammatory lesion of the cord in 
children is that form which is localised in the grey matter of the anterior 
horns, which has received the misleading name of ' infantile paralysis.' 

An acute transverse myelitis occurs in children as well as in adults, but 
it is apparently less common. Disseminated or focal myelitis appears some- 
times to occur during some of the zymotic diseases, as typhoid fever or 
measles. Transverse myelitis is rare before the age of ten years ; it seems 
mostly to follow exposure to cold or accidents such as occur to school- 
boys in the football field. In one of our cases, that of a boy of eight years 
of age, it followed paddling in the water. 

The symptcHns are much the same as in adults ; the ultimate chance of 
recovery is, however, greater, as the cord seems to recover itself more readily 
in early life than in later years. There is usually a feeling of ' pins and 
needles ' in the feet, and sometimes rheumatoid pains followed by loss of mus- 
cular power. At first this may be slight, but after a few hours it becomes more 
marked, and within twenty-four or forty-eight hours it has reached its height. 
There is loss of sensation as well as motion, varying in extent according to 
the length of cord affected. There is also incontinence of urine and 
faeces ; if the lesion is above the lumbar enlargement, the sphincters con- 
tract normally, but the control exercised by the will is cut off. The com- 
monest part of the cord to be affected is the dorsal region ; often there is 
some feverishness. 

All degrees of motor and sensory paralysis may be present. In severe 
cases almost all power is lost and the legs fall about in a helpless way, 
though usually some power of movement is retained in the toes. The 
reflexes may be completely absent. After a variable period, if the lesion is 
above the lumbar enlargement, the reflexes return and become excessive ; 
there is ankle-clonus, the knee-jerk is abnormally vigorous, and a condition 
of spastic paraplegia comes on. Sensation, if it has been absent, usually 
returns before recovery of motor power. 

The amount of recovery which takes place is variable ; we have seen 
complete recovery eventually ensue in cases where from the amount of 
motor and sensory paralysis present in the first instance we had not thought 
it possible. Many months in bed are necessary to effect this ; the intense 
spastic paralysis gradually lessens and may eventually disappear. 

If the lumbar enlargement is affected, not only is there complete motor 
paralysis, but the muscles waste rapidly, the rectal sphincter is completely 
relaxed, and the urine dribbles away from paralysis of the sphincter of the 
bladder. 

If the cervical enlargement is affected, the arms are paralysed, the pupils 
may be affected, and death is apt to ensue from interference with the nerve 
supply to the muscles of respiration. 

As an instance of a transverse myelitis occurring in the cervical region, 
followed by partial recovery, the following case may be related : — 

A healthy boy when a year old was exposed to cold by lying on the damp grass ; he 
woke crying during die following night, the parents thinking he had pain in the stomach ; 
he was not convulsed ; next morning both his arms and legs were limp and useless, he 
could not move them or sit up ; there was no facial paralysis. Recovery gradually took 
place, the arms recovering completely, the legs partially. When seen at two years of age, 



494 Diseases of tlie Nervous System 

the arms had completely recovered, but both legs were weak, so that he could not bear his 
weight on them, but could crawl, dragging them after him ; sensation seemed impaired 
in the legs, there was ankle-clonus and exaggerated tendon reflex. The child was per- 
fectly intelligent, and was well nourished, but the muscles of the leg were somewhat 
flabby. He has since been lost sight of. 

As instances of what were probably cases of subacute myelitis, one occur- 
ring after measles and another after what was said to be a ' cold,' we may 
mention the following cases : — 

Gertrude H., aged 4 years, was quite well till she contracted measles in August 1882 ; 
when convalescent it was noticed she could not stand by herself. She remained bed- 
ridden till admitted to the hospital in December. At this time she could not bear the 
weight of her body without help ; the knee-jerk was exaggerated, the front-tap contraction 
was present, there was no ankle-clonus. She slowly improved, and by February 1883 she 
could stand alone and walk with help, throwing her legs forward. She finally entirely 
recovered after some months. 

Dr. Thos. Barlow records a fatal case of disseminated myelitis Y occurring 
during an attack of measles, which proved fatal on the eleventh day of the 
disease. He quotes two cases of children, aged 2 years and 3 years re- 
spectively, who suffered from paralysis apparently due to myelitis when con- 
valescent from measles : — 

George C., aged 13 years, was quite well till May 1882, when he caught a cold and 
had a feverish sore throat ; after this his legs became weaker, though he could always 
walk with help. He was admitted September 1882 : his legs were both weak, but he 
could walk, swaying from side to side, bending both knees very much ; no loss of sensa- 
tion, muscles react normally to both continuous and faradic currents ; knee-jerk exagge- 
rated, the slightest touch producing a jerk ; there was no evidence of any spinal disease. 
He remained much in the same condition till January 1883, when he went home. He 
finally completely recovered, after attending as an out-patient for some months. 

It is difficult to account for the symptoms in these two cases except on the 
supposition that they suffered from either compression or disseminated 
myelitis, which eventually got well. 

Landry's Paralysis, or acute ascending paralysis, is said to occur oc- 
casionally in children ; the following case in many respects resembled this 
form as it occurs in adults : — 

Edward M'L. , aged 11 years, had good health till January 1881, when he became ill 
from the effects of cold ; in a few days he became drowsy and had twitchings in the legs, 
which were said by a doctor to be due to St. Vitus's dance ; the movements ceased and 
left his legs paralysed ; eight days afterwards he lost the use of his arms, and he com- 
plained of pain in the head and was delirious for a week ; the weakness in the arms im- 
proved, but got worse again. When admitted in March 1881 his arms were weak, he 
moved his legs with difficulty, could just manage to raise them in bed ; no loss of sensa- 
tion ; the knee-jerk was almost absent ; no ankle-clonus. He gradually improved, so 
that by April he was able to walk without difficulty, but swayed to and fro. He finally 
completely recovered. It is possible that this case was in reality one of peripheral neuritis 
rather than any spinal lesion. 

Treat?nent. — Perfect rest in bed is of the greatest importance in the in- 
flammatory stage, all movements and excitation of the spinal cord being 

1 ' On a case of early disseminated myelitis occurring during measles.' — Dr. Thos. 
Barlow, Proc. of the Royal Med. -Chir. Soc, vol. ii. p. 146. 



FriedricJi *s Disease — Infantile Paralysis 495 

avoided as much as possible. The patient should lie on his side or his face 
in preference to his back, so that the spine should not be the most dependent 
part. Of local applications the spinal ice-bag is probably the best, though 
some prefer the application of moist heat with counter-irritation, such as 
mustard poultices, so as to redden the skin. Probably there are no medicines 
which can control or moderate the inflammatory lesion. Aconite, ergot, the 
bromides, have all been used with varying success. Both mercury and iodide 
of potassium have also been prescribed. 

Great care must be taken to prevent bed-sores ; perfect cleanliness must 
be observed, and pressure taken off any spot where the skin becomes red. 
The incontinence of urine and faeces is always a source of difficulty, as the 
urine and damp bed-linen fret the skin and give rise to sores. The best 
position for the patient is on his face, so that the urine as it dribbles away 
may be received into a bed-pan. Boracic or iodoform cotton-wool may be 
used to surround the genitals and absorb the discharges. If there is retention 
of urine, the catheter must be used. No good can be expected from the 
application of the faradic or galvanic current in the early or inflammatory 
stages ; indeed, harm may not improbably be done by exciting and frightening 
the child. The more at rest the cord is allowed to remain, the better chance 
is there of absorption of the inflammatory material and recovery of function 
of nerve elements. 

In the chronic stage good may be done by gentle friction applied to the 
muscles, and by the application of blisters or the actual cautery over the 
region corresponding to the disease. A change to the sea-side, the patient 
being wheeled out in the open air in a recumbent position, is likely to expedite 
recovery by improving the general health. 

Hereditary Ataxic Paraplegia, or Friedrich's Disease, is the name 
given to a form of ataxia which commences for the most part during early 
life, and which tends to affect several members of the same family. It most 
commonly appears during the period of the second dentition or from that on 
to puberty. The most characteristic feature of the disease is a reeling gait, 
the patient swaying about both in walking and standing, a condition made 
more apparent by the closure of the eyes. As in other forms of ataxy, the 
knee-joint is quickly lost. Failure of muscular power takes place as the 
disease progresses. The muscles of the head and neck as well as the arms 
become affected mostly with tremor, so that when a voluntary movement is 
attempted irregular jerky movements take place. Nystagmus is a common 
symptom. The progress of the disease is very slow. The lesion in the 
cord consists of sclerosis of the posterior and lateral columns ; the anterior 
column may also be affected. 1 

Anterior Polio-myelitis. Acute Atrophic Paralysis. ' Infantile 
Paralysis.' — Etiology. — The disease, which is usually known by the name of 
'infantile paralysis,' occurs most frequently during early childhood; but, as a 
form of paralysis exactly similar occurs during the later years of childhood, 
and also during adult life, the name certainly ought to be abandoned. It 
most frequently occurs during the first three years of life, at least four-fifths 
of the cases occurring at this period (Gowers). It is less frequent during the 

1 See Gowers, Diseasts of the Nervous System, vol. i. ; and J. S. Bury, Brain, July 1886. 



496 Diseases of the Nervous System 

first six months than it is during the last half of the first year and during 
the second. 

Very little is. known as to its cause, and, while it occurs both in the strong 
and weakly, in the majority of cases in our experience it has been met with 
in typically healthy children, with a good family history, and who could not 
be said to ail anything ; and no reason could be assigned for its onset. It 
certainly appears to be commoner during the warm quarter of the year than 
at any other period. It appears occasionally to follow exposure to cold, 
such as sitting on damp grass, or it may apparently result from an injury. It 
is said to follow occasionally as a sequela of measles, scarlet fever, typhoid, 
pneumonia, acute diarrhoea. Dentition has been credited with being a 
cause, but of this there is not sufficient evidence. Perhaps the most likely 
exciting cause is over-exertion in children who have only recently learnt to 
use their legs, though this can hardly be a cause in children under a year old. 
The etiology at present remains uncertain. 

Symptoms. — The course of the disease may be conveniently divided into 
stages, and, following Gowers, they may be stated thus : — 

(1) An initial stage, during which the paralysis occurs, usually accom- 
panied by fever, and lasting a few hours to a week. (2) A stationary period, 
which lasts from a week to a month. (3) A period of ' regression,' during 
which the paralysis disappears in certain of the affected muscles, leaving 
others still paralysed ; this stage usually occupies one to six months. (4) A 
chronic stage, during which atrophy occurs and deformities and contractures 
are developed. Some improvement may take place during this stage. 

1. The initial stage is usually ushered in with fever, restlessness, con- 
vulsions, muscular twitchings, and cerebral disturbance. The severity of the 
attack differs much in different cases ; it has rarely been closely observed, 
being usually attributed to dentition or gastric disorder, and only when the 
paresis has supervened has the importance of the attack been recognised. 
The pyrexia is rarely high, perhaps 101 to 102 ; there may be muscular 
twitchings of the face or the affected limb ; drowsiness, delirium, or convul- 
sions may be present. The acute attack may be entirely absent, or, what is 
more likely, ill-defined, so that it is overlooked by the friends, and the only 
history obtained is that the child was put to bed well, and that in the morn- 
ing a limb or limbs were found powerless and limp. The paralysis is usually 
first noticed after the acuteness of the attack is passed, and in infants it is very 
likely to be overlooked at first, or thought to be due to weakness only. The 
paralysis reaches its height at once, or at any rate in a few days or under a 
week. It is difficult to say what proportion of cases die in this stage, for 
probably the nature of the disease would not be recognised, and the attack 
attributed to ' convulsions,' or the early stage of some acute disease. Never- 
theless, such cases have been recorded, and lesions found in the grey matter 
of the spinal cord. 

There seems to be no relation between the severity of the initial attack 
and the extent of the paralysis which follows it, some of the most extensive 
and severe paralyses being accompanied by hardly any febrile disturbance 
It is not certain whether the febrile symptoms are due to the inflamma- 
tory lesion taking place in the cord, or the lesion in the cord as well as the 



Acute Atrophic Paralysis 497 

fever and convulsions are the result of some unknown process going on in 
the body. 

In some cases there is an acute attack, which passes away, leaving no 
definite paresis ; another similar attack follows, and when this clears up a 
paralysis is noted. This was the case in the following" instance. A boy 
aged two years, a patient of Dr. Sutcliffe of Stalybridge, was quite well and 
running about, when one day he was taken suddenly ill, crying, vomiting, 
and feverish; the following evening he was convulsed; he was put to bed and 
continued ill for two or three weeks with apparently some brain trouble; this 
attack left him very weak ; but he gradually recovered and was able to run 
about again. He continued well for two months, when the same symptoms 
returned ; he cried with pain, vomiting, and fever followed with convulsions; 
he remained ill for fourteen days, and just as he was being got up and about 
again it was noticed that his right leg was paralysed. When seen two months 
after, there was wasting and paresis of the right buttock, thigh, and dorso- 
extensors of the foot. 

2. After the paralysis has reached its fullest extent, a period during which 
the paresis of the muscles is stationary ensues, varying from two weeks to 
six weeks or two months. At this time the affected muscles are limp and 
powerless, so that the limb or limbs hang quite useless and flail-like. In 
the more severe cases almost all the muscles in the body appear to be in- 
volved ; the child cannot sit up, its head falls to one side through paresis of 
the muscles of the neck, its cry is weak or almost lost through weakness of the 
diaphragm and intercostals, and its respiration is shallow and rapid, its 
limbs relaxed and motionless. The paralysis may be confined to one limb 
or a group of muscles in a limb : thus an arm may hang useless by the side, 
and if raised above the head falls flail-like by the side. One or both legs 
may be powerless, and may be flexed, extended, or rotated without any 
resistance from the tonus of the muscles. Hemiplegia is rare. The reflexes 
both superficial and deep are lost, so that tickling the sole of the foot or 
percussing the patellar tendon meets with no response. It is difficult to 
judge if there is any loss of sensation or at least sensory paralysis. In the 
most severe cases we have noticed sensation is not as acute as usual : a 
spoon, which to a normal skin is unbearably hot, can be borne without eliciting 
any expression of pain on a recently paralysed foot, and in the same way a 
painfully severe application of faradaism will be borne without flinching. 
It must be borne in mind, however, that the circulation in the skin is 
interfered with by the lesion in the cord, and, moreover, it is much more 
difficult to test the sensations of an infant six or eight months old than it is 
those of an adult. The functions of the sphincters of the bladder and rectum 
are rarely interfered with. 

The irritability of the muscles to the faradic current becomes lessened 
during the course of the first week or ten days, and usually becomes entirely 
lost in those muscles where a permanent paralysis has taken place, and 
thus the earful testing of the muscles may be of importance for prognosis. 
To the continuous current the muscle irritability is increasing during this 
period, though it gradually is lessened as the muscles waste, and may disappear 
during the atrophic period. The quality of the muscle irritability differs 

K K 



49 8 Diseases of tJie Nervous System 

from normal, presenting the ' reaction of regeneration ' l due to the degenera- 
tion of the nerves to the affected muscles. 

In the majority of cases one limb only is affected, and one group or 
groups of muscles more affected than others ; in some few cases the paresis at 
first involves not only the limbs, but the diaphragm and intercostals. The 
most severe case coming under our notice was the following :— A girl of nine 
months was quite well and healthy till June 21 ; she was able to raise her- 
self up in her cradle, and could support herself with help on her feet. She 
was suddenly seized with convulsions in which her face and arms twitched ; 
this was followed by a discharge from one ear, and at the same time she was 
completely prostrated, her voice was hardly audible, she lay in bed perfectly 
motionless, except a rolling of the head from side to side. She was admitted 
to hospital on July 30, when the following notes were made by Dr. Kershaw : 
'* She is a well-nourished child ; lies in bed quite helpless ; the lower ex- 
tremities are completely paralysed; there appears to be some loss of sensation, 
as only the application of the strongest faradic current appeared to cause 
pain. She can bear without crying the contact of a hot spoon, too hot to be 
held in one's own hand ; can move right arm at the shoulder and elbow, but 
not the hand ; the left arm is completely paralysed, though she seems to 
be able to move the fingers slightly. There is paresis of the intercostals, 
respiration mainly abdominal. No reactions to the strongest faradic cur- 
rent were obtained in the legs, some response could be obtained in the 
flexors of the forearm. She died of pneumonia on August 7, forty-seven days 
after seizure.' 

3. The stage of ' regression ' or improvement now commences, the 
improvement continuing for several months : many muscles being com- 
pletely restored, while others become more and more flabby and atrophic. 
In rare instances all the paralytic muscles may recover. The child's health 
at this time is usually good, it is as bright and cheerful as usual, and there is 
apparently nothing amiss with it except its paralysis. The muscles, which 
are gaining in power, respond more readily to the interrupted current than at 
first, while the atrophic muscles fail entirely to react. 

4. After some months improvement ceases, or, at least, any improvement 
which takes place six months after the onset is usually very slight indeed. 
The atrophy mostly goes on, and certain contracture^, especially affecting 
the leg below the knee, leading to deformities, are apt to take place. At this 
period it is possible to make a forecast of the amount of paralysis which is 
likely to be permanent, and take stock, as it were, of the real damage which 
has taken place, which is probably much less than at first appeared likely. 
This permanent paralysis may affect a whole limb, though it rarely does this, 
some groups being entirely powerless, others only slightly weakened or not 
affected at all. 

Sometimes the groups affected are associated together in their actions, as 
when the upper arm type of Erb is present, the deltoid, spinati, biceps, and 
supinators being affected, while the muscles of the forearm, excepting the 

1 'Reaction oT degeneration' = faradic irritability lost: voltaic irritability altered in 
character, so that closure-contraction occurs as readily, or more readily, when the positive 
pole is placed on the muscles as when the negative pole is so placed ; and contractions 
occur more readily when the circuit is broken than in the normal state. 



Acute Atropine Paralysis 499 

supinators, escape, the lesion in the cord being situated on a level with the 
fifth and sixth cervical roots. It is important to remember that the groups 
have no relation to their peripheral nerve supply, such as would be present 
if the paralysis was extra-spinal. Very often the muscles paralysed have 
no relation to one another, being picked out as it were at random. 

In the lower li?nb the muscles below the knee usually suffer more com- 
plete paralysis than those of the thigh or buttock. The peronei usually 
suffer most, the result being that the heel is drawn up and the foot turned 
inwards (talipes equino-varus) by the unbalanced action of the gastro- 
cnemius ; as time goes on the contracted condition of the calf muscles, aided 
by the shortening of the leg, becomes permanent in consequence of a fibroid 
degeneration taking place, and the foot can no longer be dorso-flexed. In 
the same way talipes valgus may be produced by paralysis of the tibialis 
anticus, more rarely talipes calcaneus by the paralysis of the gastrocnemius. 
Both legs below the knee may be paralysed, both extensors and flexors ; and 
the patient cannot stand, but progresses by crawling on hands and knees, 
dragging his wasted legs after him. 

Of the thigh muscles, the rectus, vasti, and adductors are more often 
paretic than the hamstrings, and thus flexion of the knee may result and be- 
come permanent. The gluteal muscles and rotators of the hip are often 
weak, so that the child in walking gives way at the hip. 

In the upper extremity the muscles of the shoulder suffer most frequently, 
the deltoid being especially prone to attack ; usually the supra- and infra- 
spinati, biceps, triceps, and supinators are associated together : in such cases 
the shoulder droops from the weight of the arm, and the head of the humerus 
may slip readily out of its socket. The serratus magnus, pectoral muscles, and 
intercostals may also be affected. The forearm muscles, both extensors and 
flexors, together or singly, may be affected — less often those of the hand. 
Contractures are less often present in the arms than in the legs. 

The muscles of the spine, sacro-lumbalis &c, those of the neck and dia- 
phragm, are rarely permanently paralysed. Lordosis is present if the sacro- 
lumbalis is weakened. Lateral curvature may be present. 

The paralysed muscles are always atrophied, though at times much sub- 
cutaneous fat may give a delusive appearance of solidity to the muscle. In 
the most wasted muscles there is a complete loss of faradic irritability : there 
is usually more or less present in those only partially paralysed. The irrita- 
bility to the continuous current gradually disappears as atrophy progresses, 
and in the wasted muscles becomes completely lost. 

Arrest of development of the limbs which are paralysed also takes place ; 
the bones appear to grow more slowly on the paralysed side. Other bones 
such as the ribs and pelvis may be affected. The joints often become more 
movable from relaxation and stretching of the ligaments, as well as from the 
loss of support afforded by the normal muscles ; the articular ends may be- 
come deformed. The circulation through the skin of the paralysed limbs 
becomes slow, the surface has a blue or purplish appearance and feels cold 
to the touch. Chilblains and ulcers are apt to form on the paralysed limbs 
and be slow to heal. The bones themselves frequently degenerate ; in 
some cases little true bone may remain, fat taking the place of the 
osseous tissue. Injuries, operative or accidental, of such limbs are slow 

k k 2 



500 Diseases of the Nervous System 

in healing ; on the other hand, acute inflammations rarely attack the 
tissues. 

Pathology. — There is an acute inflammation, the greatest stress of which 
falls on the anterior cornua of the grey matter in the cervical and lumbar en- 
largements. In severe cases the grey matter of the dorsal cord is also 
affected. There is strong reason to believe that, in severe cases at least, the 
inflammation is not confined to the anterior cornua, but involves more or less 
the whole cord ; but the principal damage caused by the effusion of blood and 
inflammatory products occurs in the most vascular part of the cord, and this 
is in the anterior cornua where the large nerve cells are situated. During the 
acute stage of the attack, where there is perhaps a high temperature and con- 
vulsions, there is probably an inflammatory engorgement of the whole cord, 
possibly of the whole of the nervous centres : then an exudation of inflam- 
matory material takes place which leads to both temporary and also per- 
manent damage to the motor cells in the anterior cornua of the cervical or 
lumbar enlargements. During the next few months an absorption of 
inflammatory material and perhaps also repair of damage by the formation 
of new nerve-fibres or cells goes on, while a certain amount of muscular power 
which has been lost is regained. Finally a sort of cicatrisation or shrinking 
takes place, leaving a permanent paralysis of the muscles supplied by the 
nerve centre which has been destroyed. 

Very few observations have been made on the cords of those dying during 
the acute attack or at the onset of the paralysis. In Drummond's case, 1 that 
of a child of five years who died in a few hours, the vessels supplying the 
anterior horns were distended with blood, the microscope showing minute 
extravasations of blood and changes in the nerve elements. A case re- 
corded by Charlewood Turner, dying six weeks after the attack, showed 
softening of the anterior horns, spots where the grey matter had undergone 
complete degeneration, and an exudation of leucocytes had taken place from 
the vessels. In our own case, p. 498, similar changes were visible in the grey 
matter of the lumbar, cervical, and dorsal portions of the cord, and changes 
such as effusion of leucocytes from vessels were noted in the white matter, as 
well as the grey. Moreover, even in the medulla it was evident that an 
engorgement of the vessels had taken place. 

Degenerative changes take place in the nerves which are connected with 
the damaged centres in the cord : the muscles also waste ; their connective 
tissue becomes hypertrophied, so that in extreme cases very few muscular 
fibres are left. The muscles which antagonise the paralysed muscles 
mostly also waste, their muscular fibres becoming replaced by connective 
tissue. 

Diagnosis. — The diagnosis during the acute attack is always difficult, 
mostly impossible ; the fever, delirium, and convulsions sometimes present 
naturally suggest some cerebral disease such as meningitis or the onset of 
scarlet fever or pneumonia. It is only when paralytic symptoms present 
themselves that the diagnosis is made ; even then the paralysis may be over- 
looked, especially in young children, it being supposed that the child is 
simply weak as the result of the acute attack. When once the paralysis has 
set in, diagnosis is easy, though when paraplegia is present the distinction 

1 Brain, April 1885. 



Acute Atrophic Paralysis 501 

between transverse myelitis of the lumbar region and polio-myelitis may 
not be easy. In tranverse myelitis there will be certainly loss of sensation ; 
this is said not to occur in cornual myelitis, though in the case recorded 
(p. 498) there was undoubted slight loss of sensation. In tranverse myelitis of 
the dorsal region, its commonest seat, there will be no loss of faradic irritability, 
and after a few days or a week the reflexes will return and become excessive, 
and ankle-clonus can usually be obtained. 

In cerebral paralysis there is no loss of faradic irritability, and no mus- 
cular wasting takes place. 

Treatme?it. — The treatment of anterior polio-myelitis in the early 
stages is that of an acute inflammatory lesion of the cord. The child must 
be kept as quiet as possible in bed, given a milk diet, and good may possibly 
be done by applying mustard poultices to the spine. If there is fever, 
aconite and bromide of potassium may be given. When the acute stage has 
passed away, and the child is left in a prostrate condition, the greatest care 
must be taken to keep the child at rest as much as possible, all excitement 
of every kind being avoided. It must be borne in mind that, in patients 
dying, many weeks or even two or three months after the onset evidences 
of the inflammatory lesion may still be found in the cord, and during this 
period absorption of inflammatory material is going on, and the object to be 
aimed at in treatment is to secure the recovery of as much of the damaged 
cord as possible. A variable amount of nerve tissue has been certainly 
irretrievably damaged, but some of the damage done is recoverable, and, the 
more the general health is maintained and the child kept at rest, the more 
is it likely that recovery will take place. 

It may be doubted if there are any medicines which have any direct 
influence over the nutrition of the cord or directly influence any morbid pro- 
cesses going on. Perhaps the most likely drugs to be of service are sedatives 
such as belladonna, and bromides in combination with iron or quinine. 

The question of how soon should massage or electrical treatment be 
begun is an important one, for, on the one hand, the paralysed muscles are 
quickly wasting on account of their nerve centres being damaged, but on 
the other hand the disturbance of the child, the fright and excitement of 
the daily application of the battery, are not unlikely to do harm. The 
application of the battery current is hardly likely to modify or favourably 
influence the lesion in the cord, but it may help to maintain the nutrition of 
the muscles while recovery is taking place in the cord. On the whole we 
are inclined to believe that gentle rubbing or massage of the paralysed 
limb or limbs may be practised from the first, and voltaic currents may be 
used within a month or six weeks. It is wise to begin with a very weak 
current, at first using large wetted sponges as electrodes, and frequently 
interrupting the current, which after a few applications should be just strong 
enough to secure a contraction. The application should be made daily for 
many months, especial care being taken to select the paralysed muscles in 
the limb. 

An important part of the treatment is to encourage the patient to put 
forth as much voluntary power as possible, and he should constantly try and 
use the weakened limb. We believe that systematic attempts to use the 
paretic muscles, combined with shampooing of the limb, are more likely to 



502 Diseases of the Nei r vous System 

promote recovery than any electrical applications. The circulation in the 
paralysed limb is certain to be slow and defective ; friction of the skin, with 
kneading of the muscles, is certainly beneficial ; while a well-selected series 
of movements attempted on the part of the patient, or carried out by an 
attendant, assists the return of power in the muscles. These measures 
must in most cases be persevered in for many months, if not years, in the 
hope of improvement. 

The paralysed limbs must be warmly clad and carefully protected from 
cold. 

Much may be done in the chronic stage by means of mechanical 
devices, such as the application of artificial muscles and splints to correct 
deformities and support the limb. Division of the tendo Achillis, plantar 
fascia, and other resisting structures is often required. For useless flail-like 
limbs the question of excision of joints to procure greater stability, or even 
of amputation, has to be considered. Vide also chapter on Talipes. 

Tetany. — The term ' tetany ' is applied to a form of tonic spasm mostly 
affecting the extremities, which, like spasm of the glottis, consists in a reflex 
contraction of a group of muscles, the result of irritation in some distant 
part. Tetany may affect both children and adults, though it is commoner 
before the age of three years than after this period. It is frequently asso- 
ciated with rickets, in this respect resembling convulsions and laryngeal 
spasm ; it frequently occurs in connection with laryngismus. It rarely 
makes its appearance in healthy children, but in those who have suffered 
from some exhausting disease, especially some affection of the alimentary 
canal, as diarrhoea or acute enteritis ; prolapse of the rectum may be an 
exciting cause. , Difficult dentition appears to be an occasional cause. One 
of the most severe cases we have seen was associated with a fatal attack of 
acute enteritis. It has been observed in rare instances as an early symptom 
in pneumonia and other diseases, in thisrespect resembling convulsions. It 
has sometimes prevailed epidemically among school-girls. 

Symptoms and Course. — The attacks consist in cramps of the muscles of 
the extremities, more especially of the forearms and legs. There is no loss 
of consciousness, and usually no spasm of the facial muscles, though there is 
mostly an expression of pain on the face when the cramps come on. In the 
severer cases the arm is adducted at the shoulder and fixed to the side, the 
elbow is flexed at right angles, the forearm pronated, the wrists flexed, the 
thumb turned in, while the fingers are in the position of interosseous spasm, 
or the hands may be clenched over the thumb. If the former, the metacarpo- 
phalangeal joints are flexed, while the other phalanges are extended. 

In the lower extremities the foot is in the position of talipes equinus or 
equino-varus, the plantar surfaces being hollowed out and the toes bent. 
The knees may be semi-flexed and the thighs adducted. The muscles of 
the calf are hard and rigid, feeling as if gathered up into a ball (see fig. 101). 

The contractions are evidently painful ; the infants scream when they are 
handled or interfered with ; the spasms may intermit, but usually last a 
considerable time. In rare cases, notably those recorded by Cheadle, the 
muscles of the face are thrown into spasm ; in other cases the muscles of 
the jaw, abdomen, neck, and back have been affected. More commonly the 
spasm is confined to the hands and feet, or the hands only may be affected. 



Tetany 



503 



The spasm lasts from a few minutes to many hours or even days, then dis- 
appearing, and perhaps appearing again. Most of the muscles of the body 
are in a condition of irritability, especially those of the face. This is 
evidenced by the readiness with which they contract when the facial nerve 
is irritated. If the finger be passed smartly over the angle of the mouth, 
a sharp contraction of the levator follows ; or the finger is brushed across 
the outer side of the orbit, and a contraction of the orbicularis ensues. This 
' facial phenomenon ' is not peculiar to tetany. 1 

It never threatens life per se, as it only affects the muscles of external 
relation, though the child may die from the effects of the gastro-enteritis, of 
which the muscle-cramps are only symptoms. The only case which ter- 
minated fatally, which we have seen, was the case, referred to above, of a 
boy aged six years, who died in a few days from the effects of a gastro- 
enteritis ; the principal symptoms were constant vomiting, cramps in the 
stomach, and tetany of both upper and lower extremities. The post-moi'tem 
showed the brain and cord to be normal to the naked eye ; the mucous 




Fig. 101. — Tetany. 

membranes of the stomach and intestines Avere injected, and evidently in a 
state of acute catarrh. In another case, somewhat similar, Hadden could 
find no changes in the cord. 

Tetany is apt to return from time to time after a considerable interval ; 
this may be noticed in cases received into hospital : these mostly quickly 
get well and go home, but in another week or two are as bad as ever. 

Diagnosis. — Tetany may be mistaken for cerebro-spinal meningitis, but it 
can only thus be mistaken when the constitutional symptoms accompanying 
the tetany are severe. In tetany there is an absence of cerebral symptoms 
as well as vomiting, fever, and sore throat. In tetanus the spasm of the 
masseters is an early symptom ; it is absent in tetany, or comes on late in 
the attack. The position of the fingers is different in the two diseases. In 
girls or older boys hysterical contraction might stimulate tetany, but the 
former affects one limb, or an arm and a leg only, while the latter is always 
bilateral. 

1 J. Loos, M.D., Wiener klin. Wochenschr. , No. 49, 1891 ; 'Laryngismus,' Dr. W 
Say, Brain, January 1890. 



504 Diseases of the Nervous System 

Treatment. — The treatment must be directed in the first place to the 
exciting cause. A dose of calomel or grey powder should be given if there 
is any gastro-intestinal disturbance or undigested food lodging in the 
intestinal tract, and the greatest care taken to give only the blandest food. 
Warm baths may be given to relieve the spasm, and hot laudanum fomen- 
tations applied to the hands and feet. Bromide of potassium is likely to 
relieve the symptoms if given in full doses. Chloral, belladonna, digitalis, 
and Calabar-bean have all been used with benefit. Cheadle found the ^th 
to £rd grain dose of Calabar-bean of use in one case. 

Nystagmus. — Nystagmus is common during both infancy and childhood 
and accompanies very different conditions. It usually consists in short, 
rapid oscillations of the eyeballs in a lateral direction, the head sometimes 
moving also. In some cases the ocular movements are vertical instead of 
lateral. It may be present in congenital cataract, tumours of the brain, 
hydrocephalus and hereditary ataxia ; but it is also present in children who 
are not suffering from any organic disease. It may be present in some forms 
of clonic spasm of the neck. 

Head-nodding and Head-shaking-, going on constantly as they some- 
times do in infants and young children, are the result of a clonic reflex 
spasm of the sterno-mastoids, either both acting together and making a 
nodding movement, as in expressing assent, or acting alternately and shaking 
the head as if expressing dissent. The movements may be constant or 
occur less frequently, as ten or twelve times an hour. Nystagmus may be 
present. These curious spasmodic affections appear to be allied to laryn- 
gismus. Dr. Gee records a case whose brother died of laryngismus, and in 
one case of ' head-nodding,' mentioned by A. Baginsky, the child suffered 
later from convulsions and laryngismus. Head-shaking in older children 
Dr. Gee connects with epilepsy. The prognosis is good ; like laryngismus, 
these affections appear to be due to some reflex irritation in the alimentary 
canal or to dentition. 

' Head-banging- ' in children has been described by Dr. S. Gee. It con- 
sists in a peculiar habit, to which some children are liable, of turning over on 
to their face at night and banging their heads into the pillow. Dr. Gee 
records three cases : two of these were two-and-a-half years of age, and one 
was five years. One child used constantly, nearly all night, to bang his 
forehead into his pillow. No cause was found to account for this strange 
habit. It appeared very intractable, but one child much improved whilst 
living in the country. 

Pseudo-hypertropraic Paralysis. — Very little is known about the 
etiology of this particular disease. It is apt to run in families, and, strange 
to say, while it affects boys far more frequently than girls, in some 
families it affects the boys only, and in others it affects the girls. In 
some cases there is a family history of the disease, and it appears it may 
be transmitted through the female side without the women themselves 
being affected (Gowers). In one of our own cases the patient's brother 
was an epileptic, but it is rarely that any family tendency to nervous disease 
exists. 

Symptoms. — In the majority of cases symptoms first make their appear- 
ance during the second or third year, the child being late in learning to 



P seudo-hypertrophic Paralysis 



505 



walk, the parents attributing this to "backwardness or weakness. In some 

cases the symptoms of weakness are noted after the child has been walking 

some time, perhaps as late as the sixth or seventh year. The early symptoms 

are those of weakness in the legs. As Gowers well puts it, ' these children 

usually walk late, often also walk clumsily, fall 

with ease, and rise with difficulty.' If placed 

upon the ground they either cannot get up 

without help, or, what is more likely in the 

early stages, they are obliged to use their hands 

in rising, pushing themselves off the ground 

and catching hold of chairs or table-legs to 

help themselves up. They walk clumsily, with 

a swaying gait, are quickly tired, and have to 

be wheeled about in a perambulator long after 

children of a corresponding age are running 

about and going walks. 

In other cases the friends pay little heed to 
the backwardness in walking, but are struck 
with the size of the calves or perhaps apparent 
stoutness of the child. At four or five years of 
age, often earlier, the muscular hypertrophy is 
conspicuous. The muscles of the calf are 
strikingly enlarged, firm, and hard ; as are 
usually also the glutei and lumbar muscles — 
less often the hamstrings, extensors of the 
knee, and dorso-flexors of the foot. Of the 
other muscles, the infra-spinatus is, next to the 
calf, the most frequently enlarged, and, as 
Gower points out, this enlargement of the 
infra-spinatus may be of diagnostic importance. 
The deltoid and supra-spinatus are often en- 
larged, the latissimus is mostly wasted, and 
the rule is that the other muscles of the upper 
extremity are wasted rather than hypertrophied. 
In rare cases the masseters and muscles of the 
tongue are enlarged. 

The muscles, whether enlarged or wasted, 
are weak, and it is this weakness of certain 
muscles which gives rise to the characteristic 
movements of the child. The waddling gait 
is the result of weakness of the gluteus medius 
and extensors of the hip generally. The diffi- 
culty in rising from the floor is due to the 
paresis of the extensors of the knees in the first 
part of the act, and the extensors of the hips in 
the second, the patient assisting the extension 
of the hips by placing his. hands on his knees, and ' climbing up himself by 
grasping his thighs alternately with his hands. 

Later in the disease the enlarged muscles contract, the earliest to shorten 




Fig. 102. — A case of Pseudo-hyper- 
trophic Paralysis in a boy of ten 
years ; showing enlarged calves and 
slight talipes equinus. 



506 



Diseases of the Nervous System 



being the calf muscles, so that a talipes equinus is produced. Later on, the 
knee and elbow may become flexed. 

The weakness of the extensors of the hip produces a certain amount of 
lordosis or curvature of the spine with the concavity backwards, the patient 
assuming this position in order to maintain his balance. (See figs. 102, 103.) 
In the last stages the patient becomes entirely bedridden and helpless^ 
partly on account of the paresis of the muscles, partly also in consequence 
of the muscular contractions producing talipes equinus. In this stage the 
enlarged muscles mostly waste, and consequently lessen in size. The electric 
irritability of the muscles is unaffected both to the continuous and interrupted 

current at first ; later, as the 
muscular fibre wastes, it gradu- 
ally disappears. The knee- 
reflex, at first normal, gradually 
disappears for a similar reason. 
In children suffering from this 
disease the mind is usually 
weak. 

The progress of the disease 
is slow, extending over many 
years, the patient possibly being 
helpless and bedridden, having 
almost lost the use of his legs. 
He is even unable to sit up on 
account of the wasting of the 
spinal muscles, but is usually 
able to use his hands to the 
last. Death is apt to take place 
from bronchitis ; this was the 
case in one of our own cases, 
who lived to the age of twelve 
years, the disease having ex- 
isted at least eight years. In 
the majority of cases where the 
disease begins early, death takes 
place soon after puberty, at any 
rate among the hospital patient 
class ; under the most favour- 
able circumstances, where great care is taken of the patient, life may be pro- 
longed to a greater age. The course of the disease appears to be slower in 
girls than boys. 

Diagnosis. — This is most difficult in young children in the early stages,, 
and in the absence of typical enlargement of the calf muscles and infra- 
spinati. A fat, yet weakly, child of three or four years of age, who is late in 
walking and more or less rickety, may somewhat simulate a case of pseudo- 
hypertrophic paralysis in its gait, and in the difficulty of getting up. Usually 
there is sufficient enlargement and hardness about the gastrocnemii to make 
the diagnosis tolerably clear, especially if there is corresponding enlarge- 
ment of the infra-spinatus and wasting of the latissimus dorsi. In the 




Fig. 103. — Same case as fig. 102 ; showing Hyper- 
trophied Deltoid and Infra-spinati. 



P sendo-JiypertropJiic Paralysis 507 

absence of muscular enlargement, especially if there is wasting, the disease 
may be confounded with idiopathic muscular atrophy ; but the latter disease 
is rare before puberty, is apt to affect the face and hands, and to avoid the 
calf muscles. A fragment of muscle may be obtained, and muscular atrophy 
can be excluded, if there is an excess of fibroid and fatty tissue present. 

Prognosis. — The cases slowly, but surely, get worse ; the weakness year 
by year increases, though a certain amount of temporary improvement may 
take place. 

Pathology. — The disease has been conclusively proved by the careful 
examinations of Gowers and others to be primarily a disease of the muscles, 
and if changes take place in the spinal cord they are only secondary. There 
is an overgrowth of connective and fatty tissue ; it is the latter which forms 
the enlargement of the muscles, and it is the absence of muscular fibres 
which renders them weak. The shortening which takes place is due to the 
contraction of the fibrous tissue. 

Treatment. — Medicines, except those which are likely to improve the 
general health, are of little use. The treatment which has proved itself of 
the greatest use in checking the progress of the muscular wasting is exercise 
of the affected muscles by well-arranged movements, which the patient is 
encouraged to perform, and friction, with passive movements, so as to pre- 
vent shortening of the muscles. We have certainly seen cases which have 
been admitted to hospital improve in no inconsiderable degree under this 
treatment. It is needless to say it must be systematic, and carried out with 
the greatest patience if it is to be successful 



5o8 



CHAPTER XXV. 

DISEASES OF THE GENITO-URINARY SYSTEM. 



Congenital Anomalies of the Kidneys. — The principal malformations 
of the kidneys found post mortem are (i) Absence, or only a trace, of one 
kidney, with hypertrophy of the other. (2) ' Horse-shoe' kidney, in which the 
two kidneys are united by a bridge of kidney tissue, giving the organ a horse- 
shoe shape. The kidney is placed with its convexity downwards, the ureters 
passing down behind the bridge. (3) The kidneys are frequently found 
lobulated, the surface being deeply fissured, dividing them into ' lobules,' 
as in the fcetal state. (4) The kidneys may be displaced or more or less 
movable. 

These abnormalities, though of extreme importance in reference to opera- 
tions on the kidneys and the diagnosis of abdominal tumours, need not be 
further referred to here. Obliteration of one ureter, partial or complete, may 
give rise to hydronephrosis and require operation, as in a case reported by 
Tuckwell and Symonds of Oxford. 1 Incontinence of urine from an abnormal 
opening of the ureter just in front of the meatus urinarius had also been 
met with. 2 

Addison's Disease. Tuberculosis of the Adrenals. — Addison's dis- 
ease occurs occasionally in boys after puberty ; it is very rare before this 
epoch. Dr. Pye Smith has recorded a case in a boy of fourteen years, and 
Monti has collected eleven cases in children from three to fourteen years of 
age. Tubercles, both caseous and grey, are frequently present in the supra- 
renal capsules of children dying from general tuberculosis, without any 
symptoms occurring during life. 

Hgematuria. — Blood is present in the urine in a variety of conditions, 
in general diseases as well as in local, and a difficulty may not infre- 
quently be experienced in determining the source from which the bleeding 
takes place. 

Hsematuria or hemoglobinuria occurs at times in infants a few days or 
weeks old, who are also jaundiced ; epidemics of such cases have been de- 
scribed by Winckel and Bigelow as occurring in lying-in hospitals (p. 28). 
Two fatal cases, in which hemoglobinuria was present in infants five months 
and eight months old respectively, have been described by Hirschsprung. 3 
In both cases the symptoms supervened suddenly ; there was cyanosis, dark 
albuminous urine and feverishness ; in one of the cases there was dyspnoea 



1 Lancet, vol. ii. , 1882, p. 141. 

2 Madden, American Obstet. Jour., July 1884. 



3 Congres international penodique des Sciences M^dicales, 1884 : section de P6diatrie. 



Hematuria 509 

(uraemic) and tetany of the hands and feet. The post-mortem showed that 
all the organs were of a dirty-brown colour, and the blood in the body had 
undergone a remarkable change. Similar cases have occurred from poison- 
ous doses of chlorate of potash, but neither of these cases had been taking" 
this salt. 

Haematuria occurs occasionally in wasted infants and young children 
from thrombosis of one of the renal veins, a consequent haemorrhagic infil- 
tration of the kidney taking place. 

A commoner cause of haematuria in infants and young children occurs 
in connection with an impoverished condition of blood — in 'infantile scurvy' 
or acute rickets. We have several times seen cases in which there has been 
hasmaturia for some time, a considerable amount of blood being lost appa- 
rently by a passive oozing of blood from the kidneys. These cases are often 
associated with purpura. Haematuria sometimes occurs in infants under a 
year old, which lasts for a few weeks and then disappears without any 
definite cause being found out except that they are somewhat anaemic and 
inclined to rickets. We have seen hasmaturia in older children associated 
with anaemia the result of ' scurvy' or tuberculosis. 

Haematuria may be the first symptom of haemophilia, and in any case 
where the diagnosis is doubtful the family history should be inquired into 
for similar cases. 

Haematuria, often associated with purpura, may occur in acute cases of 
variola, diphtheria, or typhus, resulting from the rapid blood change which 
takes place. 

Haematuria may be present in acute nephritis ; in this case the urine is 
usually of a smoky tint, more the colour of porter, but in some cases the 
colour may be bright-red from the amount of blood which it contains. We 
have seen haemorrhagic nephritis following scarlet fever, diphtheria, and 
pneumonia. A microscopical examination of the deposit which falls to the 
bottom of the glass after the urine has stood for a while will show blood and 
epithelial casts in cases of nephritis. 

Blood in the urine also occurs in cases of renal or vesical calculus, more 
rarely in tubercular kidney, sarcoma of the kidney, and vascular growths in 
the urethra or bladder. 

Poisoning by chlorate of potash, cantharides, or turpentine as a cause of 
haematuria must not be forgotten. 

Treatment. — The treatment necessarily depends upon the cause, and the • 
history of the case, and other symptoms apart from haematuria, must be care- 
fully considered. It is important to exclude stone in the bladder as the 
cause of haematuria, and in all cases where the cause of the blood in the 
urine is doubtful it is wise to explore the bladder with a sound. Haematuria 
may be the only symptom of the presence of a stone. In haematuria depending 
upon an impoverished condition of blood the most important part of the treat- 
ment consists in improving the condition of the general health. Meat juice, 
orange or lemon juice, with dialysed iron or the perchloride, may be given. 

Styptics may also be given, though we have frequently been disappointed 
with their action. Of these, ex. hamamelis liq. (U.S. P.), in 5-15 minim doses, 
may be given every four hours, and continued for some days. Gallic acid 
\-2 grains, with aromatic sulphuric acid, is sometimes efficacious where 



5io Diseases of the Genito-urinary System 

hamamelis fails. Spirits of turpentine, \--$ minims, in mucilage, or liquid 
extract of ergot, 2-10 minims, may be tried. 

The treatment of other forms of hsematuria must depend upon the cause. 

Intermittent Hsemoglobinuria occurs in children ; we have seen several 
cases of this curious condition in children, but not in infants. 

Pyuria, or pus in the urine, occurs in infants and children in rare cases, 
accompanying or following a febrile condition (S. J. Gee). It is difficult to 
say the exact source of the pus in these cases : possibly it may be due to a 
temporary pyelitis or cystitis. Pus in the urine as a more chronic condition 
usually depends upon chronic cystitis, either idiopathic, tubercular, or due to 
the presence of a stone in the bladder. The source of the pus may be the 
kidney or its pelvis, there being a simple or tubercular pyelitis, or a stone 
lodged in this situation. The pus may come from the vagina, but this is not 
common. 

Idthaemia. — Infants and children frequently pass uric acid in their urine, 
the uric acid being seen as a sandy deposit in the chamber vessel. The 
cause of this is mostly uncertain. Large quantities are often passed during 
convalescence from scarlet fever, not infrequently in cases followed by 
nephritis. 

We have sometimes seen cases in which uric acid has been passed in 
large quantities ; in one case coming under our notice the urine would be 
clear for a while, and then, especially after rough movements, as in romping 
or riding a pony, urine thick with uric acid crystals would be passed. Uric 
acid is sometimes passed more copiously with the urine voided with a stool, 
giving at first the impression that the uric acid has come from the bowel, 
when apparently the straining at stool has caused the dislodgment of uric 
acid deposited in the bladder or pelvis of the kidney. In lithaemia a re- 
stricted diet should be given, and citrate of potash and lithia may be pre- 
scribed. 

Tumours of the Kidneys. — Swellings which occur in the region of one 
of the kidneys may be due to one of the following causes : — 

(1) New growth. (2) Tubercular or other abscess in the kidney. 
{3) Hydro-nephrosis. (4) Perinephritic abscess. 

(1) Renal new Growths. — In the majority of cases a new growth in- 
volving a kidney is a round-celled sarcoma which begins outside the kidney, 
gradually displacing and compressing the kidney itself. It is difficult to say 
exactly where these growths begin : presumably in lymphatic tissue. In the 
minority of cases the new growth appears to begin in the kidney itself — at 
least no trace of the kidney can be found post mortem, but traces of kidney 
structure may be found scattered through the tumour on microscopical exa- 
mination. 

In some cases the tumour is a myo-sarcoma, or in other words it is a 
round-celled sarcoma with a variable quantity of striated muscular tissue 
and spindle-shaped cells. In rare cases the growth consists of alveoli lined 
with columnar epithelium, similar in structure to the cylindrical epithelial 
carcinomas found in the large intestine. It is difficult to say where such 
tumours begin when occurring primarily in the kidney : possibly in the 
remains of the Wolffian body. 

Renal sarcomata are usually soft in consistence, resembling brain sub- 



Renal New Growths 



5ii 



stance, and frequently contain masses of blood clot and altered blood in con- 
sequence of haemorrhages which take place into their substance. They often 
attain to great size, weighing many pounds, and by their enlargement dis- 
place the other organs of the abdominal cavity. The liver or spleen is pushed 
upwards, the small intestines are pushed on one side or posteriorly ; the 
large intestine, where it crosses the tumour, is compressed against the abdo- 
minal wall. The tumour may set up a certain amount of chronic peritonitis 
and contract adhesions to the intestines and other viscera. 

Renal sarcomata occur most com- 
monly in children under six years ; 
of fifty cases collected by Seibert, forty 
occurred during the first five years 
of life, twelve being in infants under a 
year old. In a case recorded by A. 
Jacobi a sarcoma was present in the 
kidney of a foetus born dead, and 
other cases (Sir William Roberts and 
Lloyd Roberts) have been recorded 
in which the tumours were present at 
birth. 

Symptoms aiid Course. — In the 
majority of cases enlargement of 
the abdomen due to the new growth 
encroaching on the other abdominal 
organs is the first symptom to call the 
attention of the friends to the case. 
In the minority of cases (one-fifth, 
Seibert) hematuria is the first 
symptom occurring at a variable 
period before the discovery of a 
tumour. The swelling is first noted 
occupying the right or left lumbar 
region, between the ribs and the 
crest of the ilium ; it has a rounded 
outline, which can be traced down- 
wards, but not into the pelvis, and 
upwards behind the liver or spleen. 
By palpation it can be separated from 
the liver or spleen. It moves less 
freely with respiratory movements 
than an hepatic or splenic tumour 
does. Percussion shows that the 
large bowel lies across superficially to it, but if the tumour is large the 
colon may be compressed and no tympanitic note will then be detected. 
The swelling has a soft semi-fluctuating feel, and on exploration with a sub- 
cutaneous syringe pure blood is withdrawn. During the early stages the 
patient appears perfectly well, is well nourished, complains of no pain ; there 
is no tenderness on handling the tumour. Exceptionally pain is complained 
of, in some cases it is acute and due to accompanying peritonitis. In 




Fig. 104. — Cylinder Epithelioma of Kidney in a 
girl of nine years. Dr. Hutton's case. 



512 Diseases of the Genito -urinary System 

Seibert's collection of fifty cases hasmaturia was present in nineteen at some 
time or other during the course. Vomiting is an occasional symptom. As 
the tumour increases in size it distends the abdominal walls, the skin becomes 
smooth and shiny, and is marked with large dilated veins. The tumour 
pushes up the diaphragm, passes perhaps beyond the middle line in 
front, and extends backward to the spine behind, sometimes, as in the case, 
fig. 1 02, forming an enormous abdominal tumour. The liver and spleen are 
frequently enlarged ; the patient gradually emaciates and has a cachectic 
appearance ; perhaps the lower limbs become cedematous from pressure on 
the vena cava, and death comes perhaps after many weeks of lingering 
misery. Constipation is often present from pressure on the colon. 

Diagnosis. — -A sarcomatous enlargement of the kidney may be possibly 
mistaken for a hydro-nephrosis, abscess of the kidney, perinephritic, or spinal 
or other abscess. It is less likely to be mistaken for a tumour of the liver 
or spleen. A renal tumour may be distinguished from an hepatic or splenic 
tumour by the fact that it moves less with respiration and the colon traverses 
its anterior surface, and moreover the edge of the liver and spleen may usually 
be felt. A congenital hydro-nephrosis ^ in which the obstruction in the ureter 
is complete, may cause some difficulty in diagnosis ; there would be, how- 
ever, in a swelling of any size, fluctuation transmitted from the abdomen to 
the flank in a hydro-nephrosis, and on exploratory puncture the fluid with- 
drawn would make the diagnosis clear. An abscess in, or scrofulous enlarge- 
ment of, the kidney is rare without a history of pain and tenderness in the 
lumbar region, and without pus in the urine. It is, however, possible that 
these may be absent, and then the rapid growth in the case of a sarcomatous 
kidney would in time decide the diagnosis. But a difficulty could rarely occur. 

Prognosis. — This is necessarily grave ; though such tumours are chronic 
in their course and the patient may live for many months or even a year after 
the discovery of the tumour. 

Treatment. — As far as we know, no drug influences the progress of the 
growth. Removal of a sarcomatous kidney is usually followed so rapidly by 
recurrence that this, the only possible, treatment is hardly justifiable. 

Tuberculous Kidney. — Tuberculosis of the kidney is very commonly 
met with in children as part of a general tuberculosis. Thus of no fatal 
cases of tuberculosis in the Children's Hospital in the years 1881-1885 in- 
clusive, in forty-six there was evidence of tubercle in the kidneys in larger or 
smaller amount. Most frequently the lesions are simply scattered grey 
tubercles in the substance or on the cortex of the organ : this was the case 
in thirty-nine instances. 

Much more rarely large masses of tuberculous material are found, or 
occasionally extensive destruction of the papillae and ulceration of the pelvis, 
and sometimes of the ureter. Occasionally calculi are found coexisting with 
tuberculous lesions. 

It is in our experience rare to find children suffering from tuberculous kidney 
apart from a general tuberculosis ; less than half a dozen such cases were 
admitted to the hospital in the five years above mentioned, and genito-urinary 
tuberculosis — i.e. lesions affecting the kidneys, bladder, testes, prostate, vesi- 
culae seminales, and so on — is not nearly so common as in adult life, though 
the bladder is not rarely involved. When the tuberculous lesions of the 



Tuberculous Kidney 5 1 3 

kidney are only part of a general tuberculosis, life is usually destroyed before 
the kidney affection is very far advanced, but where the disease is limited 
to the urinary tract the whole of one kidney may be destroyed and converted 
into a mere sac with hardly a trace of secreting structure left. Very com- 
monly both kidneys are affected together, but in a considerable proportion of 
cases one organ alone is attacked, and under such circumstances life may be 
prolonged, or even recovery may take place, the damaged kidney shrinking, 
and ceasing to cause irritation ; the whole of the work then devolves upon its 
fellow. All stages of disease, from the presence of a few tubercles to that of 
cheesy masses, and on to complete disorganisation, may be found. Peri- 
nephritic abscesses develop in some cases. 

Sy?nfitoms. — When the kidneys are the seat of miliary tuberculosis there 
are usually no symptoms whatever pointing to disease of those organs : thus 
of thirty-nine cases of this form of disease, in only one was there even albu- 
minuria, and that to a very slight degree. When, however, tuberculous 
ulcers or abscesses exist, pus, mucus, and large quantities of albumen may 
be found ; but the only instance in which hematuria existed in the forty-six 
cases of tuberculous kidney we have examined was one in which calculi 
coexisted with the tubercle, and undoubtedly the presence of blood in the 
urine points to calculi rather than to renal tuberculosis. 

Pain and tenderness are only prominent symptoms when there is exten- 
sive disease and the pelvis becomes distended with pus and tuberculous 
material, and the same statement holds good of enlargement; it is only in the 
later stages of the disease that any palpable enlargement of the kidney takes 
place. 

Frequent micturition is rather a symptom of tubercular cystitis than of 
renal disease, and where it exists with evidence of tuberculosis of the kidney, 
especially if there is tenderness of the bladder and much pain on sounding 
or passing a catheter, it is tolerably certain that the bladder is affected as 
well as the kidney. 

The presence of tubercle bacilli in the urine would, of course, indicate 
urinary tuberculosis, though without other evidence it would not show 
whether the disease was renal or not ; unfortunately in most cases of 
renal tuberculosis the bacilli are not to be found until the disease is far 
advanced. 

When one kidney alone is affected and the ureter becomes blocked with 
caseous material or granulations, pyro-nephrosis may develop and form a 
large abdominal tumour in which fluctuation may be detected : in such 
cases more or less fever will also be present and the diagnosis will be easy. 
It is in the early stages that a doubt arises. If there is a tubercular 
history or evidence of tubercle elsewhere, if the trouble is of only a few 
months' duration and there is pus, but little or no blood, in the urine, and if 
there is a gradual failure of health, the disease is probably renal tuberculosis. 

Treatment. — In cases of miliary tubercle nothing, of course, can be done 
for the renal affection. Where pyelitis exists medicine can do something : 
the urine should be kept unirritating by the use of diluents and boracic acid 
(two or three-grain doses in half an ounce of peppermint water); alkalies such 
as carbonate of potash or liquor potassas, or the citrate of potash with hyos- 
cyamus, will also be found useful. If there is lumbar pain and tenderness, with- 

L L 



514 Diseases of the Genito- urinary System 

palpable enlargement of the kidney, and the symptoms do not subside under 
medicinal treatment, nephrotomy by the lumbar incision should be performed 
and the kidney drained. If on exploration the kidney is found entirely dis- 
organised, and there is evidence from the amount and quality of the urine that 
the other kidney is sound and efficient, a trial should be given to simple drain- 
age ; but, should the discharge not decrease, and should the health be failing, 
removal of the affected kidney is called for. This, however, clearly can only 
be justifiable if the other organ is working well, and if the bladder or 
viscera are affected nephrectomy would be probably useless. If removal of 
the kidney is decided upon, it should be done before the health is too much 
broken down, and the lumbar operation should be the one selected. We have 
only once met with a case in a child calling for either nephrotomy or nephrec- 
tomy, so that we do not think suitable cases can be common. 

Hydronephrosis is not very rarely met with in children, and may be 
congenital or the result of partial blocking of the ureter by a calculus or 
cicatrix. Complete obstruction of the ureter appears to lead usually to 
atrophy of the kidney rather than to hydronephrosis. 

The dilated kidney forms a tumour which has characters like those of 
the solid renal growths, except that fluctuation may be felt in it. The history 
is, however, often of longer duration than is the case in solid tumours, which 
usually prove fatal in less than eighteen months. Occasionally the fluid of a 
hydronephrosis is discharged by the ureter, in which case the swelling will, 
of course, vary in size. 

Treat?7ient. — Hydronephrosis should be treated by aspiration, which is 
best performed in the lumbar region. The fluid drawn off has usually the 
characters of clear dilute urine. Should the cyst refill after one or two 
tappings, the kidney should be cut down upon and drained (lumbar 
nephrotomy) ; only after failure of this treatment should nephrectomy be 
thought of. 

Renal Calculus. — Stone in the kidney is, like stone in the bladder, a dis- 
ease much more commonly met with in some localities than in others ; it is, 
however, apparently relatively rare in children, and when it does occur it is 
seldom that the symptoms are as severe or characteristic as they are in the 
case of adults. It appears that the majority of calculi formed in the kidney in 
children pass down to the bladder without giving rise to any severe symptoms 
of renal colic. Should, however, a stone form in the kidney and be retained 
there, it may give rise to pain, local and radiating, pyuria, frequent micturi- 
tion, tenderness on pressure over the kidney, with rigidity of the lumbar 
muscles, retraction of the testis, vomiting, and above all to hematuria : this 
last is the most characteristic symptom of calculus, and in the absence of 
nephritis renal haematuria is probably due to calculus, though occasionally 
intermittent hematuria is met with without there being any proof of the 
presence of a stone. 

In a few cases, if the disease goes on, pyo-nephrosis may be set up, and 
the kidney will then form a tumour perceptible to the touch. 

Treatment. — Should medicinal treatment, which is the same as that for 
tubercular nephritis, fail to give relief, the kidney should be exposed by the 
lumbar incision and explored by puncture with a needle ; if the calculus is 
struck, a director is passed along the needle, and the kidney opened along 



Acute Nepliritis 515 

its convex surface and the calculus removed. If the needle fails to find the 
stone, provided the symptoms are well marked, the kidney should be carefully 
explored with the finger, both by palpation upon the surface and subsequently 
by opening the pelvis and examination with the finger and with sounds. Any 
calculus found should be removed and a drainage tube passed up to the 
surface of the kidney. The wound is then treated on ordinary principles, 
the tube being gradually shortened. If the kidney is healthy and the ureter 
patent, the wound will probably speedily close entirely ; if, however, the 
ureter is blocked, or there is much destruction of the kidney, discharge may 
go on indefinitely, and it may be necessary to remove the organ in order to 
obtain healing of the wound. Before nephrectomy is thought of, however, 
care must be taken to ascertain that the other kidney is capable of doing 
sufficient work. For further details we must refer to the works of Morris, 
Bruce Clarke, and Newman ; also to papers by one of the present writers in 
the 'Medical Chronicle' for 1886-7-9. 

Acute Nephritis. — Reference has already been made to acute nephritis 
(p. 247) when speaking of scarlet fever, as acute nephritis occurs more fre- 
quently during convalescence from this fever than after any other disease. It is 
well to bear in mind, however, that nephritis may occur after some other 
febrile states, such as diphtheria, varicella, typhoid fever, and zymotic 
diarrhoea. These febrile conditions appear to leave behind an irritable 
kidney which is liable to take on an acute inflammatory state. While in 
the great majority of cases acute nephritis occurs as a sequela of scarlet 
fever, there are strong reasons for believing that it may occur as a primary 
disease, the result of taking cold, or from some other cause. It must, how- 
ever, be borne in mind that nephritis may follow mild attacks of scarlet fever ; 
the primary fever may have been overlooked by the friends, especially if the 
latter are unobservant or ignorant ; and in any patient coming under notice 
for the first time, suffering from acute nephritis the history of the case 
should be carefully inquired into and the child's skin examined for any 
traces of desquamation. 

Acute nephritis occurring during convalescence from scarlet fever, or as a 
primary disease, is usually an inflammatory lesion of the croupous pneumonia 
type. There is an inflammatory engorgement of the blood-vessels, and, as a 
result, a choking of the tubules by the exudation of liquor sanguinis, and 
usually of blood corpuscles. As a consequence of this the urine is scanty and 
contains fibrinous casts, blood corpuscles, albumen, and much epithelial 
debris. In the less acute cases there is not sufficient blood present to dis- 
colour the urine. If the inflammatory condition fails to be relieved, 
secondary changes occur, the most important of which consist in a glomerular 
or periglomerular nephritis. The glomeruli become enlarged in consequence • 
of a hyperplasia of their endothelial nuclei (Friedlander), or in other cases 
a fibro-cellular growth takes place between the glomerulus and the capsule 
of Bowman ; in either case the result is the same, namely, an obstruction to 
the flow of blood through the glomerulus. Changes in the epithelium also 
take place. As these changes progress the urine becomes more and more 
scanty, and death takes place from either cardiac failure, uraemia, or some 
inflammation of a serous membrane. 

The symptoms and treatment have already been discussed (pp. 253 and 

l l 2 



5 16 Diseases of the Genito -urinary System 

254), and little need be added here. It is well to bear in mind that cases of 
very different severity may be met with : in some cases the engorgement of 
the kidney is extreme, and variable quantities of urine are passed, containing 
large quantities of blood and albumen. In other cases there maybe marked 
anaemia, much general oedema, scanty urine, with no albumen or only a trace, 
and we may be left in doubt if the case is really one of nephritis, or whether 
the oedema is simply due to a watery state of the blood. This class of case 
is not uncommon in young children under three years who have recently 
suffered from some acute disease, such as acute diarrhoea or pneumonia ; the 
pallor and oedema present suggest acute nephritis, but an examination of 
the urine possibly gives negative results as far as albumen is concerned. 
In some of these cases we have failed to find any evidence of nephritis on a 
microscopical examination of the kidneys. 

Septic Nephritis has been also referred to under the complications of 
scarlet fever (p. 246). It is well, however, to bear in mind that such cases 
occur after other febrile states. We have seen kidneys answering this 
description occurring apparently primarilv, but we have always had our sus- 
picions that some cause must have been overlooked. 

Acute Parenchymatous Nephritis. — During many acute diseases the 
kidneys are apt to be affected. This is especially so in diphtheria, malignant 
scarlet fever, acute endocarditis, acute cases of zymotic diarrhoea and typhoid 
fever. At the post-mortem the kidneys are pale, and a microscopical exami- 
nation shows that the epithelium of the urinary tubules has undergone 
marked changes ; various other changes, such as minute haemorrhage and 
hyaline degeneration of the small arteries, have been described. Probably 
the other organs, such as the liver and spleen, are similarly affected. In such 
cases albumen in more or less quantity is present in the urine. 

Chronic Nephritis. — Both the ' large white ' and the ' small contracted 
granular' kidney are found in children, usually about puberty ; the granular 
kidney is certainly rare. Lardaceous kidneys are not uncommon. 

In chronic nephritis (large white kidney) in children the symptoms are 
similar to those met with in young adults. There is albuminuria, puffy face, 
much general oedema and anaemia, and frequently more or less dilated heart. 
The course is usually very chronic, improvement taking place and the child 
remaining well for a while, then a fresh cold is caught and all the symptoms 
reappear. In a considerable number of these cases recovery eventually 
takes place. In fatal cases the kidneys are sometimes found enormously en- 
larged ; in one case coming under our notice, that of a girl of twelve years, 
the two kidneys together weighed 22f oz., and the left measured six inches 
in length. 

The granular contracted kidney is rare in children ; we have seen but 
two cases, and these came under observation only a few days before death. 
Both occurred in girls, one aged 11^ years and the other 10^ years. In 
the former case there was only a history of two or three weeks' illness 
before admission to hospital, but the history was imperfect ; she had never 
had scarlet fever ; when admitted there was much oedema and dyspnoea ; the 
urine was of sp. gr. 1015, containing half albumen — she passed 800-1000 cc. 
daily. At the post-mortem the right kidney weighed 2% oz., and the left f oz. 
The left was a mere vestige of a kidney ; the capsule of the right was ad- 



Treatment of Nep J iritis 5 [7 

herent, the surface granular, the cortex was narrow, and, in short, the kidney 
was an extreme example of a granular contracted one. The ureters were 
dilated. 

The other case (girl 10^ years) was admitted to a surgical ward for rickety 
deformity of the tibia. There was a history for two years before of thirst, 
headaches, and frequent passage of urine, especially at night. On admission 
there was urgent dyspnoea, for which no cause could be found ; she gradually 
passed into an unconscious state, and died twenty-four hours after admission. 
No urine was obtained, she having passed it into bed. At the ftost-mortem 
the kidneys were typically granular and contracted ; they together weighed 
1^ oz. only, and measured two inches in length ; the capsules were adherent, 
the surface granular, and the cortex surface wasted. 

Treatme?it. — In chronic albuminuria the patient must be rigidly pro- 
tected from cold, as the least chill is liable to lead to an acute attack. Bed 
is the best place as long as albumen is present in the urine. A simple un- 
stimulating diet is necessary, milk forming the staple food, with arrowroot, 
ground rice, or other light puddings. Meat is best avoided as long as the 
urine is albuminous. When cedema is present, and the urine scanty, hot air 
or vapour baths should be given daily, while the kidneys are acted on by 
salines, such as tartrate of potash, or by resin of copaiba, digitalis, or squills. 
During convalescence tr. ferri acetatis may be given with digitalis. Vomit- 
ing is best treated by saline purgatives and peptonised milk gruel in small 
quantities. 



5 i8 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

DISEASES OF THE GENTTO-URINARY SYSTEM — {continued). 

Stone in the Bladder in children is, as in adults, a much more common 
disease in some localities than in others. It may occur at any age, and a 
congenital case even has been recorded. The symptoms vary much in 
severity ; sometimes but little pain or trouble is caused by the stone, at other 
times the distress is constant and severe. The causation of calculus need 
not be discussed : there is little evidence that any particular diet has any 
active share in producing it. 

Symptoms. — There is usually pain referred to the end of the penis, or to 
the hypogastrium or perinasum ; the pain is most severe towards the end of 
micturition, but when there is cystitis is nearly constant. Passage of blood 
in the urine, usually at the end of micturition, is a very frequent though not 
absolutely constant sign ; frequent micturition and inability to retain the 
urine are almost always present. The straining efforts to empty the bladder 
often give rise to prolapse of the rectum and hernia. An elongated, ex- 
coriated prepuce, the joint result of the irritating quality of the urine, of 
frequent micturition, and of pulling at the penis to relieve the irritation felt at 
the end of the organ, is usually seen. The urine is muddy, containing pus and 
phosphates in varying quantity ; if no cystitis is present, it may, however, be 
quite clear. On sounding, the stone is usually felt at once ; it is rare to find a 
stone in children that is not struck by the instrument as it enters the bladder, 
but, as this is not always so, if the other signs of stone are present, repeated 
soundings should be made if the calculus is not found at once. 1 

The most common variety of calculus in children is the uric acid ; next 
perhaps, comes the form consisting of urates ; if the stone has caused cystitis, 
there may of course be a phosphatic coating, or the whole calculus may be 
phosphatic. Ebstein believes that the uric acid infarcts of newly born 
children form the first stage in calculus production, and that the large 
quantity of uric acid present in fcetal and early life explains the frequency of 
calculi of this substance (' Centralblatt f. Chirurg.,' No. 14, 1885). 2 

Calculi in children vary much in size : that is to say, that, as different 

1 E. Owen suggests that sometimes the stone may be lodged in the orifice of one 
ureter ; but, though Dr. Cullingworth and others have recorded such cases in adults, we 
do not know of an instance of this in childhood. 

2 The abnormal elimination of uric acid leads to degeneration of epithelium, which 
forms the animal basis of the calculus. 



Stone in the Bladder 519 

calculi give rise to varying degrees of distress, some of them are allowed 
to reach a larger size before the child is brought for treatment than are 
others. 

In shape the calculi are usually oval and flattened (uric acid), but spindle- 
shaped stones are often met with : such are those which, while small, so 
frequently pass into the urethra, and, becoming impacted, give rise to re- 
tention of urine. Thus one of these small oat-shaped calculi some day comes 
to lie with one end projecting into the urethra, violent straining to pass urine 
takes place, and the calculus is washed along the urethra and usually becomes 
fixed just within the meatus at the fossa navicularis, since the meatus is the 
narrowest part of the urethra. In other cases the stone is arrested at the bulb 
or in the penile portion of the tube. The symptoms of such an occurrence are 
pain, oedema of the part, retention of urine, and tenesmus ; on examination 
the stone can usually be felt through the urethral wall, or is readily struck on 
passing a sound or probe into the urethra. If the case is neglected, ulcera- 
tion may take place and extravasation of urine : this sometimes occurs very 
rapidly. We have seen fatal extravasation come on in a few hours. When 
this occurs the symptoms are the same as in an adult : pain, swelling of the 
perinasum, scrotum, and penis, constitutional disturbance, and, failing relief, 
rapid sloughing of the tissues. In all cases of retention of urine in a child, if 
phimosis will not account for the inability to empty the bladder, impacted 
calculus should be suspected. The secondary effects of calculus are cystitis, 
pyelitis, and suppurative nephritis. The ureters may become dilated and 
inflamed by extension of mischief from the bladder ; and obstruction to the 
outflow of urine, suppurative pyelitis, and subsequent extension of suppura- 
tion along the renal tubes and in the peritubular tissue may result. This is 
probably not always fatal, and on removal of the stone the kidney mischief 
may subside : nevertheless the injury so done to the kidneys may be one of 
the reasons why children, the subjects of stone, seldom seem to grow up, 
though the mortality from lithotomy is so small in childhood ; it is, as Mr. 
Erichsen says, very rare to see an adult who has been cut for stone in child- 
hood. 

Diagnosis. — One or more of the symptoms of stone may be caused by 
many other conditions : worms, phimosis, a contracted meatus urinarius, 
simple or tubercular cystitis, the so-called irritable bladder, 1 vesical tumours, 
and renal calculus, all may simulate stone in the bladder to a certain extent ; 
the diagnosis is only to be certainly made by sounding. Stones can often 
be felt by bimanual palpation, one finger being passed into the rectum and 
the other hand pressed down above the pubes. 

Treatment. — Until recent 'times lateral lithotomy has been practically 
always the mode adopted for removal of a vesical calculus in boys, and its 
success is so great that but little attempt has until lately been made to find 
any other treatment. Median lithotomy is little applicable, on account of 
the small size of the parts. Of late the operations of litholapaxy and supra- 
pubic lithotomy have both been employed in children. Keegan, in the 
'Indian Medical Gazette,' May 1884 (vide also 'Lancet,' vol ii., 1886 and 

1 Thus, for instance, hematuria may result from phimosis and consequent irritable 
bladder (Bryant), and also may be due to tubercular cystitis. 



520 Diseases of the Genito-urinary System 

1890), 1 has collected over one hundred cases of lithotrity in children between 
the ages of one and a half and eleven years ; among these there were three 
deaths ; in six cases the stone was allowed to escape with the urine after 
crushing, in the rest it was evacuated ; the size of the calculi varied from five 
grains to four drams. 

It is now well established, chiefly by the work of Keegan and Freyer in 
India, that the urethra of a child of three or four years will readily admit a 
No. 8 lithotrite after slitting the meatus, and we have found no difficulty 
whatever, as far as this goes, in the cases in which we have tried it ; such 
an instrument is abundantly powerful for the vast majority of stones we find 
in children, 2 and there seems no valid reason against its performance on this 
ground. Freyer even says that a No. 6 cannula may be readily passed in a 
child under one year old, though this is not always the case. In our own 
cases there was some difficulty in seizing the stone, but this was got over in 
one case by passing a finger into the rectum and lifting the stone between 
the blades of the lithotrite. The operation, in this instance, was followed by 
pyaemia, and the child died ; after pyaemia had developed it was found that 
a second stone existed, and this, being lodged in the neck of the bladder, 
was removed by median lithotomy, but the pyaemia was in no way improved. 
We do not, however, look upon this case as any argument against lithotrity, 
though it must be remembered that the natives of India bear surgical 
operations far better than Europeans, provided no bone lesion is present. 
In our case kidneys and ureters were both diseased, and probably this 
condition largely contributed to the fatal result. Though the cases we have 
mentioned show that lithotrity in children is not without its difficulties and 
dangers, we have no doubt from our own experience that it is the proper 
operation to perform in cases where the stone is small or of moderate size, 
and the child is not too weakly to bear an often necessarily prolonged 
manipulation. In any case a well-fenestrated lithotrite is essential, as 
detritus is apt to become jammed in the blades, and thus to prevent the 
withdrawal of the instrument without difficulty. We have had to open the 
urethra and protrude and clear the lithotrite before it could be withdrawn 
through the front part of the passage. 

As to the suprapubic operation, there is much to be said both for and 
against it. Against it is the risk of wounding the peritoneum, the risk of 
urinary infiltration, and the fact of the good results following the lateral 
operation. In favour of it is the fact that the operation is done as it were in 
the open : there is no cutting in the dark, no risk of wounding important 
structures such as the rectum, pelvic fascia, and seminal ducts, 3 while injury 
to the peritoneum is only likely to occur exceptionally, and is less likely 
in children than in adults, from the fact that in children the bladder is an 
abdominal, in adults a pelvic organ. 

Suprapubic lithotomy in children has, as shown by Sir Wm. MacCormac 

1 Also Southam, Med. Chron., vol. xii., 1890. 

2 In a later case, however, the lithotrite broke in the child's bladder, and was removed, 
together with the stone, by suprapubic lithotomy. This child died of bronchitis shortly after. 
The death was clearly the result of the somewhat prolonged operation and exposure. 

3 Sir Wm. MacCormac quotes Haemstadt, to the effect that of eighteen males who had 
been lithotomised in childhood, and had grown up and married, only one had children. — 
Lancet, March 19, 1887. 



Stone in the Bladder 521 

and others, a very small mortality ; it is an easy operation, and requires no 
skilled assistance. In performing the operation no rectal bag should be 
used ; the bladder should be injected with from 3 to 4 oz. of boracic lotion 
and a gradual dissection made down to the organ, not using the knife after 
the peri-vesical fat is exposed. 1 As soon as the bladder is laid bare, two 
sutures are passed through it, and the organ is opened between them, the 
stone is extracted with forceps or the finger, and the wound either left alto- 
gether open, or the bladder stitched up, the superficial structures being left 
quite open. Any stitches passed through the bladder walls should not 
include the mucous membrane. It is well to keep the child on its side or 
face after the operation, to allow free drainage away of any urine that may 
collect in the wound. In several cases (R. W. Parker and others) the wound 
has united by first intention, but, on the whole, we think it better to leave 
the rest of the wound open while the bladder wound is sutured. Our own 
opinion is that the operation will largely replace lateral lithotomy, but 
further experience is required. We have not done lateral lithotomy for two 
or three years, all cases of stone having been dealt with either by lithotrity 
or the suprapubic operation. 

It is unnecessary here to describe the operation of lateral lithotomy ; it 
will be sufficient to point out that the operation in children differs from that 
of adults chiefly in that in childhood the field of operation is smaller, not 
only on account of the size of the patient, but because the genital organs are 
undeveloped and the prostate exists only in a very rudimentary condition. 
It is usually said that in children the difficulty of the operation is in getting 
into the bladder, in adults it is in getting the stone out. This arises partly 
from the small size of the parts already mentioned, partly from the fact that 
the bladder in children is more an abdominal than a pelvic organ, and partly 
because the tissues of the child are more easily lacerated than those of the 
adult, and very gentle manipulation is therefore required. In lateral lithotomy 
in a child the incision is usually carried through the whole depth of the pro- 
state, instead of only through a part of the gland, and unless the opening 
into the bladder is fairly free there is a risk of pushing the bladder before 
the finger and stripping it up from its attachments, or even of tearing across 
the urethra. The only other point requiring remark is that in children it is 
often easy by passing a finger into the rectum to bring the stone within the 
grasp of the forceps, or even to extrude it from the perinaeal opening, and 
this is still further facilitated in some instances by pressure with the hand on 
the abdomen. In one case we could easily grasp the stones (there were two) 
with the hand through the soft, flaccid, abdominal walls. 

Vesical calculus is occasionally found in female children : in such cases 
the urethra should be rapidly dilated with a three-bladed dilator or a pair 
of dressing forceps, and the stone extracted. If the calculus is large, it 
should be crushed before extraction and the bladder well washed out. Rapid 
dilatation is not, as a rule, followed by incontinence, even temporarily ; in a 
case of our own the urethra of a child three years old was dilated sufficiently 

1 A staff should be kept in the bladder 'during the operation, and its end used as a 
guide upon which to open the bladder ; bv pushing the bladder up gently with the staff, 
and opening the viscus lower down, all risk of injury to the peritoneum is entirely avoided. 



522 Diseases of the Genito -urinary System 

to admit the little finger, and there was no incontinence, even immediately- 
after the operation. 

The mortality after lithotomy in children is usually about 5 per cent. 
Death when it occurs is due either to exhaustion of the child by distress and 
pain before the operation, to kidney disease, or in some cases to peritonitis, 
cellulitis, septicaemia, or haemorrhage. 

Cystitis. — Though cystitis in children is very commonly due to stone, it 
is by no means rare to find other causes for it : thus retention from phimosis 
or a contracted meatus, or possibly a growth, may give rise to it : tuber- 
culosis of the bladder often is a cause of severe cystitis with much pain and 
haematuria, while frequent micturition with phosphatic deposit often occurs 
in children from such causes as errors of diet, or from no obvious reason. 
Rectal irritation may give rise to frequent micturition and even to haema- 
turia. 

The so-called ' irritable rugous bladder ' is a condition often described as 
a disease ; there is no doubt that certain children are brought with symptoms 
pointing to stone, and on sounding them no stone is found, but the bladder 
feels rough and traversed by ridges. We are, however, inclined to think 
this is not a pathological condition in itself, but simply the result of some 
passing irritation such as hyperacid or phosphatic urine, since these cases 
seldom require prolonged treatment and usually rapidly lose their symptoms 
after a course of salines followed by tonics. In Mr. Holmes' view it is simply 
a contracted bladder resulting from some irritation. Renal calculus and 
phimosis sometimes are the cause of this condition. 

Tumours of the bladder are rare in children ; one case of prostatic tumour 
has been already mentioned, and Owen records a case of his own, and 
mentions Giraldes' and Birkett's cases. Shattock has also recorded a case 
of mucous polypus in the 'British Medical Journal,' 1883, page 15, and 
several cases of sarcoma have also been met with (vide Southam) ; indeed 
sarcoma of the bladder occurs more frequently in childhood than any other 
form of growth. 

Tubercular cystitis may be recognised, in the absence of stone or other 
obvious cause, by pain in urination, itching at the end of the penis, pain in 
the hypogastrium and perinaeum, frequent micturition, and sometimes incon- 
tinence. The pain may be greatly lessened by passing urine as soon as the 
least inclination to do so is felt ; the urine is alkaline, with a deposit of pus 
and stringy mucus and epithelium ; sometimes there is haematuria, and the 
bladder usually very readily bleeds — for instance, after gentle sounding. We 
have found a chain of enlarged lymphatics on rectal examination in a case 
of this sort, and also swelling, probably glandular, in the iliac fossa. Pres- 
sure over the bladder sometimes relieves pain. We have not found tuber- 
cular cystitis in children associated with genito-urinary tuberculosis, as is so 
commonly the case in adults, but the disease is not common enough to speak 
with authority. Terrillon says the deposit is less gelatinous and more floc- 
culent, 1 and the pain more constant in tubercular than in simple cystitis, 
while bleeding is an early symptom. Ulceration takes place after a time, 

1 Where the bladder alone is involved no casts will be found in the urine ; their presence 
would of course point to renal mischief. 



Incontinence of Urine 523 

and the ulcers may be single and small, or numerous and large ; they are 
usually at the trigone. 

Treat7iiejit. — Alkalies, citrate of potash, and boracic acid are the remedies 
most useful as given internally, opium and henbane being added where 
much pain is present. Washing out the bladder with boracic acid (gr. x to 
§ i) is of much value in simple, but sometimes too painful in tubercular 
cystitis. Powdered iodoform washed into the bladder forms a coating upon 
its surface, and gives much relief in some cases ; it appears, however, to be 
somewhat specially prone to cause iodoform poisoning : this method was, 
we believe, first used by Mr. Whitehead, for malignant disease. Rawdon 
suggests cystotomy in cases of tuberculosis where the symptoms are intract- 
able, and supra-pubic cystotomy with subsequent scraping of the ulcer has 
been done in some instances. 1 

Incontinence of Urine. — During the first few months of life the infant 
makes no attempt to retain urine in the bladder for more than a very short 
time ; after the first year, however, constant or very frequent micturition 
should lead to the suspicion of something abnormal. Unduly frequent 
micturition may be due to mere habit, to a too often recurring desire to pass 
urine, or to an absolute inability to retain it. In the former the apparatus is 
perfect, but is by some cause or other too often excited ; in the last there is 
either paralysis or a malformation. Nocturnal incontinence belongs to the 
former group ; diurnal or continuous incontinence may be due to either con- 
dition. Thus a child may have a frequent desire to pass water because a 
larger amount is secreted, as in diabetes insipidus ; because it has a con- 
genially small bladder ; because it has a stone or hyperacid urine, or 
cystitis, or a feeling of irritation about the penis from an adherent or tight 
prepuce or a contracted meatus ; or because worms or other rectal irritation 
are present. In all these conditions, except that of too small a bladder, the 
urinary apparatus may be quite perfect, but it is irritated. 

On the other hand there may be continuous dribbling of urine from the 
bladder, as a result of distention and overflow from obstruction ; or in case of 
entire absence of the bladder, or extroversion, or imperfect development of 
the neck of the bladder or of the urethral muscles ; or, again, from deficient 
innervation, as in paraplegia, or from imperfection of the micturition centre 
in the spinal cord, as seen in some cases of spina bifida. Mention must also 
be made of certain rare conditions, such as an abnormal communication 
between the bladder or ureters and the exterior. Obviously a child that can 
hold its water during the day can have none of these conditions ; hence, when 
a child is brought and said to be unable to hold its water, the first question 
is whether the condition is nocturnal only or constant. Dribbling from over- 
distention due to obstruction is nearly always the result of either an im- 
pacted urethral calculus or of phimosis, less often of a contracted meatus, 
though, of course, in these there is, as a rule, complete, or almost complete, 
retention rather than overflow. 

Inability to retain the urine is occasionally seen associated with hypo- 
spadias and incontinence of faeces : in such cases the condition is no doubt 
due to actual malformation of the sphincters. 

Dribbling from paraplegia will be recognised by the associated paralyses ; 
1 Med. Press and Circ, January 1884, 



524 Diseases of the Genito -urinary System 

so too with the case of spina bifida : hence examination of the spine should 
be made in all cases, and the child's cerebral condition should also be 
inquired into. Failing these, careful examination as to the condition of the 
bladder and urethra should be made, to see if there is any deficiency or 
abnormal arrangement of these parts. 

Diurnal incontinence is much less common than nocturnal, though fre- 
quent micturition without any actual inability to retain urine is common 
enough ; in such cases the sources of irritation already mentioned should be 
sought for and removed. Sometimes a child, the subject of nocturnal in- 
continence, passes urine frequently by day, but is able to retain it. 

Ordinary nocturnal incontinence (or enuresis, as it is sometimes called) 
is more common in boys than in girls ; it may occur at any age before 
puberty, but very rarely persists beyond that time ; if it does so it is usually 
incurable, and this rare condition is said to be most often met with in girls. 

The discharge of urine may take place once or several times during the 
night ; perhaps most often during the first sound sleep, and again in the 
early morning. 

In cases of nocturnal incontinence those conditions which have been 
mentioned as giving rise to a frequent desire to pass urine during the day 
should be looked for, since, when the child is awake, he may be able to 
control the flow, or pass his urine in a suitable place ; while during sleep no 
such power is exerted. Other causes, such as unduly deep sleep, due in some 
cases to the semiasphyxiated condition caused by enlarged tonsils or post- 
nasal adenoids, dreams in which the child imagines that it is properly 
passing its water, gastric disturbance from late or unwholesome meals, 
temporary polyuria from free drinking of fluids at night, and perhaps mas- 
turbation, may be added to the list. We have also reason to think that mere 
delicacy of health, often conjoined with a somewhat unstable and easily 
excited mind, such as is sometimes seen in children born or brought up in 
hot climates, may give rise to enuresis. Possibly in some cases renal calculus 
or pyelitis of tubercular origin may give rise to incontinence. 

Treatment. — Setting aside the irremediable malformations and the cases 
due to paraplegia, the first thing is to look for and remove any of the sources 
of irritation. If there is phimosis, circumcision or the breaking down of 
adhesions ; if there is a small meatus, enlargement by incision will be re- 
quired. The bladder should, of course, also be sounded in any case of doubt, 
or if the condition does not speedily yield to medicinal treatment. The 
urine should 'be carefully examined for over-acidity or for evidences of 
cystitis, and this should be corrected by the use of citrate of potash or liquor 
potassas ; the child should be carefully dieted and its allowance of meat 
curtailed, while any irritating vegetable food, such as rhubarb, should be 
forbidden. Late meals should not be allowed, nor should the child take any 
fluid for an hour or two before going to bed. Too great a weight of bed- 
clothes and the habit of sleeping upon the back should be avoided ; in the 
latter, the immediate contact of the urine, as it enters the bladder, with the 
trigone is believed to excite the effort to empty the viscus. 

For nocturnal incontinence alone the most successful drug is undoubtedly 
belladonna, or, still better in some cases, atropia. Belladonna should be 
given in full and increasing doses : for a child two years old it is well to 



Retention of Urine 525 

begin with five or ten drops of tincture three times daily, and increase the dose 
by five drops every twelve hours till the physiological effects are produced, 
bearing in mind that children are not readily susceptible to the action of the 
drug ; as soon as this point is reached the dose should be continued for 
several days. If the treatment is successful it should be continued for a 
week, and then the dose gradually diminished, increasing it again if there 
is any relapse. We have seen liquor atropine given at night in 2-minim 
doses, reached gradually, cure a child two years old in which belladonna 
had failed. The drug probably acts both by stimulating the contraction 
of the sphincter muscles and by acting as a sedative. Bromide of potassium, 
alone or with belladonna, ergot, cantharides, nitrate of potash, camphor, 
and other drugs, have been employed. Strychnine is chiefly of use in 
diurnal incontinence, though sometimes it succeeds in the nocturnal form ; 
it is said by Bouchut to be a dangerous drug for children. Such treatment 
as blistering, or painting over the orifice of the urethra with nitrate of silver, 
or the use of a perinatal truss, is not to be recommended. The child should 
be made to pass water just before going to bed, and should be taken up again 
in an hour's time, and if possible once again during the night ; he should be 
encouraged to try to control the inclination and to exert his will, but on no 
account should he be threatened or punished, except possibly in the 
exceptional cases when, as sometimes happens, the presence of one child 
with incontinence in a school induces an epidemic, as it were, among the 
others ; in such instances probably the affection is in the acquired cases 
simply a trick, and may be controlled by fear of punishment. The disastrous 
results of frightening such children into tying strings round the penis, as well 
as the misery inflicted by the shame of believing that what is really a disease 
is a fault, are sufficient arguments against such cruelty. Cold sponging to 
the perinaeum is sometimes useful, and we have known the use of the constant 
current, one pole being applied above the pubes and the other in the 
perinaeum or over the sacrum, to succeed where other means have failed ; 
the interrupted current also sometimes answers. The application of nitrate 
of silver to the neck of the bladder is advocated by Holmes. In weakly 
children and in cases of diurnal incontinence, when no organic cause can be 
found, tonics, iron, strychnine, good food, and sea air will often prove 
successful, and we have known sea air cure enuresis. The possible existence 
of chronic renal disease or diabetes must be borne in mind. 

In inveterate cases in girls dilatation of the urethra and exploration of 
the bladder may, as pointed out by Owen, cure the affection even if no 
organic disease is found. 

Retention of Urine. — The causes leading to retention of urine are 
mentioned under their several headings, but it may be convenient here to 
group them together. They are congenital malformations, impacted calculus, 
phimosis, ruptured or strictured urethra, including stricture of the meatus, 
pressure on the urethra by abscess or a new growth, blocking of the orifice 
of the urethra by a vesical or prostatic tumour, or, lastly, the tying of a string 
round the penis. It must be remembered that retention of urine may be 
voluntary, or imaginary on the part of the friends : voluntary where the 
passage of the water causes pain, as is often seen after circumcision, 
when the urine flowing over the surface causes discomfort. We have never 



526 Diseases of tlie Genito -urinary System 

seen any harm other than alarm to the friends result from this voluntary- 
retention, though it is well in such cases, if a warm bath does not relieve 
the retention, to pass a catheter into the bladder. Lastly, retention must 
not be confounded with suppression of urine from any cause. Of course, 
retention of urine if unrelieved will lead to extravasation, the treatment 
of which is free incision deeply into all the infiltrated tissues, so that a free 
outlet for the urine already extravasated is provided, as well as any further 
mischief prevented. 

Malformation of the Genitourinary Organs. Extroversion of the 
Bladder. — Deficient closure of the ventral laminae, giving rise to hiatus of 
the abdominal wall, has already been mentioned in connection with umbilical 
hernia (p. 134). In certain, not rare, instances, however, the lower part of 
the abdominal wall, from the umbilicus or its neighbourhood downwards, 
may fail to close, and coupled with this there may be deficiency of the 
anterior wall of the bladder, constituting the condition known as extroversion 
or exstrophy of the bladder, ectopia vesicae, or hiatus of the bladder. 1 In 
this condition the lower part of the abdomen presents a red rugous area 
covered with mucous membrane, which is usually excoriated from friction 
and irritation, often more or less coated with mucus and phosphates. From 
this surface, or rather from the orifices of the ureters exposed upon it, the 
urine continuously dribbles, keeping the child always wet, and leading to 
irritation of the neighbouring skin. This red mucous surface is the 
posterior wall of the bladder, which is usually flush with the abdominal wall : 
hence in most cases there is no bladder cavity, though occasionally there is 
a slight depression. More often the surface is corrugated and somewhat 
protuberant, and on drawing down the penis, 2 which is always distorted and 
ill-developed {vide Epispadias), the orifices of the ureters can be seen, and 
drops of urine may be watched flowing from them, and often escaping in a 
little jet when the child cries or strains. 

On further examining such a child, it will usually be found that the 
symphysis pubis is deficient, the two bones failing to meet in the middle line, 
and being only connected by fibrous tissue. The umbilicus may be absent 
altogether, or may be more or less well-formed. The scrotum is always 
imperfectly developed, and the testes do not fully descend, usually lying in 
or just outside the inguinal canals. Very commonly there are inguinal 
herniae developed, and these may even become strangulated. We have had 
occasion to operate in such a case. 3 

1 A patent urachus or even a protrusion of the bladder-wall through such a passage may 
also be found ; vide Tanner, Diseases of Childhood. 

2 The malformation is most common in males. 

5 According to Dr. Champneys, St. Bartholomew s hospital Reports, 1877, extrover- 
sion may be associated with talipes and other deformities ; the sex may be doubtful from 
external appearances ; there may be rectal prolapse, with a long, loose, rectal mesentery 
All grades of deformities, from mere separation of the symphysis pubis, with perhaps a 
hernial pouch, but no deficiency of the bladder, may be met with; in the second degree of 
deformity there may be prolapse of the bladder, though it is itself perfect : the prolapse 
may take place through the urethra or urachus (Vrolik, Froriep) ; the third degree is the 
ordinary form ; while in the fourth and most severe degree there is extroversion and divi- 
sion of the bladder into two halves by the opening of the intestine between them. The 
•condition really arises from the fact that the allantois is developed by two lateral portions 



Extroversion of Bladder 527 

This deformity, which is quite unmistakable, gives rise to much trouble, 
both from the constant wetting and excoriations as well as from the in- 
capacities associated with it. It is impossible in most cases to fit any 
apparatus satisfactory to receive the urine. Hence the treatment is solely 
operative ; and even this, it must be confessed, is not always satisfactory. 
Attempts have been made to divert the ureters into the intestine, but not 
hitherto with success (T. Smith and Simon). Holmes, Ayres, Wood, Greig 
Smith, and others have devised operations for covering in the exposed 
bladder ; these consist of dissecting up a flap from the abdominal wall or 
scrotum, and turning it over the bladder surface, subsequently covering over 
the raw side of the flap with other superimposed flaps from the groins. For 
details of the operation we must refer to works on operative surgery. Several 
successive attempts are often required before a good result is obtained, and 
there is sometimes a tendency for the flaps to retract and leave the lower 
part of the bladder exposed ; this difficulty is met by subsequent attachment 
of the flaps to the scrotum or labium below, a plan suggested by Mayo 
Robson,' and one we have found of value. On the whole, the result of our 
experience is that the operation should certainly be done in all cases where 
the child is in a condition to bear a somewhat severe and prolonged manipu- 
lation, and that a great improvement may be expected as a final result (fig. 
103). The child should not be operated on until it is three or four years old. 
It has been proposed to scrape or cut away the mucous surface of the bladder 
except at the orifices of the ureters, and thus avoid the irritation of the 
mucous secretion. We have not, however, tried this method.- After opera- 
tion one of the troubles is the constant formation of phosphatic deposit 
about the parts ; careful cleansing and daily syringing with a dilute acid 
solution is required. Hydrochloric acid, 11\ xx, glycerine, 5 i> water, 5 i, we 

which afterwards meet in the middle line, and thus the various degrees of deformity of the 
bladder, epispadias, &c. , are explained {vide Baly in Miiller's Physiology). Union between 
the halves of the allantois takes place at the third week of fcetal life, so the deformity must 
exist at that time. 

The condition of the umbilical vessels is inconstant : they may run separately to the 
placenta (Dietrich). The umbilicus is lower than usual, and the anus is generally more 
anterior than usual. Herniae are inconstant. The external genitals may be deficient 
altogether or developed in varying degrees ; the testes may be retained, or may descend 
into the scrotum and be well developed. The symphysis is not always ununited ; when it 
is so it causes awkwardness of gait. 

As Tenon pointed out, the malformation is not a cleft of the bladder merely, since 
there is a deficiency of all excepting the trigone and neighbouring parts. The pelvis of 
the kidney and the ureters are usually dilated, and may open into the rectum, vagina, or 
urethra. 

The intestine is variously malformed or deficient, and there may be imperforate or mis- 
placed rectum. 

For further details and references Dr. Champneys' able paper should be looked at ; 
from it much of the above is taken. 

1 Brit. Med. Jour., January 31, 1885. 

2 Excision of the bladder, with or without transplantation of the ureters, direct suture 
of the vesical margins, with or without section of the sacro-iliac joints, to allow approxima- 
tion of the rami of the pubes, have also been suggested ; but no sufficiently encouraging 
results of these methods, except in one case of Wyman's, have been obtained. A good 
summary of the various operations will be found in Ann. des Mai. des Organes Genito- 
urinaires, March 1888, by Pousson. 



528 Diseases of the Genito-urinary System 

have found a useful form of wash. If, however, as is sometimes the case, the 
deposit persists in spite of these measures, we have found that scraping it 
away from time to time with a sharp spoon is the most effectual means of 
getting rid of it. When the bladder surface has been covered in as shown 
in the figure, an appliance is readily adapted to receive the urine. 

In extroversion of the bladder in the male the penis is nearly always 
deformed, the corpora cavernosa are deficient to a greater or less degree, and 




Fig. 105. — Shows the result of a plastic operation for Extroversion of the Bladder in a boy. 
A urinal can be worn over the orifice now remaining, a points to the glans penis. 

the corpus spongiosum is ununited on its upper surface, so that the floor of the 
urethra is exposed on the dorsum of the penis. The whole organ is stunted 
and turned up against the abdomen ; the prepuce is usually redundant below, 
and the glans is generally better developed than the rest of the penis. 

Epispadias. — The condition of penis above described may occur without 
extroversion, constituting epispadias. 1 In such cases there is usually imper- 

1 A case of epispadias in a girl is recorded by Smith in Brit. Med. Jour. , September 20, 



Hypospadias 529 

feet power of retention of urine from deficient muscular development at the 
neck of the bladder, and for sexual functions the organ is useless. In such 
cases an apparatus is readily applied to prevent the discomfort of constant 
wetting ; but to improve the power of urination, and perhaps the sexual 
function, operations may be performed, consisting in either turning down a 
hood-like flap from the front of the abdominal wall over the urethral groove, 
or in dissecting up flaps of skin and bringing them over the dorsum — or, 
lastly, in taking a flap from the scrotum and turning it upwards over the 
penis, which is passed through a slit in the centre of the flap. Any small 
fistulous openings left after union of the main flaps are closed by subsequent 
operation or by repeated application of the actual cautery. In all such 
operations it is a good plan, as a preliminary step, to open the urethra or 
bladder through the perinseum, so as to allow the urine to drain away freely, 
without flowing over the wound. Our colleague, Mr. Hardie, and Mr." 
Howlett, of Hull, have adopted this plan with good results. 

Hypospadias. — When the floor of the urethra, together with the corpus 
spongiosum, is deficient to a greater or less degree, the deformity known as 
hypospadias is present. In the slighter cases the deformity is merely one of 
the urethral orifice, which opens on the under surface of the glans penis 
instead of upon its apex, though, even in these cases, the corpus spongiosum 
is always thinner and less developed than it should be. A dimple usually 
represents the opening of the urethra, or a groove may run on from the 
existing opening to the end of the glans. All degrees of malformation are 
met with from this to cases where the urethra opens in the perinaeum, behind 
the scrotum. In severe cases, the corpus spongiosum being entirely deficient 
below, the penis is bent downwards and held down by fibrous bands repre- 
senting the aborted spongy body ; it is also bound down by the deficiency of 
the prepuce below, though a redundant, hood-like fold overlies the glans above. 
In the severest cases the scrotum is cleft and ill-developed, and the testes 
are retained or imperfectly descended, and the arrest of development may be 
such as to give rise to doubts as to the sex of the individual ; such are the 
majority of the so-called hermaphrodites. 1 

The slighter degrees of deformity, where the urethra opens at the base of 
the glans, need no treatment, and do not interfere with either the urinary or 
sexual functions as a rule, though we have met with a case where this 
condition was associated with incontinence of urine and faeces, probably 
due to deficient development of the sphincters of both outlets. In all cases 
of hypospadias a probe passed into the urethra will show how thin the 
lower wall is, and the meatus is often contracted and insufficient. Sometimes 
the opening is sufficiently far forwards to serve all purposes, but the penis is 
tightly bound down to the front of the scrotum. In such cases the organ 
may be liberated by careful dissection, but unless great caution is observed 
the thin floor of the urethra will be cut through, and a urinary fistula result. 
Where the opening is further back than half the length of the penis an 
operation may be performed to lengthen the channel ; a preliminary cysto- 
tomy or urethrotomy having been done, flaps should be dissected up from the 
sides of the penis and turned over one another (method of superimposed 

1 Sometimes the urethra is continued on to the glans, but there is a congenital urethral 
fistula further back, even within the rectum, and urine escapes by both orifices. 

M M 



53° Diseases of the Genito -urinary System 

flaps). This is the most successful plan, but even it often fails from non- 
union, or breaking down again after partial adhesions. 

Congenital Contraction of the Meatus Urinarius and Congenital 

Stricture of the Urethra have already been mentioned. We have met with 
two instances of the latter : one, seen in adult life, was remedied by catheterism 
in the ordinary way ; in the other, an infant, there was retention of urine, 
with overflow. On passing a catheter two distinct obstructions were found, one 
at the front of the scrotum, and the other in the prostatic region ; they appeared 
to be definite bars of thickened tissue, the latter closely simulating prostatic 
enlargement, which, if it existed, only affected the middle lobe. 1 

Congenital contraction of the meatus may become an important affection, 
giving rise to incontinence, to retention and consequent cystitis, and indeed 
to all the secondary troubles associated with obstruction to the urinary out- 
*flow. In one instance a boy of five years old was brought to us, who was 
said to have had gonorrhoea for three years, and was believed to have been tam- 
pered with ; there was a distinct gleety discharge, and the meatus was very 
small. All the symptoms disappeared after slitting the meatus and passing a 
catheter a short distance down the urethra at frequent intervals for a few weeks ; 
the child was subsequently neglected, and re-contraction took place. The 
following case further illustrates the evils of a narrow meatus : — 

Cojitracted Meatus Urinarius. Reteiition. — Jas. F. , age 4 years ; admitted December 7, 
1882. Well till five weeks before admission, when he was unable to pass urine without 
pain ; subsequently had pain in hypogastrium and became ill in himself ; never passed 
blood ; was catheterised at the out-patient room twice, and once passed urine voluntarily. 
On admission was found to have a contracted meatus, and was catheterised, a small 
instrument (size not recorded) being passed ; urine clear, sp. gr. 1028, faintly acid, slight 
sediment of mucus and phosphates on standing, no albumen ; the edges of the meatus 
were found to become glued together, and he was unable, even by violent straining, to pass 
urine himself ; the bladder contracted tightly round the catheter. December 1 1 , the 
meatus was incised to enlarge the orifice, and a "No. 8 silver catheter passed daily through 
the meatus, but not into the bladder. He was discharged on the 17th with all his symp- 
toms relieved. It is usually said that retention in children is always due either to impacted 
calculus or extreme phimosis. Here probably some balanitis led to ulceration and cica- 
tricial contraction of the meatus, the edges of which were probably acting as valves, which 
shut by the pressure of the urine. 

Complete obliteration of the urethra may also be met with, as in a case 
recorded by Partridge and Watson. 2 Mr. Gay and others have recorded cases 
of double urethra, one on the dorsum and the other in the normal position, 
both communicating with the bladder, though not with each other. 3 

Prolapse of the mucous membrane of the urethra in girls may be caused 
by straining ; it gives rise to pain, bleeding, and irritability of the bladder. 
Day, who describes the condition in the Medical News, Dec. 1883, advises 

1 Dr. Mudd, St. Louis Med. and Surg. your. , November 1883, mentions a case of 
enlargement of the middle lobe in a child of thirteen months ; the swelling proved to be a 
myoma. 

' J Path. Soc. Trans. , vol. xiv. The ureters were enormously dilated ; one kidney was 
atrophied, and the colon ended in the bladder ; other deformities also existed. Another 
case, treated successfully by a sort of forced catheterism, is recorded by Forster, of Darling- 
ton, Brit. Med. Jour., January 3, 1885 ; also Shattock, Lancet, February 11, 1888. 

3 Path. Soc. Trans., vol. xiv. 



Phimosis 531 

astringents in mild cases, and removal by ligature of the prolapsed part in more 
severe instances. Dr. Coley removed the prolapse by radial incisions and 
obtained a good result {vide Brit. Med. Jour., November 1, 1890, also April 
12, 1890). Vascular growth of the meatus urinarius is occasionally met with 
in children {vide Eve, Lancet, November 1889). 

We have seen one case of complete absence of the penis, the urethra 
opening just at the margin of the anus, outside the external sphincter ; the 
scrotum and testes were well developed. The child was under the care of 
our colleague, Mr. Collier. 

Phimosis, or the condition where a long prepuce exists which cannot 
without difficulty be drawn back over the glans on account either of the 
small size of its orifice or because of adhesions, is an affection which may 
be congenital or acquired. Further, it varies much in degree : the pre- 
puce may be very long and end in a puckered, tapering point, in which there 
is but a pinhole orifice, 1 so that when urine is passed it collects between the 
glans and prepuce, and ' balloons ' out the latter, or the prepuce may be 
tightly stretched over the glans and universally adherent to it. 

In most children at birth the prepuce entirely covers the glans, and on 
withdrawing it adhesions are very often found between the two. while the 
coronal groove is filled up with retained smegma in round lumps ; if these 
adhesions are not broken down and the glans kept clean, secondary inflam- 
mation is apt to occur (balanitis) and give rise to still further adhesions, with 
perhaps increased contraction of the prepuce. In most cases, with a little 
trouble, the foreskin can be drawn back, the adhesions being torn down by 
the finger and thumb or a probe ; the adhesions are frequently non-vascular, 
at other times a few drops of blood escape. Daily retraction and cleanliness 
for a week or two gets rid of all further trouble, occasional drawing-back 
and washing being all that is afterwards required. 

If phimosis is neglected, many ill results may follow : retention of urine 
from obstruction at the preputial outlet or at the meatus ; as a result of such 
contraction extravasation of urine may occur, or incontinence of urine from 
irritation. Prolapse of the rectum and hernia may result from the straining 
required to empty the bladder or from irritation ; while cystitis, balanitis, 
formation of subpreputial calculi, masturbation, and in later life sterility and 
increased liability to venereal diseases and epithelioma may result from 
neglected phimosis. Other troubles, such as paraphimosis if a tight prepuce 
is withdrawn, and, according to Mr. Barwell's view, possibly joint lesions 
from reflex irritation, may occur. 2 

If the obstacle to retraction is simply the adhesions, the breaking down 
of these, already mentioned, is sufficient ; if, however, the preputial orifice is 
tight, circumcision should be performed in infancy. Dilatation of the pre- 
puce answers in some cases ; but we are strongly opposed to it, since we have 
seen not only rapid re-contraction but also much inflammation set up, neces- 
sitating circumcision and a long delay in healing ; it is not a good plan. 

In any doubtful case it is wiser to circumcise, as the operation is as harm- 
less as any operation can be if done properly. 

1 Tanner has found it absolutely imperforate. 

2 Sayre also records cases of various contractions and deformities of the lower limbs 
resulting from phimosis. 

M M 2 



532 Diseases of the Genito -urinary System 

In every male infant the condition of the prepuce should be attended to 
during the first few weeks of life ; much subsequent trouble may be thereby 
avoided. 

There are many ways of circumcising, of which we will only describe the 
one we prefer. Slitting up the prepuce should never be done in children : it 
is much better to circumcise properly. 

The child should be anaesthetised and a tape tied round the root of the 
penis ; then, with a pair of dressing forceps, the prepuce should be seized 
just in front of the glans, but it is not to be drawn forwards so as to put it on 
the stretch, or too much skin will be removed. The forceps should be held 
vertically, and the skin in front of them shaved off with a scalpel ; but at the 
lower part of the section the knife should be turned forwards so as to make 
a little triangular tongue of skin projecting from the cut edge of the prepuce ; 
the dressing forceps are now removed and the skin retracts ; the mucous 
membrane is next slit up along the upper surface of the glans with a pair of 
scissors, and clipped away all round as far as the frasnum, leaving enough 
rim of mucous membrane to readily hold the sutures ; the frasnum should 
not be clipped close. Interrupted catgut sutures are used to stitch together 
skin and mucous membrane, generally one on the dorsum and one on each 
side are sufficient ; the little tongue flap is then stitched to the frasnum and 
made to cover in its raw surface ; by this means, which was shown us by 
Mr. Davies Colley of Guy's some years ago, rapid healing is usually obtained 
and there is no raw surface to granulate. The tape is removed and the 
patient kept lying down for a few days. It is better to do without any 
dressing, simply keeping the clothes away from the part by a cradle. 1 

In a perfect circumcision the edge of the prepuce will just cover the 
corona ; if too much is removed the corona is apt to remain tender and 
irritable for a long time. If catgut sutures are used they do not require 
removal. The Jewish mode of circumcision does not, we think, give such 
good results as that above described. Martin 2 alleges that circumcision 
may produce contraction of the meatus, as a result of exposure and friction, 
and various secondary reflex irritations, which he has relieved by slitting 
the meatus ; but we doubt the occurrence of any bad result from circum- 
cision properly performed, and think any such troubles are more likely the 
result of the condition for which circumcision is done. 

Balanitis is often met with in children, and is usually the result of ne- 
glected phimosis ; the prepuce may be much swollen, and large quantities 
of pus are sometimes discharged from within it ; there is much scalding 
pain on micturition. Mild cases are readily cured by syringing out the cavity 
beneath the prepuce with warm water or lead lotion. As soon as the acute 
inflammation has subsided circumcision should be performed ; it is some- 
times necessary to circumcise at once, but in such cases the wound is apt to 
be slow in healing. 

The trick of tying a string or tape round the penis, for mischief, or to 
prevent the need of passing urine, is to be thought of in cases where a child 

1 If there is any troublesome oozing, a strip of lint may be wrapped round the penis, 
leaving the meatus exposed. Bleeding should be carefully arrested before putting in the 
sutures. 

2 Gaillard's Med. Jour., April 1885. 



Paraphimosis — Masturbation 533 

is brought with swelling and inflammation of the penis ; the string may be 
completely buried in the soft parts, and may give rise to ulceration or even 
sloughing, urinary fistula, &c. 

Congenita! Paraphimosis is the condition where the glans is congeni- 
tally uncovered by prepuce ; it is not a common condition, but is always 
found in hypospadias, even in the slighter degrees. 

Acquired paraphimosis is produced by retraction of a tight prepuce, so 
that the glans is exposed ; it is usually the result of mischievous meddling 
with the penis. If the prepuce is not speedily drawn forward again, the tight 
foreskin constricts the penis behind the corona and interferes with the venous 
circulation both in the prepuce and the glans : the result of this is swelling 
and pain, the swelling being chiefly of the prepuce, since its tissue is more 
lax than that of the glans. If the condition is neglected the appearance be- 
comes somewhat alarming ; there is much cedema, often redness, and some 
ulceration with distortion of the organ. Since the constriction is tightest on 
the dorsum of the penis, there is little or no risk of ulceration into the 
urethra, and still less of complete gangrene, as has been sometimes stated, 
but much trouble and no little alarm are often caused by this condition, and 
we have known it give rise to suspicions of erysipelas ; it might also possibly 
be mistaken for extravasation of urine or cellulitis. The treatment of the 
affection consists in drawing forward the prepuce again ; to do this the 
swollen foreskin should be punctured with a needle and all the serum squeezed 
out : by then drawing forward the prepuce with the fore and middle fingers 
of both hands, at the same time pressing back the glans with the thumbs, 
reduction can be accomplished, unless the constriction is very tight or of long 
standing. Another method consists in winding a piece of tape or narrow 
elastic round the penis, from the glans backwards, and so, by reducing the 
size of the glans, the foreskin can be brought over it. Where the paraphi- 
mosis has existed for more than a few days it may be irreducible ; or, if the 
constriction is very tight, it may be necessary to divide the contracted prepuce 
behind the corona, but this is rarely required. Under such circumstances 
the swelling is to be reduced by puncture and a lead lotion dressing applied; 
in time the parts will model down, and, though permanent paraphimosis 
usually results, no serious harm occurs. After reduction of a paraphimosis, 
if the foreskin is long and tight, circumcision should be performed, or in any 
case measures taken to prevent a repetition of the retraction. 

masturbation. — Masturbation in children is usually the result of a long 
prepuce, or retained secretion, or of some other source of irritation about 
the pelvic organs in either sex, such as worms, balanitis, vaginitis, stone, 
&c. The treatment obviously in such cases is to remove the source of 
irritation ; circumcision is in obstinate cases desirable, both as a means of 
removing irritation and as a deterrent, while in older children, who are 
able to understand the matter, and in whom the habit is a bad practice, and 
not the result of any obvious physical cause, judicious speaking, pointing out 
the uncleanness and the debasing effect of the act, is the best line of treat- 
ment. Coupled with these plans should be care in avoiding opportunities, 
and, if necessary, punishment should the vice be persisted in. In all cases 
onanism should be treated first as a disease, and only as a vice when it is 
clear that no cause for it exists. 



534 Diseases of the Genito -urinary System 

(Edema of the Scrotum in children is sometimes met with apart from 
any obvious inflammatory condition : it may be part of a general oedema due 
to cardiac or renal disease ; in other instances it is the result of intertrigo, 
such as is met with in fat and dirty children ; occasionally it occurs without 
obvious cause, and in such cases some source of obstruction to the lymphatic 
or venous circulation should be looked for. Erysipelas, or diffuse cellulitis 
of the scrotum, penis, &c, is also occasionally seen. In all these conditions 
attention to the general health and the use of lead lotion are usually all that 
is required. 

Diseases of the External Genitals in Females, — The congenital mal- 
formations of the external genitals of female children, apart from so-called 
hermaphroditism, are rare, with the exception of the simple adhesion between 
the labia minora of the two sides, which, as Mr. Holmes has pointed out, if 
neglected, may produce retention of menses in later life, and probably forms 
the majority of the cases of so-called imperforate hymen. The treatment of 
adherent labia is very simple ; the adhesions are broken down readily with 
a probe, and a little oiled lint kept between the labia for a few days, together 
with ordinary cleanliness, is all that is required. 

Hypertrophy of the labia or clitoris in children, though common among 
the natives of some hot climates, is very rare in this country. We have,, 
however, occasionally seen it, though rarely to an extent that required treat- 
ment. In a young adult, however, we have had occasion to remove hyper- 
trophic labia, the condition having lasted some years, but whether it was 
congenital or not we cannot say. Nothing short of operation is likely to be 
of any service. We have recently seen a case in which the clitoris of a little 
child was much enlarged and caused irritation ; examination showed that 
there was adhesion of the prepuce of the clitoris to the glans, with retained 
smegma, just as in the case of phimosis in the male. 

Naevus of the labia is seen every now and then, and is best treated by 
puncture with the actual cautery. 

Of acquired affections, simple Vaginitis, or, as it more commonly is,. 
vulvitis, is frequently met with ; it is usually caused by neglect and dirt, 
and often by the irritation of thread-worms, but is sometimes the result of 
inoculation with the discharges from other cases of vulvitis, or from older 
people by the use of dirty sponges for washing, &c l Very rarely indeed is 
it the result of attempted rape, and such charges are often brought against 
innocent persons simply because the mothers conclude that all discharges 
from the genital organs in children must be venereal ; and it should be 
remembered that some children are led to invent stories or to confirm 
suggestions made by ignorant or dishonest mothers. 

This simple vulvitis is very contagious in many cases and readily spreads 
from one child to another ; hence isolation, perfect cleanliness, the removal 
of sources of irritation, and the free use of antiseptic lotions such as per- 
chloride of mercury or boracic acid should be employed. In some cases 
astringent lotions such as sulphate of zinc or alum are useful, and iodoform 
should be well dusted into the vulva. In one instance we found prominent 

1 Kroner and De Amicis have found gonococci in non-specific blennorrhcea in chil- 
dren. Rev. Mens, des Malad. de V Enfance, December 1884. 



Aphthous Vulvitis — Noma 535 

masses of granulations in the vagina in a case that had long resisted ordinary 
treatment ; in this case nitrate of silver proved the best application. 

The so-called aphthous vulvitis is a superficial ulceration occurring not 
rarely about the labia in ill-nourished, neglected, and unhealthy children, 
especially common as a sequel or complication of one of the exanthems. It 
occurs also in some cases of nephritis, and may simulate the severer disease, 
noma, from the presence of dried blcod on the surface, giving the appear- 
ance of sloughing, as in the following case : — 

Acute Nephritis. Ulceration of Labia. — Mabel C. , age 2 years. Admitted October 
27, 1885. Two months ago an eruption appeared on the face and head, which has lasted 
since ; for the past fortnight the labia have been swollen and sore, small spots appearing 
first ; has had epistaxis for the last few days ; is said not to have passed urine since the 
24th ; bowels open this morning, motion quite black. On admission, pale, pasty, bloated 
child ; labia both much swollen and superficially ulcerated ; no vaginal discharge ; some 
superficial ulceration around the right ear ; eczematous patches on the head, covered with 
blood-stained scabs. 28th, seems very feeble ; no urine passed until this morning, and 
then into the bed ; vulva as yesterday, some thread-worms seen about it ; eyes puffy ; does 
not take food well ; found dead in bed at 9 p.m. The vulva was dressed with carbolic 
lotion and boracic lint, and carbonate of ammonia and bark, with strong beef tea and 
wine, given. Temperature, 28th, M. 98*2, E. 96 - 6. 

Post-mortem, — Both lungs rather congested and oedematous ; no pneumonia ; heart 
normal; kidneys swollen; weighed together 3 oz. , not very congested; in one, cortex 
finely granular (like scarlatinal nephritis) with red points ; the ulceration on the vulva and 
head was quite superficial ; there was no sloughing ; it extended all over vulva to the 
vaginal orifice. 

The treatment consists in cleanliness, free stimulation, and abundant 
nourishment, together with such measures as the disease with which it is 
associated demands. 

According to Savarin aphthous vulvitis occurs most commonly in children 
of from two to five years, and usually is a sequel of measles ; the patches 
begin as blisters and then ulcerate ; they may finally become gangrenous. 
There is some fever and the parts around are swollen, but there is very rarely 
lymphatic enlargement. The labia majora are most often affected, but the 
process may spread to the perinasum, groin, &c. The disease has a certain 
resemblance to diphtheria and syphilis, but is distinguished from the former 
by the imperfect membrane formation, and from both by the multiplicity of 
the ulcers, the absence of lymphatic enlargement, and the history. The 
prognosis is favourable unless gangrene occurs, and the best applications 
are boracic acid and iodoform. 1 Tubercular ulceration may be met with 
about the vulva as in other parts. 

Noma Pudendi. — Noma pudendi or noma vulvae is a gangrenous affec- 
tion of the external genitals, of precisely the same character as cancrum oris ; 
it runs a similar course, occurs under the same conditions, and requires the 
same treatment. It is quite as fatal as cancrum oris, if not more so ; it 
is, however, much rarer : many of the cases of so-called noma are merely 
aphthous vulvitis. We have very rarely seen well-marked cases. Morse 
has found an organism in noma that he regards as pathogenic.' 

Warty and cystic growths are mentioned by Mr. Holmes and others as 

1 Vide Savarin, Rev. Mens, des Malad. de I' Enfance, May 1884. 

2 Med. Record, January 1885. 



536 Diseases of the Genito- urinary System 

having been met with about the vulva and vagina in children, and would 
require treatment on general principles. 

Haemorrhage from the vulva or vagina is occasionally met within infants, 
but is of trivial importance and requires no treatment (Holmes); vide chapter 
on Diseases incidental to Birth. 

Irritable Mamma. — Irritable or painful mammae are not uncommon in 
girls of from ten to fifteen years. There is slight enlargement of the glands, 
which are tender ; the pain is variable : usually one breast is affected at a 
time and the other is attacked later. This condition is usually met with 
before menstruation has occurred, but is probably associated with the phy- 
siological growth of the organs. A similar condition is met with to a less 
marked degree in boys about puberty. Occasionally the condition is simply 
hysterical. Treatment seems to be of little use, but all the cases we have 
seen have got well. Belladonna and strapping locally, with tonics and arsenic 
internally, should be tried. 

In infants the breasts occasionally suppurate ; this is usually the result 
of rough handling on the part of superstitious nurses, 1 and may result in per- 
manently stunted or retracted nipples. 

Abnormalities in tlie Bescent of the Testicles. — In the fully developed 
child the testes should be in the scrotum at birth, or rather shortly before 
birth ; 2 it is not, however, rare for their descent to be delayed for varying 
periods — they may even pass into the scrotum as late as the time of puberty. 
Most commonly descent takes place between the second and tenth years 
(Hunter, quoted by Jacobson) ; if the testicle does not come down by the 
end of the first year, Curling says it is usually accompanied by a hernia. In 
some instances the organs are permanently retained within the abdomen 
(cryptorchism) ; sometimes one testicle descends, the other being retained 
(monorchism). When the testes have not reached their proper situation 
they may be found in the abdomen, at the internal ring, in the inguinal 
canal, in the upper part of the scrotum^m the perinseum, or even in the 
thigh ; 3 and instances of descent of the testes through the femoral canal 
are on record. Usually the glands are movable, and, though they may 
generally occupy one particular position, they may often be drawn down 
■or pushed up beyond that spot, just as their situation alters according to 
the contraction or relaxation of the cremaster and dartos under ordinary 
circumstances. 

We still know so little of the descent of the testicles that the cause of 
failure of this process must at -present remain somewhat obscure. Possibly 
failure in the action of the gubernaculum, possibly simply a lack of 
-development ; certainly sometimes adhesions to surrounding parts, to the 
funicular process, the intestine, or the mesentery, prevent the descent. 
Premature closure of the funicular process, contraction of the inguinal, rings, 
or a deficient development of the scrotum in some cases, perhaps accounts 
for the failure ; other less frequent causes, such as shortness of the vas 

1 The breasts are pulled at to ' break the nipple strings,' with the idea of preventing 
retraction of the nipples in later life. 

2 Camper found the testes in the scrotum at birth in sixty-three cases out of seventy. 

3 Displacement of the testis into the thigh has been accounted for by the fact that 
some fibres of the gubernaculum testis pass downwards into the upper part of the thigh. 



Undescended Testis 



537 




deferens, a long mesorchium, allowing the testis to float freely in the 
abdomen, fusion of the two testes, or an enlarged epididymis, are mentioned 
by Jacobson. 1 

The condition of the glands when they are in an abnormal position is a 
question of importance : they are often imperfectly developed. In other 
cases, however, they are in no way defective, and cryptorchism by no means 
necessarily implies sterility, 
while monorchism is, of 
course, functionally still less 
important. 

Apart from functional im- 
perfection, various evils may 
attend imperfectly descended 
testes. From their abnormal 
position and diminished mo- 
bility, they are in many cases 
more exposed to injury, as, 
for instance, when they are 
lodged in the perinaeum or in 
the canal. If a testis becomes 
inflamed from injury or other 
cause, the symptoms are 
likely to be much more serious 
if the gland is retained within 
the abdomen or in the canal, 
while retained testes are said 
to be frequently the seat of 
new growths.- Most impor- 
tant, perhaps, of all is the 
effect of an imperfect descent 
of the testicle upon the forma- 
tion and persistence of hernia. 
By keeping the inguinal canal 
and rings open, the misplaced 
organ directly encourages 
the descent of a hernia, 
Where the gland acquires adhesions to the bowel and then descends into the 
canal, or even where the adhesions result from descent of a hernia after the 
testis, the matter is still further complicated, and great difficulty in the 
management of such cases may arise. 3 It is quite common for a child to be 
brought with the statement that it is ruptured, and that it has perhaps been 
wearing a truss — but this is said to have been always painful, and the child 
screams all the while it is on. Examination shows an undescended testis 

1 Holmes, System of Surgery ; vide also Lockwood, Brit. Med. Jozir., 1887. 

2 Especially, according to Virchow, when they are retained in the inguinal canal ; he 
points out that obscure abdominal tumours, in the absence of any more obvious connection, 
should induce examination for an undescended testis. 

5 The caecum may descend with the testis in consequence, possibly, of unusual strength 
•or abnormal arrangement of that portion of the mesorchium called the ' plica vascularis ' 
{vide Lockwood, Med. Chir. Trans., 1886). 




Fig. 



:o6. — The right testis is undescended, and is seen 
forming a swelling in the inguinal canal. 



538 Diseases of the Genito -urinary System 

lying in the canal, which has been pressed upon by the truss, and, of course, 
the child could not bear it. In such cases the undescended testis is often 
the supposed hernia, though frequently enough the two conditions co-exist,, 
and a reducible hernia is found to descend above the testicle. 1 

Mr. John Wood makes some valuable remarks upon this subject in his 
lectures published in the 'British Medical Journal,' June 1885. Where a 
hernia and an imperfectly descended testis co-exist, the gland, if wasted, may 
be removed ; if adherent to the bowel it may be returned within the abdomen,, 
and the ring closed, or, if possible, may be separated, drawn down into the 
scrotum, and fixed there, the sac and canal being closed above it. In 
funicular hernia a tunica vaginalis may be made by detaching part of the 
funicular process, and bringing it down into the scrotum ; if the cord cannot 
be drawn out enough to let the gland come down, the epididymis may be 
loosened from the testis, and the latter turned down so as to reach the scrotum. 
All Mr. Wood's results in these operations have been good, with one exception. 
The diagnosis of undescended testis is not often a matter of difficulty : an 
examination of both sides of the scrotum will generally clear up the case. 
But we would suggest a word of caution not to be satisfied with too cursory 
an investigation : sometimes one testis may be down, and, unless both are 
felt for at the same time, may slip about so as to feel as if it belonged to 
either side ; sometimes too, an empty scrotum may be felt, but a little exa- 
mination and manipulation of the canal, or the application of heat, may 
bring down the testicle, and the case may turn out to be merely one of 
retracted, not retained, testis. 

Occasionally a hernia, if it contains thickened omentum or glands, may 
be taken for a testicle or a hydrocele of the cord, or a fibrous or fatty tumour 
may simulate a testis in the canal. There is considerable variation in the 
size and firmness of the testes of young children, and we have frequently 
seen mistakes made about these conditions. 

The treatment of undescended testicle is an important and sometimes 
difficult matter. Where in an infant or child three or four years old there is 
an undescended or imperfectly descended testicle, with no hernia, nothing 
should be done except gentle attempts to bring the gland further down by 
pressure from above with the fingers ; this manipulation should be repeated 
frequently during the day. In an older child, up to the age of puberty, the same 
line of treatment should be adopted as a rule ; if, however, the testicle gives 
rise to pain or trouble, an attempt may be made by operation to bring it 
down and fix it to the bottom of the scrotum. Mr. Wood has had some 
successes, as already stated, but the operation is not often required ; we have 
performed the operation in one case only, but the ultimate result is unknown r 
as the boy was lost sight of. The scrotum in such cases is often small and ill- 
developed. The operation consists in exposing the testis as in an operation for 
hernia, and passing a silk or catgut stitch through its outer tunic, or between 
the gland and the epididymis, and then bringing the suture out at the bottom of 
the scrotum and fixing it there. Testis in perinaso is probably best treated by 
replacing it in the scrotum— by operation, if possible ; if not, and its presence 
gives rise to trouble, it should be removed. Mr. Jacobson advises that all 

1 We have met with a case in which both testis and hernia were strangulated ; we 
removed the testis, closed the canal, and the patient made a good recovery. 



Displace a Testis — Supernumerary Testicles 539 

such operations should be postponed till after the first or second year. It is 
essential to freely separate the testis from all the adhesions 1 which usually 
exist, so that it lies quite readily in its new position, even before it is stitched 
there. Displacement of the testicle into the perinasum is sometimes the 
result of dislocation, and is not congenital : under such circumstances it has 
been successfully replaced." 

We must strongly protest against the use of a truss for undescended 
testis in young children with a view of keeping it out of the way, or preventing 
the descent of a hernia where no rupture already exists ; we cannot but con- 
sider the plan unnecessary and unscientific except in the cases where the 
testicle is inseparably adherent to the bowel, and, as this can only be ascer- 
tained by operation, we think it is wiser to operate in doubtful cases, separate 
the testis, bring it down, and close the canal above it if possible. If this cannot 
be done, the testicle should either be removed 3 or, after reducing it into the 
abdomen, the canal should be closed ; hence it is only in such cases that 
any obstacle to the descent of the testicle should be interposed. 

Should an undescended testis become inflamed from injury or from pres- 
sure while in the canal, the symptoms may be severe, and may simulate those 
of strangulated hernia — the absence of the gland from the scrotum usually 
clearing up the doubt ; if, however, there is any uncertainty about it, or the 
symptoms do not speedily subside, the parts should be explored, and the 
inflamed or gangrenous testis is generally better removed. Fatal peritonitis 
has resulted from this condition. 

Jacobson,in his well-known article in Holmes' ' System of Surgery,' advises 
the use of Dover's powder, hydrarg. c. creta, and hot poppy fomentations in 
these cases in the early stage ; to this article we must refer for further details 
on this subject : to it we are indebted for many of the points in the present 
chapter. 

Where a hernia coexists with an undescended testis, but the two are not 
adherent, the best treatment is to apply a tryss of special size and shape for 
the particular case, made so as to fit between the testis and the canal, and so, 
while the rupture is kept up, the testis is pressed downwards. We have em- 
ployed this plan usefully, and by its means both defects may be cured. 
Should the truss fail to procure closure of the canal, the hernia should be 
dealt with by the operation described in Chapter VIII. ; the funicular process 
being closed above the gland, the descent of the testis will be favoured, and 
an attempt may be made at the same time to fix it in the scrotum. 

Supernumerary testicles probably never occur ; the supposed instances 
have turned out to be either hydroceles of the cord, hernias, or solid tumours. 
Congenital absence of the testes as distinguished from mere cryptorchism is an 
exceedingly rare condition and usually associated with other malformations. 

Deficiency or closure of the vas deferens is occasionally met with : in 
such cases the testis is well developed, but, of course, functionless. Inverted 

1 The adhesions maybe remains of that part of the gubernaculum which is attached to 
the tuberosity of the ischium, and this may explain the abnormal position of the testis ; 
vide Lockwood, Med. Chir. Trans., 1886. 

2 Victor Horsley, Med. Times and Gazette, December 1883. 

5 This should be only done, as a rule, when the testicle is small and wasted, and can 
be separated from the gut without risk of injury to the bowel. 



54° Diseases of the Genito -urinary System 

testicle, where the epididymis lies in front of the gland, is sometimes a con- 
genital, sometimes an acquired condition ; it may be of importance in case of 
the appearance of a hydrocele or hernia. 

Mr. Jacobson's table of the complications of misplaced testis, in so far as it relates to 
children, is here summarised from his article in Holmes' ' System of Surgery : ' — 

i. The testis may be retained (a) in the abdomen, (&) in the iliac fossa, (c) in the 
inguinal canal, (d) just outside the external ring. 

2. The testis may take an abnormal course into (a) the perinaeum, [6) the crural 
canal. 

3. Retained testis may become inflamed or gangrenous, may give rise to peritonitis, 
may simulate a strangulated hernia, or may become the seat of tubercular disease, of 
malignant growth, or may atrophy. 

4. Misplaced testis may be complicated with hernia, (a) from adhesion of intestine to 
the undescended testicle, or (b) from co-existing patency of the funicular process. 

5. Hydrocele may be a complication, as (a) an acute condition from inflammatory 
effusion into some unobliterated portion of the processus vaginalis, or (b) as a chronic 
effusion ; in either case there may be a communication with the cavity of the peritoneum 
above, or extension into the scrotum below. 

Congenital displacement or Hernia of the ovary sometimes occurs, 
one or both organs protruding into the inguinal or even into the femoral 
canals, and occasionally in later childhood a similar malposition occurs. We 
have seen both ovaries prolapsed into the inguinal canals in a case of tuber- 
cular ascites, the ovaries returning to the abdomen on the subsidence of the 
fluid. If irreducible, the ovaries may give rise to trouble in later life from 
their enlargement at the menstrual periods, as well as from their presence 
keeping the inguinal canals patent : hence, where possible, they should be re- 
turned to the abdomen and kept back by a truss ; occasionally an operation 
as for hernia may be required. 

Diseases of the testicle in childhood. — Simple acute orchitis in 
children occurs as a result of injury — undue pressure of a truss — or the result 
of an operation such as that for the radical cure of hernia or lithotomy ; some- 
times without assignable cause, or under circumstances mentioned in the 
case of hydrocele. The inflammation often results in the development of 
hydrocele, and there is often cedema of the scrotum ; but the affection is 
seldom severe, and subsides readily under the use of lead lotion, rest, and 
elevation. We have never seen any immediate bad result, though it is 
possible that the subsequent growth of the gland may be interfered with. 
Orchitis from mumps is very rare in childhood ; we have never seen it. 
Chronic orchitis may result from the acute form. 

Syphilitic Testitis is, in our experience, very rare ; Mr. Holmes mentions 
having seen hard knots in the testicle which were apparently gummatous ; 
they readily yield to the use of hydrarg. c. creta. Other cases have also been 
recorded, and sometimes a diffuse orchitis is found. We have met with 
cases of induration of the testes in young children for which we have been 
unable to account. 

Tubercular disease of the testicle is met with in two forms : as a part 
merely of a general tuberculosis, and as a localised condition limited to the 
testis alone or the g"enito-urinary tract. 1 In the former case the tubercles 

1 Genito-urinary tuberculosis is much rarer in children than in adults, but it is common 
to find both testes tuberculous. 



Tuberculous Testis — Tumours of the Testis 541 

may be only miliary and disseminated, and hence not recognisable during 
life, or they may form definite, hard, circumscribed masses in the epididymis, 
just as in adults. While the disease is limited to the testicle, it takes the 
form just described, giving often a sensation as of a ' dumb-bell ' or double 
testicle ; it is usually not painful, and often of slow growth. If nothing cuts 
short the child's life, the testicle usually at last breaks down, and a suppu- 
rating ' strumous testis ' develops, with its characteristic adherent skin, livid 
colour, and intractable course ; the cord is usually thickened. 

Where the tubercle is generalised, no treatment of the testicular affection 
is, of course, of any use ; when, however, no obvious lesion exists elsewhere, 
the usual management, medicinal and dietary, of these cases should be 
carried out (cod-liver oil, phosphate of iron, &c). For the testicle itself, 
pressure, with occasional inunction of mercurial or iodide of lead ointment,, 
may be used, but as soon as suppuration occurs it is probably better to 
remove the gland ; it is in such cases most likely functionally destroyed from 
blockage of the efferent ducts, and is a source of general infection. The 
operation is sometimes advised as a precautionary measure as soon as a 
diagnosis can be made, but the propriety of this we think open to doubt ; we 
have had occasion to perform the operation only once or twice, and in one 
case the child was seen two or three years later in good health, his brother 
being affected by 'general surgical tuberculosis.' In this instance the 
disease began at 7 weeks old, and the gland was removed at 18 months ; both 
testicle and epididymis were involved. Our colleague, Professor Dreschfeld, 
has recorded a case of congenital tuberculosis of the testis in which tubercle 
bacilli were found. 1 Hernia testis occurs only in those cases where the 
body of the testis is involved, and when present castration is probably the 
wisest course. 

Tumours of the testis. — Tumours of the testis in children may be 
congenital or acquired ; the congenital are rare and usually ' dermoid,' con- 
sisting of cysts which contain hair, teeth, &c, as in the corresponding tumours 
of the ovary. 2 Striped and unstriped myomata have, however, also been 
found, 3 as well as congenital adeno-sarcomata, 4 and, according to Silcock, 5 
carcinoma — though Butlin disbelieves in the occurrence of carcinoma testis 
in childhood. 

Acquired tumours are usually sarcomata (round-celled), very rapidly 
growing, very malignant, and tending to involve the lumbar glands very 
early. The large size, rate of growth, solidity, dilated veins, opacity, and 
bossy surface sometimes with cysts, make the diagnosis usually easy. These 
growths generally occur in the first few years of life, but according to Butlin 
are common from the time of birth to the tenth year. 

Non-sarcomatous cystic disease may be met with ; the cysts usually 
arise as dilatations of the seminal tubules, and may be lined by cylindrical 
or ciliated epithelium. Immediate removal is the only treatment to be adopted 

i Brit. Med. Jour., 1884, p. 860. 

8 Teratomatous tumours of the testis are explained by Saint-Hilaire as instances of 
' foetal inclusion ; ' by Owen as instances of parthenogenesis ; and by Lebert as the 
result of ' heterotopic plastique. ' 

5 Rindfleisch and Rokitansky. 

4 R. W. Parker, Path. Soc. 'Trans., 1885. 5 Path. Soc. Trans., 1885. 



542 



Diseases of the Genito-urinary System 



in a case of malignant disease of the testis, though recurrence within a year is 
to be expected, in most cases ; in simple cystic disease the same treatment is 
required, since a diagnosis between it and sarcoma is impossible. In the 
case of dermoid cysts it is sometimes possible to dissect away the cysts without 
injury to the testis. 1 

Hydrocele. — Hydrocele is a very common affection in childhood, most 
frequently met with in quite early infancy ; it may result from simple irrita- 
tion, intertrigo, &c., especially when, as is often the case in that condition, 
the testes hang loose and pendulous. It is sometimes caused by injury, the 
testis being squeezed by the child while keeping its legs crossed, or by other 
accidents. Hydrocele may be congenital where the whole processus vaginalis 
remains patent ; in this case if the communication with the peritoneal cavity 
remains free, the fluid will flow in and out according to the position of the 
child. We must say this condition is not often found : either the opening is 
a small one and readily occluded by flexion, or this form of hydrocele is rarer 
than is commonly supposed. 

Infantile hydrocele, so called, is the condition where the tunica vaginalis 
and funicular process are distended with fluid, the processus being closed at 
the internal ring ; this is a common condition. Again the funicular part of 
the processus may remain open, but be shut off from the tunica vaginalis ; 




ig. 107. 



Congenital funi- Encysted hydro- Common vaginal 
cular form cele of the cord hydrocele 

-Diagram of the commoner forms of Hydrocele of the Vaginal Process. 
Altered from Lane. 



in such case a congenital funicular hydrocele would result. Or, finally, there 
may be an encysted hydrocele of the cord from distention of an unclosed 
segment of the funicular process. 

Diffused hydrocele of the cord, described as a sort of oedema of the cellular 
tissue of the cord, is believed to be very rare ; we met with a case while opera- 
ting for hydrocele of the cord, in which there was some gelatinous material lying 
in the tissue of the cord, superficial to the funicular process, which contained 
ordinary clear fluid. Hydrocele (encysted) of the testis, and epididymis from 
dilatation of the hydatid of Morgagni, or organ of Giraldes, may possibly 
occur ; it is, however, usually a disease of later life, and no case appears 
to have been recorded in childhood. (Gosselin.) 

Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of hydrocele in children is made by first 
examining the cord, and excluding the presence of a hernia by finding that 
there is no increased thickness of the cord above ; next, a soft, elastic, fluc- 
tuating feeling points to hydrocele ; and, finally, translucency, or the possibility 



1 Verneuil, Brit. Med. Jour., April 4, t< 



Hydrocele 543 

of reduction gradually by pressure or elevation, without any gurgling sensa- 
tion, clears up the case. It is, however, certain that hernias in infants, when 
the bowel contains only flatus and is much distended, are sometimes quite 
translucent. Mr. Howse was, we believe, the first to point out this fact, 
and we have many times seen the same thing. 

When there is an encysted hydrocele of the cord it is usually possible 
to bring it down by traction, and feel the absence of thickening above, or the 
tense swelling may be made to slip backwards and forwards between the 
fingers, quite unlike a hernia. The mode of reduction serves to distinguish 
a funicular hernia from a funicular hydrocele, and the absence of distinct im- 
pulse gives corroborative evidence. Hydrocele of a retained testis sometimes 
occurs and may give rise to difficulty ; the possibility of isolating it, its irre- 
ducibility, and its consistence, together with the absence of the testis from 
the scrotum, will give the clue. 

Combinations of two forms of hydrocele, e.g. of vaginal hydrocele with 
encysted hydrocele of the cord, may be met with, and a funicular process 
may contain fluid at one time and a hernia at another. Or there may be 
infantile hernia with infantile hydrocele. A collection of fluid may form 
in the sac of a congenital hernia, but is usually masked by the presence of 
bowel. 

Engel and Camper are quoted by Jacobson as having found the processus 
vaginalis closed at birth in about 10 per cent, only of children examined ; this 
supports the view that some abnormal condition of secretion in the abdo- 
minal cavity must exist to produce a congenital hydrocele, for it is certainly 
not as common as these figures would imply. 

Hydrocele in girls. — The funicular process in girls (canal of Nuck) is 
occasionally the seat of hydrocele ; the diagnostic points and treatment are 
practically those of hydrocele of the cord in boys. 

Treatment. — Many cases of hydrocele get well without treatment ; those 
due to local irritation subside on removal of the cause. The congenital form 
may disappear by spontaneous closure of the funicular process ; other cases 
subside under the use of evaporating lotions, lead lotion, or mild counter- 
irritation such as painting with tincture of iodine. The congenital and funi- 
cular varieties are usually cured by a truss, and it is seldom that hydroceles 
give much trouble. When, however, these plans fail, the methods of treat- 
ment we prefer are : (1) injection with solution of pure carbolic acid in glyce- 
rine (1 part in 3) without emptying the sac of its fluid, so that the injection 
is still further diluted ; (2) simple antiseptic incision : the sac is laid open and 
drained for four or five days without any stitching of the edges of the sac to 
the skin, as in the so-called ' schnitt-operation. 5 Tapping, subcutaneous 
puncture, letting the fluid escape into the loose scrotal tissue, setons, injection 
with iodine or spirit, &c, all have their advocates, and are no doubt often 
successful ; but the plans mentioned are in our opinion the safest, 1 surest, 
and quickest, though relapses occasionally occur, whatever method is adopted. 
We have seen a hydrocele develop some time after an operation for the 
radical cure of hernia in an infant in whom the bowel was strangulated. 

(Edema of the scrotum is often met with as a result of intertrigo in 

1 Poland has recorded a case of fatal peritonitis after tapping a congenital hydrocele 
of the cord. — Lancet, December 1884. 



544 Diseases of the Geni to -urinary System 

children, and should be distinguished from hydrocele, anasarca, erysipelas 
and extravasation of urine — also from the ' inflammatory ' or ' malignant 
cedema,' so called. 

Varicocele has been met with in childhood by Bryant, Pearce Gould, 
and Landouzy, but we have never seen a case earlier than about the tenth 
year, though we have seen a boy of thirteen with a large varicocele which 
was said to have existed for five years. 

Ovarian Tumours in children are nearly always sarcomata, teratomata^ 
or dermoid cysts ; 1 they may appear at any age : thus Chiene 2 has operated 
successfully at three months, and Roemer 3 of Berlin at twenty months. The 
only treatment is abdominal section in the ordinary way. In the case of 
large tumours it may be impossible to make an accurate diagnosis between 
ovarian and renal or other congenital tumours until the abdomen is opened. 
Precocious puberty has in some instances been found associated with ovarian 
tumours. We have seen considerable development of the external genitals, 
with growth of hair and discharge of blood from the vagina, in a child 
three years old, who was the subject of a tumour which apparently involved 
the liver and the right kidney. Tuberculous pyosalpinx has once been met 
with by Chaffey, and once by Quarry Silcock. 4 

1 Evers, St. Louis Courier of Medici?ie, August 1884, has met with a case of sarcoma 
in a girl of two and a half years. 

2 Edinburgh Med. Jour. , June 1884. 

5 Jahrbuch f. Kinderheilk., Bd. xxi. , H. 4. Eight out of eleven cases collected by 
Roemer recovered. 

4 Path. Soc. Trans., 1885. See also Tumours of the Ovary, &c, by Doran. 



545 



CHAPTER XXVII 

DISEASES OF THE BONES 

Diseases of the Bones. — A full description of the subject of inflammation 
in bone would be out of place in the present work, but a few of the more 
important points may be summarised thus : — ■ 

The process of inflammation as occurring in bone differs from that in the 
soft parts only in that the inflamed tissue is more rigid and unyielding ; hence, 
on the one hand, the progress of inflammation may be slower, and on the other, 
as tension is greater, its effects may be more destructive. 

As elsewhere, inflammation in bone leads to rarefaction, i.e. absorption of 
healthy tissue (rarefying ostitis), and this may go on slowly, and without any 
sufficient outpouring of material to develop pus or any obvious external 
signs of the changes going on. The bone slowly becomes thinner and 
weaker, and its tissue may entirely disappear ; such a change we see in 
the caries sicca, or non-suppurative caries, of the vertebrae or of the articular 
ends of the long bones. It is in some cases accompanied by a deposit of 
new periosteal bone while rarefaction is going on in the interior ; such a 
condition occurs in some instances of chronic osteomyelitis of the shaft of 
the femur after excision in hip disease. In these cases fractures may occur 
almost spontaneously, or at least from very slight violence. 

Again, in other instances the inflammatory material may be in sufficient 
quantity, and so incapable of becoming organised that pus is formed, and this 
may infiltrate the adjacent bone, and so give rise to further extension of the 
process, without the formation of any definite abscess ; such a condition we 
see in some of the cases of chronic osteomyelitis of the long bones, epiphy- 
sitis, certain forms of necrosis of the jaw, &c. Under these circumstances 
necrosis usually results, or if there is more abundant pus formation an 
abscess in bone is found. 

Where, in consequence perhaps (Cornil and Ranvier) ot primary fatty 
degeneration of bone corpuscles, the bone tissue slowly dies, the dying part, 
acting as an irritant, gives rise to inflammation around, and the bone is slowly 
disintegrated, with more or less abundant formation of pus ; such a process 
is seen in ordinary caries of a rib or of the pelvis, or the articular end of a 
bone. Where small islets of bone are marked out and, as it were, cut off from 
the rest by the surrounding inflammation, minute sequestra become de- 
tached (caries necrotica), while, if larger masses are so separated by a line 
of demarcation, common necrosis results. The last-named may, of course, 
be an acute or chronic process, a slow diminution in blood supply causing 
gradual starvation, or an immediate strangulation causing rapid gangrene 
of the part (acute necrosis). 

So-called 'condensing ostitis ' or ' sclerosis' is in its results an hypertrophy, 

N N 



546 Diseases of the Bones 

making the bone denser and stronger ; the new material has sufficient vitality 
to stand, and sufficient blood supply to support it as well as the original tissue ; 
such a process we see in chronic periostitis, the results of which may be com- 
pared with the sclerosed bone of repaired rickets. 

Should, however, this deposit of new bone go on beyond a certain point, 
the blood channels become themselves so narrowed that the surrounding 
bone is starved, and so necrosis may result. 

It should be noticed that while some of these processes of destruction and 
growth and repair are constantly seen going on side by side, as where chronic 
osteomyelitis causes central necrosis and at the same time the periosteum 
forms a new peripheral layer of bone, in others we do not see any repair so 
long as the disease is spreading : thus, in caries of a flat bone or an articular 
surface, until the destructive process ceases, no new bone is, as a rule, laid 
down. 

Inflammation in bone may occur primarily either as a periostitis or as an 
osteomyelitis, the latter, often called osteitis, attacking the endosteum and 
marrow in the medullary cavity or in the cancellous tissue. Compact bone 
can hardly be supposed ever to be the seat of a primary lesion, though con- 
stantly involved by direct extension along the Haversian canals from either 
periosteum or medulla, it being remembered that a thin layer of medullary 
tissue lies in each Haversian canal. Inflammation beginning in the epiphysial 
line may be considered as an osteomyelitis. 

Periostitis. — Acute periostitis, phlegmonous periostitis, or ' acute necrosis,' 
is a disease essentially of childhood and youth, rare in infancy, 1 and, so far as 
we are aware, not occurring in adult life. The disease is seen in two distinct 
forms, corresponding to the anatomical structure of the periosteum ; in the one 
there is an acute inflammation, with pouring out of the inflammatory products 
between the surface of the bone and the deep fibrous layer of the periosteum 
(true, deep, sub-periosteal abscess) ; in the other the exudation takes place 
superficially to the deep fibrous layer, in the looser cellular zone which con- 
nects the periosteum with the surrounding cellular tissue (parosteal abscess). 
The difference in texture of these two layers is of the utmost importance, and 
is marked by striking differences in the course and results of the inflamma- 
tion. While the sub-periosteal effusion, whether serous or purulent, lifts up the 
periosteum from the bone, presses upon and detaches the vessels passing to the 
Haversian canals, and thus cuts off the blood supply to the affected part, and 
further, by the extreme tension under which it is pent in, gives rise to all those 
evil results due to pressure of confined fluid, on the other hand, the supra- 
periosteal exudation lies in loose tissue, interferes comparatively little with 
the blood supply to the bone, and is not bound down, so that there is but 
little tension. 

Either form of acute periostitis may be met with as a result of injury, 
exposure to cold and wet, as a sequel of one of the exanthems, 2 or as a 

1 We have only twice seen it under two years old. Watson Cheyne mentions a case 
of Rosenbach's in which it occurred in utero, but this was considered to be an osteomye- 
litis (? epiphysitis ).—Brit. Med. Jour., March 3, 1888. 

2 Periostitis and necrosis after typhoid do not occur till the patient is well of his fever 
(Paget, Path. Soc. Trans., 1884). Macnamara, however, quotes Affleck's cases of peri- 
ostitis in the third week of typhoid. We have recently seen a case of acute periostitis of 
the fibula following exposure to cold after influenza. 



Acute Periostitis 547 

pyaemic condition. It will nearly always be found that one of these causes 
lias produced, or at least preceded, the attack ; often two or more may be 
combined. The disease is no doubt an infective one. 

The onset of acute periostitis is marked by fever with its general constitu- 
tional disturbance, rigors, pain in the affected limb, with swelling coming 
on rapidly, and usually involving the whole length of the affected bone, and 
often the adjacent joints. 1 The skin soon becomes swollen, red, and shin- 
ing, and there is extreme tenderness. The temperature commonly, in the 
sub-periosteal variety, reaches io3°-io5°, and there is much prostration. Soon 
the swelling increases, and, if proper treatment is not adopted, in a few days 
pus finds its way to the surface and is discharged, with much relief to the 
symptoms. Usually, however, fresh foci of suppuration arise, and if the 
child is neglected, in a large number of instances pyaemia occurs and the 
patient dies ; in others, after much destruction of periosteum and the forma- 
tion of many abscesses, the limb is left riddled with sinuses leading down to 
the bare dead shaft. 

Sometimes, but not commonly, the neighbouring joints suppurate by 
direct extension from periosteum to capsule, and thence to synovial mem- 
brane ; most often, however, there is merely a serous effusion, the result of 
interference with circulation, or a slight degree of inflammation. 

Suppuration of a joint by direct extension might be expected to be most 
•common in the case of the hip, where the epiphysial line lies within the 
joint, and this complication does sometimes occur ; it is not, however, common 
in our experience.' 2 

Usually the inflammation is limited by the attachment of the periosteum 
to the epiphysial line, and does not reach beyond this ; sometimes it spreads 
in along this line and loosens the shaft from its epiphysis, or sets up an 
osteomyelitis. The same endosteal lesions may, of course, result from exten- 
sion inwards along the Haversian canals, but we think it is not the rule to 
find suppuration within the medulla, either epiphysial or diaphysial, as the 
result of acute periostitis. Quite apart from osteomyelitis, the whole shaft 
may necrose, probably because not only is the blood supply from the 
numerous small vessels entering the bone throughout its length cut off, but 
also because the nutrient artery itself as well as the supply from the epi- 
physial zone is lost. 3 

Mr. Macnamara, Mr. Tubby, 4 and others believe that all these cases really 
begin as an inflammation of the epiphysial line, and that the mischief spreads 

1 Mr. Clinton Dent has pointed out that extension of suppuration to the joint is 
•commoner in supra- than in sub-periosteal abscess ; it certainly does, however, occur in 
both forms. 

2 Of twenty-three cases of acute periostitis under our care, the femur was affected alone 
in eight instances, the tibia was attacked in six cases (in two of these there was extension 
upwards to the femur), the humerus alone in two cases, the humerus and ulna in one, the 
radius in one, the ulna alone in one, the fibula in one, a rib in one, the ilium in one, and 
a metatarsal bone in one instance was inflamed. Five of these cases were supra-periosteal 
(parosteal), and in them no necrosis followed. There were five deaths, all from pyaemia, 
and all in sub-periosteal cases ; one child had non-purulent pericarditis (proved by aspira- 
tion) and recovered. 

3 Vide Dent's able paper, Med. Chir. Trans., 1881. Mr. Dent believes that the 
medulla may disintegrate without being inflamed at all. Vide also Makins and Abbott, 
St. Thomas s Hospital Reports, 1889. 4 Brit. Med. Jour., May 9, 1891. 

N N 2 



548 



Diseases of the Bones 



downwards and upwards, both beneath the periosteum and in the medulla. 
That such a condition does occur their specimens prove, and we readily admit 
from our own experience, but that it is by any means the universal condition 
we cannot agree. 

If left to itself, then, and the patient survives, acute periostitis results in 
necrosis of a part or the whole of the shaft of the long bone attacked ; sub- 
sequently new bone is thrown out by the surviving periosteum and surround- 
ing tissues, and the sequestra are enclosed in the sheath of this new bone, in 
which are cloacae leading down to the dead part. 1 

Probably because the disease is a somewhat 
uncommon one, it is often mistaken, when it does 
occur, for erysipelas or rheumatism ; most of the 
cases of necrosis resulting from it are said to 
have followed one or other of these diseases. 
From erysipelas it is distinguished by the much 
greater pain in periostitis, by the absence of 
any defined line of redness, by the limitation 
of the disease and its evident relation to the 
shaft of a long bone, and, as soon as an incision 
is made, by the exposure of the bone shaft. 

There is, of course, no real resemblance to 
rheumatism of joints, inasmuch as the joints are 
only involved in very minor degree, so that this 
is a less excusable mistake. The disease most 
closely resembling it, especi lly the supra -peri- 
osteal form, is diffuse cellulitis ; this, however,, 
is usually more superficial and more widespread, 
not ceasing at the joints. 2 

There is but one treatment of acute periostitis 
at all worthy of consideration, and that is free 
incisions down to the bone through the peri- 
osteum, as soon as the disease is diagnosed : 
each incision should be about one inch to two 
inches in length, and made in the long axis of the 
bone, care being taken, where practicable, to 
make the incisions not all on one side of the 
limb, though, of course, important vessels &c. 
must be avoided. Several shorter incisions are 
better than one the whole length of the limb, as 
Mr. Holmes has pointed out. 

Bleeding is usually very free, and it may be 
necessary to plug the wounds for a few hours, to arrest it ; the plugs 
should then be removed, drainage tubes inserted, and the wounds dressed 
1 Dr. Macewen, in a recent paper in the Annals of Surgery, expresses disbelief in the 
existence of any bone-forming power in the periosteum, and believes that all new bone is 
formed from bone itself. His views are, however, not at present accepted. 

- In one case which we saw with Mr. Coates, of Manchester, the mischief spread from 
tibia to knee, and beyond this upwards to the lower end of the femur— but this is very 
exceptional ; there was no suppuration in the femur. We have had another very similar 
case, vide p. 547, note. 




Fig. 108. -Acute Periostitis of the 
Femur, showing stripping off of 
periosteum and separation of the 
epiphysial junction. The lower 
part of the shaft has been re- 
moved post mortem. 



Acute Periostitis 549 

every day or two, or oftener if there is much discharge. Should no pus be 
found at the time of incision, provided that it is certain that the bone has 
been laid bare, it may be taken as a proof that the disease is in its early 
stage, and the prospect is therefore better. In all cases, however, serum 
and flakes of lymph will be found, even if there is no pus, and there will 
usually be free suppuration in a short time. Too free exploration of the 
bone with the finger or probe, and too frequent or forcible syringing, are to 
be avoided, as tending to separate any still adhering periosteum, or to pre- 
vent adhesion after separation has occurred. The limb should be kept 
slightly raised, and stimulants, opium, and abundant nourishment given 
to the child. Should the fever not subside in a few hours, it is probable 
that some abscess has not been relieved, and a director should be passed 
round the bone, or a fresh incision made at any painful spot. In the 
tibia, for instance, where incisions can hardly be made at the back, pus 
may be lying beneath the periosteum at the back of the bone, bound down 
by muscular attachments. In spite of the authority by which it is supported 
(Billroth), we cannot regard applications of nitrate of silver or iodine, or any- 
thing except free incision, as good treatment. 

Since such extensive necrosis and so much suppuration with liability to 
pyaemia usually follow in these cases, it has been proposed to resect the 
affected bone at the time of incision, and this has been done by various 
surgeons. Since the periosteum is preserved, a new bone is developed, and, 
it is said, without shortening in cases where a second bone exists, as in the leg 
and forearm. 1 We cannot say we see any great advantage in this method, 
and it is impossible in any case to be sure how much of the bare bone will 
die — usually it is only a very small portion compared with the part exposed ; 
and, though we have at a later stage removed nearly the whole of the shaft 
of some of the long bones as sequestra, it is common to see quite small 
portions of dead bone as the result of most extensive stripping off of peri- 
osteum. We think, therefore, that primary resection of the diaphysis is not 
to be recommended ~ unless it is absolutely detached at each epiphysial 
junction and bare of periosteum throughout — a very rare condition. Neigh- 
bouring joints should not be incised unless they are pretty clearly suppurat- 
ing, i.e. a slight degree of effusion does not mean suppuration. If the 
joint is full of fluid, and the skin over it is hot and its veins turgid, or if the 
swelling or fever does not subside rapidly after incision of the periosteum, 
the joint should be opened or, if in doubt, aspirated ; if pus is found, a free 
incision and the insertion of a drainage tube are required. 

It must be very rarely that immediate amputation is demanded, even if 
joints are involved ; if there is no pyaemia, a large proportion of the cases 
do well, and if pyaemia exists already amputation will not usually succeed. 
If after free incisions the symptoms do not subside, and especially if pus 

1 Much shortening has, however, followed in some cases (vide Neve, Indian Med. 
Gaz., April 1884, who records a case of one and a half inches shortening after removal of 
the upper half of the tibia ; also Holmes, Surg. Bis. of Childre?i). 

2 We believe that much harm is often done by the practice, already alluded to, of pass- 
ing in the finger, sweeping it all over the bone, and then remarking that the whole bone 
is bare ; of course it is, for the operator has just stripped off the remaining periosteal 
attachments. 



550 Diseases of the Bones 

escapes from the epiphysial line, there is probably suppurative osteo- 
myelitis ; the bone should then be exposed and trephined to give vent to the- 
matter. 

The time at which sequestra may be expected to be loose after the onset 
of the disease varies with the size of the bone and the extent of destruction ; 
if the whole shaft dies the bone will probably be loose in a month or six 
weeks ; if only a part is necrosed it will vary from the time mentioned to 
many months, or in the case of the femur sometimes, the bone, especially if 
the lower end is affected, may remain for years without being detached, and 
yet is so far devitalised that it acts as a foreign body and keeps up suppura- 
tion. This especially applies to periostitis attacking the popliteal surface 
of the femur, and holds good of chronic inflammation as well as acute. 

No absolute rule, then, can be laid down as to the time at which sequestra . 
can be removed ; the sinuses should be explored with a probe from time to 
time, and if the dead part can be felt to be movable it should be cut down 
upon and taken away. If no loose bone can be felt, but the probe passes, 
down through cloacae in the new bone to a sequestrum, the patient should 
be anaesthetised, the limb rendered bloodless, the sinuses laid open, the 
cloacae enlarged, and the sequestra examined : any that are loose should be 
taken away, and any distinctly dead but not loose bone may be cut away, 
but no doubtful bone should be disturbed — it may recover. The wounds are 
then plugged with iodoform gauze or lint, and daily dressed until they fill up 
or the sequestra become loose. It is very seldom that all the dead bone is. 
removed at one operation ; usually small fragments either come away of 
themselves or have to be removed by later operations. In cleaning out the 
cavities in which sequestra lie great care should be taken not to break into 
joints or remove more new bone than is necessary. The delay in waiting 
for the separation of sequestra is not wasted time, for the new bone is mean- 
while consolidating and the limb getting stronger. In subsequent dressings 
care must be taken to keep all the cavities well drained and syringed out, 
otherwise retention of discharges and detritus will give trouble. Unnecessary 
probing of sinuses is useless and harmful : it is useless to be constantly 
feeling bone to see whether it is loose, for the process of separation is a 
slow one ; it is harmful, because broken granulations readily absorb septic 
material, while sound ones are proof against it — moreover, it needlessly 
frightens a child. Where repair is very slow, and profuse discharge is 
wearing out the patient, it may be necessary to sacrifice doubtful bone for 
the sake of rapid healing, or even in extreme cases, chiefly where there is 
destruction of a neighbouring joint and great prostration, amputation may 
be required. 

Case. — T. B. , age 6J years, was admitted April 22, 1881. Three weeks previously 
the boy fell down some steps and hurt his forehead and his shin, but seemed to get 
quite well. Two da) r s before admission he complained of pain in the left thigh, but ran 
about as usual. On the following morning he could not get up, had pain in the knee, 
and could not move the leg ; he was delirious during the night, with profuse sweating- 
On admission he was pale, dull, and heavy-looking ; respiration 48, temperature 106 , 
pulse 156, with low, muttering delirium. He was ordered four grains of quinine and 
brandy-and-egg mixture. The left thigh was swollen to nearly double its normal size 
from the top to the knee, and intensely painful. A short time after he came in three free 
incisions were made through the periosteum down to the bone ; much sanious sero-pus 



Acute Periostitis 551 

and lymph escaped. The bone was quite bare. After the operation the temperature was 
104 , falling to 102-4°. There was great prostration. The temperature again rose to 
106 '6° at 11 p.m., when he died. 

Post-mortem. — There were recent pyaemic abscesses in the lungs, and the whole femur 
was bare from the neck to the lower epiphysis. No other disease was found. Vide fig. 108. 

Supra-periosteal abscess has the same general symptoms as the more 
serious condition, but it is much less severe, for the reasons already men- 
tioned ; the pain and fever are less, though the swelling is often as great. 
On cutting into the abscess, and passing the finger in, the bone will be found 
still covered with the dense fibrous layer, and is consequently not bare. 
Necrosis seldom follows, or if it does it is limited both in extent and depth ; 
usually only a small scale of bone comes away. If this form of periostitis is, 
however, neglected, the deeper layer may slough,. or the mischief spread 
through it, and more extensive necrosis may ensue. The diagnosis between 
the two conditions can generally be made by the less severity of the symptoms 
in the superficial variety. 

The immediate and later treatment is the same as that of the sub-peri- 
osteal form, i.e. free incisions at first, and subsequent removal of sequestra, 
should any necrosis occur. 

Case. — Supra-periosteal Abscess of Thigh. — Mary Ann D., age 13 years 2 months ; 
admitted December 24, 1882. Three weeks before admission she had pain about the 
lower part of the leg and walked lame ; the symptoms increased latterly, and the left 
thigh was noticed to be swollen and shining ; she had been getting thin and pale for two 
or three months previously ; no injury. On admission a large fluctuating swelling occu- 
pied the anterior and upper half of the left thigh, large veins ramified over the surface, 
there was a blush of redness over it, and some tenderness and pain ; an incision was made 
into the swelling, and a large quantity of pus escaped, which was in close contact with 
the bone, though the latter was doubtfully bare ; considerable bleeding took place into the 
abscess cavity, which stopped after a free counter-opening and more perfect drainage were 
employed ; she then steadily improved, and was discharged well on August 4. This 
case did not come under our care at first, and it was only at the second examination that 
we had an opportunity of exploring the bone ; at this time it was certainly not bare, a 
thin layer (deeper layer of periosteum) covering the bone. The constitutional disturbance, 
as usuallv occurs in the superficial periosteal abscess, was much less than in the sub- 
periosteal form, and no necrosis followed. 

A careful watch should be kept for the onset of pyaemia in all cases of 
acute periostitis ; it appears sometimes exceedingly rapidly. We have just 
mentioned a case of acute periostitis of the femur, which died with infarcts 
in the lungs and ecchymoses on the pleurae after an illness of altogether only 
two days, and another child died in the same way six days after an injury 
giving rise to periostitis of the fifth metatarsal bone. 

In some instances the periostitis is multiple at the first : these cases are 
no doubt pyaemic, and sometimes occur after a primary joint lesion ; thus we 
have seen acute suppuration in the ankle followed shortly by an abscess in 
the wrist, and a few days later by periostitis of the humerus and ulna, and by 
pneumonia. After death no other lesions than these were found. In another 
case, of an infant six months old, periostitis of the tibia followed a suppurating 
naevus of the scalp : the bone necrosed and gave way, a fracture resulting ; 
the child died of pyaemia, sinking, as they so often do, quite suddenly. 



552 Diseases of the Bones 

We have seen a case of pyaemic necrosis of the radius in which the lesion 
was close above the lower epiphysial line, but there was no shortening of the 
bone four or five years after. The patient was under the care of our friend, 
Dr. Sellers, of Rochdale. 

The disease very rarely attacks any bones except the long bones of the 
limbs ; the tibia, femur, humerus, and ulna we have seen most commonly 
affected ] — sometimes the whole shaft, in other instances only a part, being 
laid bare. Occasionally the short and flat bones are attacked {vide T. Jones, 
' Diseases of Bones,' p. 90). 

Case. — Necrosis of Rib {traumatic). Empyema. — Wm. G. , age 10 years 7 months; 
admitted November 29, 1881. Nineteen days before admission fell with his side against 
the kerb-stone ; two days later had much pain in the side, and swelling appeared next 
day ; had rigors, and was feverish and vomited on November 28. On admission, pale ; 
some dyspnoea, but not urgent ; anxious expression ; a soft fluctuating swelling over the 
lower part of the left side of the chest, rather larger than the palm of the hand ; the heart's 
impulse was two or three inches to the right of the sternum, and the whole of the left 
side of the chest was dull, and the respiratory sounds were distant, though audible ; a 
cyrtometer tracing showed distinct bulging of the left side ; the abscess was opened the 
same day, and a small quantity of thin pus escaped ; the pleural cavity was then opened 
and a pair of dressing forceps pushed into it between the ribs ; a large quantity of slightly 
turbid yellowish fluid was evacuated, the abscess cavity was clearly quite distinct from the 
pleura, and at that time the pleuritic fluid was not purulent ; the rib was bare, but not 
fractured ; a tracheotomy tube was tied into the chest and the wound dressed antiseptically. 
All went well, and on December 3 a vulcanite tube was substituted for the silver tracheotomy 
tube. On the following day it was seen that for the first time the discharge was distinctly 
purulent, and it was considerable in amount ; the lower half of the left chest behind was 
still dull and tender to percussion, though in front the resonance was good. Up to this 
time there was still partial orthopnoea ; a week later another abscess behind and above 
the first opening appeared, and, on incising it, bare bone was felt ; the dulness, &c. , was 
clearing up. By the end of January 1882, the discharge from the chest had lessened and 
the dulness nearly disappeared. On February 2 an incision was made over the diseased 
rib, and about a third of it removed ; there was a good deal of new bone around the se- 
questrum ; the cavity left was plugged with a piece of sponge, which remained in place till 
March 6, when some of it was cut away ; several bleeding points in it then appeared, due 
to granulations which had sprouted into it and held it firmly in position ; at this time the 
left base was normal, except slight dulness. On March 13 antiseptics were discontinued ; 
on the 20th more of the sponge was cut away, and at the end of the month the rest was 
removed ; it was found that it was impeding healing and causing eversion of the edges ; 
the sponge was filled with granulation tissue, which microscopically was seen to penetrate 
the unaltered sponge framework. The wound rapidly closed, and on May 5 he was dis- 
charged almost well ; there was little if any retraction of the side, and the lung had 
apparently fully expanded. Here traumatic periostitis of the rib led to abscess externally 
and serous effusion into the pleural cavity ; after the opening was made probably the 
suppuration in the chest cavity resulted from the communication with the external 
abscess. 

Arrest of growth from destruction or synostosis of the epiphysial line may 
result ; 2 or, on the other hand, there may be overgrowth from persistent 
bypersemia of the limb, as the result of the subsequent irritation caused by 

1 A case of acute periostitis of a vertebra is mentioned by Macnamara ; and vide 
note, p. 547. 

2 J. H. Morgan has detailed a case in the Brit. Med. Jour., September 1, 1883. The 
humerus was the bone affected. Vide also Tubby, Lancet, June 6, 1891. 



C J ironic Periostitis 



553 



sequestra (fig. 109). This overgrowth may, as seen in the figure, cause dis- 
tortion from one bone of the limb outgrowing the other. 1 

Where the periosteum has extensively sloughed, or where the bone has 
been fractured, a short, weak limb may result from deficient development of 
new bone ; these fractures sometimes remain ununited, and may require 
resection and wiring. 

Case. — Non-Union of Tibia after Fracture as result of Necrosis. — Female, age 
4 years 5 months ; five months ago left hospital, after sequestrotomy, in a plaster bandage ; 
no union occurred, and limb was useless and quite 
movable, though not flail-like ; incision made down 
upon ends of bone, which were much atrophied ; 
surfaces refreshed and wired together by 1 silver 
suture, which was fixed to buttons on surface ot 
wound ; ultimately firm union occurred, and child 
could bear her weight upon the leg and walk well. 

As the accounts of different writers on 
the subject of acute bone inflammation are 
somewhat conflicting, and give rise to con- 
fusion, the accompanying tabular statement 
of how the different lesions may arise will 
perhaps be of service to those less familiar 
with bone diseases. 

Acute inflammation of bone may begin 
as : — 

A. Periostitis. 

1. Sub-periosteal. 

2. Supra-periosteal or Parosteal. 

B. Osteomyelitis. 

1. Epiphysitis, i.e. disease beginning 
in the cancellous tissue of the epi- 
physis. 

2. Inflammation of the medulla of the 
shaft (diaphysitis). 

3. Inflammation beginning in the epi- 
physial line, often called epiphysitis 
also. 

Inflammation arising in any of these ways may give rise to the other 
forms of lesion ; e.g. sub-periosteal abscess may spread along the epiphysial 
line and cause suppuration in the medulla of the shaft, or inflammation of 
the medulla may spread outwards and cause periostitis. As a rule, however, 
careful clinical observation will enable an accurate opinion to be given of 
the primary seat of the mischief. 

Chronic Periostitis. — Periostitis of less severity, and less rapid in pro- 
gress, is common enough, and the subacute cases are better classed with the 
chronic than with the acute, inasmuch as they are more like the former than 

1 Birkett has recorded a case of overgrowth of a limb after injury to the patella in a 
boy of eight years {Path. Soc. Trans., vol. xviii.) ; vide also Edmunds, Path. Soc. Trans., 
1885. A case °f B. Pollard's, described as hypertrophied callus, is perhaps of the same 
nature. 




109. 



-Shows Overgrowth of the 
Bones of the Right Leg, especially 
the Tibia, after Necrosis. (Dr. 
Massiah's case.) 



554 Diseases of the Bones 

the latter in their results. Subacute or chronic periostitis then occurs in 
children as the result of injury, as a pyaemic condition, or as the sequela of 
an exanthem — probably these two sets of cases are very closely allied, if not 
identical ; or it may be caused by syphilis or tubercle. Whichever of these 
is the cause in any individual case, suppuration often takes place except in. 
traumatic and in many of the syphilitic cases. Since the process is a slow 
one, it is usually impossible to say whether the lesion began as a sub- or 
supra-peri osteal inflammation ; perhaps the whole thickness of the membrane: 
is involved at once, or else, as the bone is usually more or less deeply impli- 
cated, the lesion is sub-periosteal in origin. 

The disease is characterised by local or diffused thickening of the bone 
in its early stages ; the swelling is tender, painful at times, but usually, unless 
in subacute cases, there is no implication of the skin. Later on, the swelling, 
if left to itself, either subsides or softens down, and abscesses form in one or 
more spots ; on incising these the bone is found bare and rough, with perhaps 
small scale -like exfoliations, or in other cases, to be described presently, 
more extensive lesions. The periosteum is sometimes four or five times its- 
usual thickness and readily peels off the bone, while in old cases there is 
often some rough spiny deposit of new bone developed around the centre of 
disease. In traumatic cases in healthy subjects the thickening may subside- 
altogether without any trouble or suppuration, or there may be sufficient new 
bone formation to cause swelling, lasting for months or years, without any 
other symptom. 

In tubercular children the swelling (' strumous periosteal node ') usually 
slowly increases, often painlessly, though by no means always so ; suppura- 
tion finally occurs and matter is discharged, or in rarer instances the inflam- 
mation subsides. Generally in the tubercular cases periostitis is either the: 
result of, or itself leads on to, osteomyelitis. (Superficial or central caries.) 

Exanthematous periostitis is found usually in wasted and feeble children,, 
either in the course of, or as a sequel to, one of the specific fevers ; there is 
often much suppuration, with but little pain or disturbance, and a limb is 
found occasionally to be little more than a flabby bag of pus, without any pain 
and without much fever. The child lies wasted and haggard, with rough scaly 
skin and offensive smell, the hair harsh and often thin, and the veins showing 
distinctly through the thin, fatless skin. The chronic pyaemic cases so 
exactly resemble these that it is probable that many of the exanthematous 
forms are really pyaemic. A fair number of such children recover, others 
gradually sink of exhaustion or some intercurrent pneumonia or diarrhoea. 
Much less severe cases are also met with, in which chronic periostitis occurs- 
affecting only a small part of a bone — it may be any bone — and either sub- 
siding or giving rise to only local necrosis ; the ribs are said to be specially 
often attacked after typhoid fever, but seldom necrose. For an excellent, 
account of these diseases vide T. Jones on ' Diseases of the Bones,' 1887, p. 40 ; 
vide also chapter on Spinal Disease, infra, p. 620, for a case of necrosis 
of a spinous process. 

Congenital syphilitic periostitis is usually multiple, and occurs rarely 
during the first year or two of life, being commonest from about the 5th to 
the 15th year. It is, as Hutchinson has pointed out, less amenable to anti- 
syphilitic treatment than the periostitis of acquired syphilis, and according. 



SypJiilitic Periostitis 



555 



to him is common in the upper limbs ; in our experience symmetrical 
periostitis of the shafts of the tibiae (' syphilitic nodes') is far the commonest 
form, and in some cases it breaks down and large ulcers form on the surface. 
The amount of thickening may be enormous, as in fig. no. 

Case. — Chronic Syphilitic Periostitis of Tibia. — Lilian G. , age 12 years ; admitted 
November 19, 1884. Mother had three miscarriages as the result of her three first preg- 
nancies. Patient when born had an eruption about the buttocks, sores round the mouth, 
and snuffles ; improved at six months old, and has gone on well since, except for a sore 
eye. Duration, three years ; following a slight kick ; no swelling till a month later ; much 
pain ever since ; has been under treatment (antisyphilitic) as an out-patient for some con- 
siderable time. On admission, healthy-looking girl ; teeth normal ; no obvious signs of 
syphilis ; the right tibia is much thickened, and apparently bowed antero-posteriorly ; no 
fluctuation ; the most tender spot is on the front of the lower part of the middle third ; 
the swelling involves nearly the whole shaft ; no fever. November 27, tibia trephined at 
its most painful spot ; periosteum much thickened ; the bone was much sclerosed and the 
medullary cavity reduced to a narrow channel ; no pus and no cavity found. The re- 
flected periosteum was stitched together 
with catgut and tube inserted. Opera- 
tion antiseptic. All went well ; she was 
discharged on December 17 ; there was 
no further pain, and when seen as an 
out-patient, February 1885, she was 
sound and well, and free from pain. 

CASE. — Syphilitic Periostitis of 
Tibia. — John Win. A. , age 6 years. No 
tubercular history; one of the children 
died of convulsions at seven weeks— it 
had snuffles ; three other children living ; 
no miscarriages. Child healthy at 
birth, weakly since three years old ; the 
leg has been tender for six months, but 
no swelling was noticed till four days 
ago ; no pain unless touched. On ad- 
mission, pale, unhealthy child ; has re- 
mains of double interstitial keratitis and 
scars at the angle of the mouth ; the 
upper milk incisors have gone, lower 
incisors small and ill-formed ; there is 
thickening, forming a prominent swelling 
in the middle of both tibiae, tender, but 
not red. The tenderness disappeared 
quickly under treatment (antisyphilitic), 
the swelling remaining much the same. 

Less frequently the upper end 
of the tibia is involved ; in such 
cases there is not rarely effusion 
into the knee, not merely passive, 
but an actual serous synovitis. Other evidence of congenital syphilis is 
in our experience almost always to be found, though it is not always obvious. 
The pain is often severe, though sometimes it is almost absent. 1 Macnamara 
believes that the syphilitic telostitis of infants {see chapter on CONGENITAL 

1 Mr. Moullin has written a good paper on this subject in the Brit. Med. Jour. , 1884,. 
p. 52. 




Fig. no. — Congenital Syphilitic Disease of both 
Tibiae (periosteal and endosteal). This figure f 
from a patient of our own, is reproduced from 
Mr. Jones's book. 



556 Diseases of the Bones 

Syphilis) is due to interference with nutrition at the epiphysial line from 
pressure of new-formed periosteal deposit around, and that the telostitis is 
not inflammatory. 1 Arrest of growth may result just as in the case of older 
children who are attacked by syphilitic epiphysitis 2 {vide Epiphysitis). 
The palate and bones of the face are not rarely destroyed by congenital 
syphilis, but this occurs in a late stage of the disease {vide fig. 80) ; the 
nasal bones are, of course, early affected, and the deformity resulting gives 
rise to one of the characteristic features of inherited syphilis. The evidence 
afforded by thickening of the bone, with tenderness on deep pressure and 
aching pain, serves to distinguish periostitis generally from any more super- 
ficial lesion, while the onset of swelling and pain simultaneously points to the 
existence of periostitis rather than osteomyelitis, though either, it must be 
remembered, may give rise to the other. New growths are to be distin- 
guished by their greater rarity, their greater prominence, with often bosses 
and a well-defined margin, and local patches of softening, as well as by their 
situation, which is usually at the ends of the bones ; hence they are more 
likely to be mistaken for osteomyelitis than for periostitis. 

The tubercular and syphilitic lesions are nearly always accompanied by 
other evidences of their respective diseases, such as tuberculous glands or 
ulcers, a family history of tubercle, or, on the other hand, syphilitic lesions 
of the eyes, teeth, &c. 3 

There is difficulty sometimes in distinguishing the lesions of bone due 
to congenital syphilis from those dependent upon tuberculosis, though we 
are not inclined to think that the mistake is so often made as Fournier 4 
would have us suppose. As already mentioned, the tibia is (as Fournier 
also points out) the bone most commonly affected by the syphilitic lesions, 
and the long bones are more often attacked than the short or flat bones, 
with, perhaps, the exception of the skull, while the diaphysis is more liable 
to be attacked by syphilis than the epiphyses. New bone formation, severe 
pain, worse at night, little tendency to suppuration, though occasionally 
abscess and necrosis do occur, and evidences of syphilis from the history or 
presence of other syphilitic lesions, are the principal features of the one 
group, while the tuberculous cases are characterised by absence of any new 
bone formation, caries occurring rather than necrosis, by early suppuration, 
freedom from pain, and the other features already pointed out. The effects 
of treatment by iodide of potassium will give confirmatory evidence. In 
any case of doubt antisyphiiitic treatment should be given a fair trial, it 
being remembered that children bear, and often require, large doses of 
iodide (gr. x.-xx.) to obtain good results. Nearly all the varieties of perios- 
titis are found chiefly in the long bones, though similar lesions may be met 
with elsewhere, as in the jaws, &c. ; vide chapter on Diseases OF THE 
MOUTH, and also the chapter on JOINTS. 

1 Brit. Med. your., July 5, 1884. 2 Hutchinson, London Hospital Reports, vol. ii. 

5 Dr. Goodhart has met with a remarkable case of bone disease in a child a year old, 
which was thought to bear relation to osteitis deformans, but was probably syphilitic ; 
there were tenderness, softening, and diffused thickening of the bone ; rickets co-existed. — 
Path. Soc. Trans. , vol. xxxiv. 

4 La Syphilis He'rMitaire Tardive. Paris, 1886. To this work we must refer for an 
elaborate account of the later lesions of hereditary syphilis. 



Acute Osteomyelitis 557 

Treatment. — In early stages of the disease, if the leg is affected the child 
should be kept in bed with a splint on. Cod-liver oil and iron should be 
given in the tuberculous, hydrarg. c. creta or iodide of potassium 111 the 
syphilitic cases : the former in children one or two years old, and a com- 
bination of the mercury and iodide in older cases being the best treatment. 
Where the arm is affected, a splint should be applied and the child allowed 
to be up, unless any subacute mischief is going on. Simple traumatic cases 
require rest and the application of soothing lotions, such as lead, with or 
without spirit or opium, or the application of belladonna diluted with glycerine 
or vaseline ; in some cases good is done by rubbing in mercurial ointment, 
or keeping it applied over the swelling. Some surgeons have faith in the 
application of iodine ; a blister is sometimes undoubtedly of use in relieving 
pain. If after a fair trial of some weeks no good result has been obtained 
by these means, and pain still persists, or, of course, earlier than this if 
suppuration occurs, an incision should be made down upon the bone through 
the periosteum ; if pus is found, or any superficial necrosis, the case is to be 
treated on ordinary principles : if after this the pain is not relieved or returns, 
it may be taken for certain that osteomyelitis exists, either as a primary or 
secondary condition, and this should specially be borne in mind in tubercular 
cases in which osteomyelitis is much more commonly the primary lesion in 
long bones. If then there is evidence of osteomyelitis, further measures 
will be required {vide pp. 560, 561). 

Occasionally in syphilitic cases no absorption takes place under mercurial 
or iodide treatment ; if the pain persists, the bone should be cut down upon 
and, if necessary, trephined or gouged, so as to open up the sclerosed bone 
and give vent to any pent-up material (cf. case, p. 555, anted). In cases of 
syphilitic necrosis of the bones of the face or palate a plastic operation may 
be required, but this should not be attempted until the destructive process 
has entirely ceased. Where the whole hard palate has been destroyed an 
obturator may be necessary. We have seen a case where, after ulceration 
of the palate and pharynx, the soft palate became adherent to the pharyngeal 
wall, and the obstruction to the nose thus produced caused so much trouble 
that excision of part of the soft palate became necessary. 

Acute Osteomyelitis. — Acute diffuse infective osteomyelitis occurs 
usually as a result of amputations or resections, but is rare in this country ; 
it is, however, more common in hot climates. The disease is, however, 
most often met with as a result of extension to the medulla of inflammation 
beginning in the epiphysis or epiphysial line, or of acute periostitis, and 
occasionally occurs as a primary condition. Mr. Macnamara, and with him 
some of the continental surgeons as already mentioned, believe that the 
affection already described as acute periostitis is really acute osteomyelitis ; 
this, however, is, we believe, not the case as a rule, since if it were so complete 
recovery in these cases without extensive necrosis would not be nearly so com- 
mon as it is. Moreover, in cases of acute periostitis dying of pyaemia 
sections of the bone have shown an entire absence of osteomyelitis in some 
instances. 

The characteristic symptoms, in a case where acute osteomyelitis follows 
amputation, are swelling and subsequent suppuration of the medulla, retraction 
of the periosteum and soft parts, so that the bone is left bare, and diffuse 



558 Diseases of the Bones 

swelling of the limb. Pyaemia usually rapidly ensues, and in many cases 
death speedily results. Amputation at the joint above has been usually 
said to be the only successful method of treatment, but the plan recently 
introduced of scraping out the entire contents of the medullary canal, as 
advocated by Mr. Keetley and others, is well worthy of adoption, and has 
proved successful in several instances ; our colleague Mr. T. Jones, among 
others, has had good results from this method. 

Where acute diffuse osteomyelitis occurs as a sequel to epiphysitis or 
periostitis, or is the primary lesion, the shaft of the affected bone should be 
freely opened with trephine or chisel, and a similar treatment adopted. The 
existence of this disease may be suspected, as already pointed out, when the 
severe constitutional symptoms and pain do not subside after freely incising 
the periosteum or opening up an epiphysial abscess ; swelling and tenderness 
at one or more points in the shaft, or diffuse bony swelling without any col- 
lection of fluid beneath the periosteum, will indicate the presence of pus in 
the medulla. For an excellent account of the whole question vide ' Diseases 
of the Bones,' by T. Jones, 1887. 

Acute Epiphysitis. — Acute circumscribed osteomyelitis or acute epiphy- 
sitis is a more common condition ; it consists in a localised inflammation 
attacking the cancellous tissue of an epiphysis or the immediate neighbour- 
hood of the epiphysial line. The disease nearly always goes on to suppura- 
tion, and on examination a cavity will be found containing pus, or in some 
cases sequestra. Acute epiphysitis may occur in children of any age : for 
instance, most cases of ' acute suppurative arthritis of infants ' are typical 
examples of this disease {vide p. 578) ; in other, though much rarer, instances 
older children are attacked. 1 

If left to itself, the pus finds its way either into the adjacent joint or along 
the epiphysial line to the surface, 2 or down the medulla of the shaft, giving 
rise to acute diffuse osteomyelitis. The disease may follow an injury or 
exposure, or one of the exanthems, or, according to Mr. Greig Smith, may 
arise from lymphatic infection of the bone marrow. It most commonly 
attacks the head of the femur, the upper end of the tibia, or the lower end 
of the femur, less often the extremities of other long bones. Some of the 
cases of acute disease of the hip, elbow, shoulder, and ankle, apart from 
1 acute suppurative arthritis of infants,' are really also of this nature. 

The lesion is marked by early fever and much pain, 3 of gnawing, tooth- 
ache-like character, followed, after a longer or shorter time, according to 
the age of the patient and the amount of resistance to the exit of the pus, 
by swelling of the bone coverings and effusion into the adjacent joint, which 
is usually kept fixed in the position of least tension. 4 

The pain is usually agonising, and the failure of health very rapid. Deep 
pressure in the earlier stages, and any touch of the limb when the pus is 

1 Vide Abstracts of Cases treated at Children's Hospital, Pendlebury, 1882. 

2 The epiphysis may in this way become detached from the shaft. 

5 In the infantile cases we have, of course, no means of knowing the kind of pain, but 
usually it is evidently severe. 

4 We have, however, seen the knee strained to its utmost degree of flexion, far beyond 
the point of least tension ; thus showing at once that the lesion could not be intra- 
articular. 



Acute EpipJiysitis 559 

approaching the surface, is exceedingly painful. Local heat is usually only 
appreciable in the later stages ; increased pulsation in the main artery of the 
limb may be found. In infantile arthritis (acute suppurative arthritis) the 
symptoms are sometimes subacute. The diagnosis is made by careful 
exclusion of joint lesions (by lack of marked effusion, &c), where the joint is 
still free, and attention to the history of the pain and swelling, so as to dis- 
tinguish the case from periostitis ; s pain on deep pressure in the absence of 
joint disease is a characteristic feature. Rheumatism and rickety pain are 
readily distinguished by the strict localisation of the suffering. In the 
infantile cases the joint is usually involved by the time the child is brought. 

Case. — Abscess i?i the Head of the Tibia. — Wm. Hy. D. , age 9 years; admitted 
December 30, 1881. Had pain in the leg for two months ; worse for five days ; no fur- 
ther history. On admission, he was pale, ill, and anxious. Temperature 103 '8° ; there 
was intense pain in the right knee, which was flexed to its fullest extent ; there was no 
effusion in the joint, and the outlines of the condyles were distinct through the tightly 
stretched skin. Over the head of the tibia and the upper third of the leg there was con- 
siderable swelling, most marked over the inner tuberosity of the tibia, where also the 
tenderness was greatest ; no fluctuation ; under chloroform an incision was made over the 
inner tuberosity, and the soft parts found infiltrated with inflammatory products, but no 
pus ; a chink indicating the line of union of epiphysis and diaphysis was seen, and on 
gouging away some bone about dr. ss. of thick sanious pus escaped ; no distinct cavity 
was found ; operation antiseptic ; a tube was put into the opening in the bone ; one hour 
after, the temperature was 102 "6°. He had pain on several evenings subsequently, and 
there was but little non-purulent discharge for two days, when several drachms of pus were 
discharged. On January 5, as the joint was swollen, it was aspirated, and a small quan- 
tity of turbid sanious fluid withdrawn and an ice-bag applied ; he had no pain afterwards, 
but on the 12th the joint began again to swell, and on the 15th was distended, and in- 
cisions were made into it, discharging fluid, at first flaky, but serous, and subsequently 
more nearly purulent. On February 9 the drainage tubes were removed and all was going 
on well, the wounds in the joint being superficial, though bone could be felt through the 
opening into the tibia ; the limb had been kept fixed. On the 23rd the joint was forcibly 
flexed and several adhesions broken down ; considerable swelling followed ; the joint 
shortly settled down again. March 3, a small sequestrum was removed from the tibia as 
well as a good deal of caseous material. April 3, the limb was put up in plaster of Paris, 
and the boy sent out on the 3th. He attended as an out-patient subsequently ; several 
small bits of bone came away, but the wound finally closed, and he has now, February 
1883, a sound limb with a fully movable knee, though a little thickening still remains. 

The treatment of acute epiphysitis consists in early and free incision 
down to the bone ; if matter is met with, this is usually sufficient, but, should 
the pus not have reached the surface, an opening must be at once made into 
the bone and the abscess emptied, any sequestra found being removed. In 
any doubtful case it is far better to explore the bone than to run the risk of 
the abscess bursting into the adjacent joint. Should the joint be already 
involved, as it almost always is in the acute epiphysitis of infants, it must be 
freely opened and drained. For a more detailed account of infantile epiphy- 
sitis, see the chapter on Diseases of the Joints, p. 568. 

Should the mischief have spread to the medulla of the shaft, the diaphysis 
should be exposed and trephined at one or more spots to give vent to the 

1 Though, of course, as pointed out by Macnamara and others, and as already described, 
epiphysitis may give rise to sub-periosteal abscess and necrosis as well as to intra-articular 
abscess. 



560 Diseases of the Bones 

pus, and the whole medullary cavity should be scraped out, washed, and 
drained ; failing this, amputation is the last resource. For some good cases 
illustrating this treatment, vide T. Jones on f Diseases of the Bones,' 1887, 
and ' Medical Chronicle,' Dec. 1886. 

A condition known as ' Growing- Fever ' is sometimes met with, usually 
in children of from seven to fifteen years, though occasionally at both earlier 
and later ages. The main features are pain in the region of the epiphysial 
lines, rapid growth and fever sometimes, with considerable constitutional 
disturbance. Usually the symptoms pass off without any bad result, but in 
rare cases osteomyelitis may be set up, and the development of exostoses 
about the epiphysial lines has also been noticed after the occurrence of 
'growing fever' {vide ' British Medical Journal,' April 14, 1888, p. 820). 

Chronic Circumscribed Osteomyelitis. — Where chronic osteomyelitis 
is localised, as, for instance, sometimes in the epiphysial extremities of the 
long bones, an abscess may result, with or without necrosis ; the symptoms 
are those of acute epiphysitis, already described, only less severe, and the 
onset of the disease is slower and more insidious. In non-tubercular cases 
there is often much sclerosis of bone around the abscess cavity, and the 
disease may go on for years without any attempt at reaching the surface. 
In other instances the extension of the inflammation to the surface is marked 
by slight and slowly increasing thickening of the periosteum, so that the 
diameter of the bone is somewhat increased, and the tissues over it may be 
slightly cedematous. The characteristic aching, gnawing pain, especially at 
night, is sometimes well marked, but in children more often there is com- 
paratively little pain, and the pus soon finds its way to the surface — both 
these facts being due, no doubt, to the less resisting nature of the softer 
bones of children. Hence the more typical features of chronic circumscribed 
abscess of bone are comparatively seldom seen in young children, but are 
most marked in young adults. Moreover, in children the distinction between 
circumscribed and diffuse osteomyelitis is also less defined; though sclerosis 
of the walls of the cavity does sometimes occur, it is less frequent in children,, 
and the inflammation is more apt to become diffuse. The attacks of pain 
may be intermittent, so that for weeks or months there is little sign of any- 
thing wrong, and then all the symptoms reappear. 

Case. — Epiphysitis of both Femora, &c. — John W. , age 6; admitted April 12, 1884. 
Always delicate ; for eighteen months past had abscesses ; twelve months ago had dropsy ; 
eight months ago had measles ; four months ago knee swelled painlessly, was poulticed 
and opened. On admission, delicate child ; abscess scars about neck, &c. Sinus over 
left upper arm leading to bare bone. Just above right knee is a sinus, and two more in 
popliteal space, another below the knee ; at lower third of leg is a large abscess ; sinuses 
also round left knee. 18th, abscesses on leg and knee opened ; 21st, sent out for a 
while. Re-admitted May 19. June 3, explored, and bare bone felt at back of right knee 
and in arm. June 11 , under chloroform. Left thigh explored through incision on outer 
side; no bare bone felt, and posterior triangular space was healthy, but bone was enlarged, 
so a circular opening was made with a gouge, and deep in the centre of the bone was found 
a cavity containing pus and pus-infiltrated bone ; on clearing out this a cavity the size of 
the top of the thumb was left with sclerosed walls. On the right side bare bone was felt 
behind and above the internal condyle ; a precisely similar operation was done and just 
the same condition found, together with several small hard sequestra. This cavity com- 
municated by a circuitous course with the sinus on the outer side ; this was only found 
out by injecting lotion. A small sequestrum was also removed from the humerus. 



Abscess in Bone 



5 6i 



Wounds syringed out with chloride of zinc and filled with iodoform. Some cellulitis, &c, 
followed, but he did fairly well up to a certain point and was discharged July 31. He was 
subsequently readmitted with the disease in the right thigh extending, and is still under 
treatment, 1892. 



Abscess in bone is not limited to childhood, but very frequently begins 
before puberty, though many of these patients do not come under treatment 
until the disease is of long standing. Though most commonly met with in 
the cancellous tissue of the extremities of the long bones, abscess may also 
occur in the shaft, and we have twice had to trephine for circumscribed 
abscess in the middle of the 
shaft (of the femur and tibia 
respectively), occurring many 
years after an attack of acute 
periostitis. 

Treatment. — As in acute 
periostitis, there is but one thing 
to be done in these cases. A 
free incision should at once be 
made down upon the bone, and, 
either with a gouge or trephine, 
a hole made into the cancellous 
issue until the abscess is reached. 
Before operating, the exact spot 
of greatest tenderness should be 
marked, and this is to be the 
centre of the incision. We have 
derived great help from this pre- 
caution in finding a small abscess 
in bone. Some surgeons prefer 
to do linear osteotomy, i.e. saw 
across the epiphysis with a fine 
saw, and thus open up the abs- 
cess ; but this plan is in no 
way better than the other. The 
bone is usually found soft, red, 
and rarefied ; often only a drop 
or two of pus will escape, and 
this may be overlooked. Even 
if the abscess is not found, relief 
is almost sure to follow, and pus 
will be discharged in a day or two ; at the same time, if no abscess is found, 
careful exploration should be made in every direction for the matter, to 
diminish the risk of its opening into the joint. Should a sequestrum be found, 
it will be of course removed, and the cavity should be well scraped out and 
drained ; should the adjacent joint be involved, it must be treated like any 
other suppurating joint. 1 

1 The subject of acute suppurative arthritis in infants (acute epiphysitis) is treated more 
specially under Diseases of the Joints. 

O O 




Fig. in — Epiphysitis of the upper end of the right 
Humerus, with softening and relaxation of the ligaments 
of the Shoulder joint. The joint cavity was not involved. 



562 Diseases of the Bones 

Chronic diffuse Osteomyelitis. — This disease is met with chiefly as a 
tubercular or as a pyaemic condition ; it may result from extension from a 
primary periostitis, or originate in the medulla, perhaps most often beginning 
in the epiphysial line. 1 

The tubercular disease in a well-marked case is a remarkable lesion ; the 
child has perhaps a history of some long-continued bone trouble coming on 
after measles or other illness, or after an injury ; external examination shows 
thickening of a large part of a long bone, with a sinus leading down to a cavity 
in the shaft. At first sight it appears that the case is one in which either the 
periostitis is the main lesion, or a small localised central inflammation has 
reached the surface and then spread along the periosteum ; but on cutting 
down upon the cavity, and clearing it out, a small sequestrum, infiltrated 
with pus, and greenish-yellow in colour, is removed. Instead, then, of 
finding the walls of this cavity formed of healthy but sclerosed bone, 
they are soft and also infiltrated with pus, showing the same greenish colour 
as the sequestrum. There is no sharp line of demarcation between this 
green bone and the surrounding shaft, but patches of rarefied pale bone are 
seen in parts. On attempting to gouge away the diseased tissue it will often 
be found to extend throughout a great part of the shaft, and perhaps several 
inches of cancellous tissue are thus removed before living bone is reached. 
When all has been removed the cavity slowly fills up, leaving a sinus or two. 
Some months after, on exploring these sinuses, a similar condition is found ; 
the purulent infiltration has again gone on spreading, and, in time, it may 
reach an adjacent joint and set up disease there. In such cases the compact 
tissue is usually healthy in appearance, though sometimes it is perforated, 
and there is generally some, but not always great, periosteal thickening. In 
other instances, where the changes have been rather more active, the diseased 
part becomes isolated and sequestra are thrown off (' chronic circumscribed 
osteomyelitis,' 'central necrosis'). Sometimes the compact tissue also dies 
('total necrosis'). Though this disease most commonly affects the long 
bones, it may, as already pointed out, attack the jaw ; here even the new 
bone may become infiltrated, and die as fast as it is formed ; it is, however 
doubtful whether this condition in the case of the jaw is tubercular {vide 
Diseases of the Alimentary Canal). 

Case. — Alveolar Abscess, Necrosis of Jaw. — Joseph P., age 6 years; admitted May 
31, 1884. Fairly healthy till four months ago, when he had toothache ; tooth extracted, 
but swelling did not subside. On admission, much swelling over right side of lower jaw. 
From socket of first lower molar, which is gone, pus and granulation tissue exude. 
June 4, alveolus cleared out ; some small pieces of bone and a rudimentary permanent 
tooth removed. Discharged June 4. Readmitted June 23, with more pain, swelling, and 
discharge ; external incision made and pus let out. June 26, swelling &c. increased ; a 
large sequestrum removed from inside the mouth, and several more through the external 
openi ; these sequestra were soft, foetid, and pus-infiltrated, and formed part of the 
horizontal and ascending rami throughout their entire thickness ; the cavity left extended 
nearly up to the joint ; some new bone had been formed and died subsequently. July 9, 
discharged much relieved. 

1 It is a matter of extreme difficulty, and sometimes impossible, to be sure whether a 
given lesion has begun as a local periostitis, spreading afterwards to the epiphysial line, 
or whether the epiphysial lesion is primary and the periostitis secondary. 



Chronic Osteomyelitis 563 

The scapula, clavicle, ribs, pelvis and sternum, and facial bones are also 
sometimes attacked, and disease of adjacent joints may occur by extension. 1 
The sequestra are generally soft, and in some cases the pus decomposes and 
they become foetid, but this is not by any means generally so in the limb 
bones. 

A similar condition is found in the epiphyses of the long bones without 
the shaft being involved ; sometimes a whole epiphysial nucleus will die 
and shell out as a sequestrum. We have met with the same condition in 
the patella, leading to destruction of the knee joint. 2 

Case. — Necrosis of the Patella. Disease of Knee Joint. — John R., age j\ years ; ad- 
mitted July 7, 1882. Ten weeks ago had a blow on the left knee, which became painful a 
week later. On July 2 it began to discharge ; his health had been failing since an attack 
of whooping cough eighteen months ago ; phthisis in family. On admission, a fluctu- 
ating swelling mapping out the left knee-joint, a little redness and venous turgidity ; a 
half-closed sinus lay over the ligt. patellae ; limb nearly straight ; no pain. July 18, sinus 
explored ; it was found to lead upwards into a cavity in the patella, from which a seques- 
trum, the size of a damson stone, was removed. The joint was incised on each side and 
a free communication found to exist between the joint and the sinus through the patella ; 
•coagulated lymph and serous fluid escaped from the joint ; operation antiseptic. August 
17, has done well, and line of incision was healed except at entry of drainage tube ; very 
little discharge ; general condition good ; no fever since operation. August 29, dis- 
charged in a back splint ; readmitted in October ; wounds healed ; passive movement 
attempted, but adhesions found to be strong and universal, not giving any hopes of a 
movable joint, so he was fixed in a back splint with plaster of Paris, and sent out Novem- 
ber 15. 

In this chronic osteomyelitis an epiphysial line acts only as an imperfect 
barrier, and, where the disease begins in it, it usually spreads both upwards 
towards the joint and downwards into the shaft. When the whole epiphysis 
is involved, the articular cartilage may be exposed on the removal of the 
infiltrated bone, and, as its nutrition is cut off from the side of the bone, it 
usually gives way, and in such cases the joint becomes involved. 3 

Case. — Osteomyelitis of Tibia. — Annie L. , age 3 years; admitted November 4, 1884. 
History good. In June 1884, fell downstairs ; in August first complained of pain in 
left leg ; it then began to swell, and has been slowly increasing ever since — rapidly during 
the last fortnight ; health failing ; has pain at night, &c. On admission, tense swelling of 
nearly the whole tibia and the soft parts over it ; skin shining, but not red ; temperature 
98 - 6 C . Three incisions were made over the front and outer side down to the bone, but no 
pus escaped. She was relieved, pain disappeared, and swelling subsided. She was dis- 
charged on November 18. Readmitted December 16, 1884. The left tibia is enlarged in 
nearly its whole length, and is very tender on palpation over its lower third. Some pro- 
minence of superficial veins just above the ankle, but no discoloration of skin and no 



1 Though the malar and upper jaw bones are often affected, we have seldom seen any 
of the bones of the vault of the skull attacked, except the temporal, and this has been a 
result of disease of the ear. The occipital we have once seen perforated by tuberculous 
disease, and in the same child the frontal bone was carious. The process is essentially 
alike in all these cases. 

2 Vide Lancet, March 1883. Since then we have seen two or three similar cases. — 
Children's Hospital Abstracts, 1882. 

5 We have, however, seen a case where complete recovery with a movable joint 
occurred, although the articular cartilage was thus exposed. 

002 



564 Diseases of the Bones 

fluctuation ; temperature normal. January 8, under spray, incision made over tibia just 
above the ankle ; periosteum found much thickened ; a small gouge was easily pushed into 
the centre of the bone, and some pus welled up ; a quantity of soft disintegrating bone, in- 
filtrated with pus, was gouged away until a fairly healthy surface was reached ; drainage 
tube inserted ; iodoform and wood-wool dressing. On January 19 tube removed ; and on 
February 2 wound almost healed, but leg not diminished in size, and presents same 
general characters as on admission. Readmitted March 30, 1885. The wound from last 
operation has not healed, and is still discharging .; swelling has spread up the tibia as far 
as knee joint ; considerable thickening. April 30, no change in condition ; temperature 
occasionally ioo° at night. Esmarch's bandage applied, and incision afterwards made, 
about 2J inches long, over lower third of tibia ; periosteum detached and a new casing of 
bone, about \ in. thick, exposed ; on cutting through this with a chisel, softened bone- 
infiltrated with pus was removed, and at lower end a sequestrum about 2 in. long was 
extracted. A second incision was afterwards made over upper third of tibia, and the bone 
found in similar diseased condition ; the whole of the interior of the tibia was gouged and 
scraped out, so that a probe could be passed from the upper to the lower opening ; iodo- 
form and wood-wool dressings and back splint applied. May 26, lower wound healing ;: 
still large cavity at upper ; much discharge ; temperature hectic, q6-4 -ioo - 4° ; takes food, 
well. June 9, wounds slowly filling up ; suppurating glands at angle of jaw opened ; 
temperature 98°-io2°. June 29, wounds superficial, but still much discharge. July 20, 
lower wound almost healed ; upper filling up and contracting ; less discharge ; tempera- 
ture normal. August 11, still slight discharge from both wounds ; sent home on back 
splint. Readmitted October 24. Leg more swollen than when last in hospital ; still two 
sinuses over left tibia. The limb was finally amputated, as the joint became involved. 

The other forms of diffuse inflammation which may attack the marrow 
of bones have been already mentioned : in the rarefying form the medulla 
may be replaced by deep red or maroon-coloured granulation tissue, and 
the bone may become so soft as to readily break down under the finger ; 
such condition may, however, be recovered from. We have known a case 
where the femur was so affected, and recovery took place without any 
unusual difficulty. 

In sclerosing or condensing osteomyelitis the medullary cavity may be 
almost entirely filled up with irregular dense masses of bone, and sometimes 
isolated central sequestra exist under such circumstances. 1 

Scattered miliary tubercles may sometimes be found in the medulla of 
bone as a part of a general tuberculosis ; they are, however, only found post 
mortem, as they give rise to no symptoms during life. 

The pyaemic variety of osteomyelitis is occasionally met with. In one of the most 
characteristic cases that we have seen, a boy eleven years old, who was in the habit of 
getting wet and drying his clothes on him, complained of pain in the feet ; the right foot 
and subsequently the knee swelled, the latter suppurated and discharged profusely a fort- 
night later ; the left elbow, the right hip, and the left knee then were attacked. On 
admission, ten weeks after the onset of the illness, both hips, both knees, and the right 
ankle, the left elbow, and the left shoulder, were swollen ; there were bedsores, and he 
had a systolic murmur and some evidence of pneumonia ; the urine was albuminous ; he 
was much wasted, and his skin was dry and harsh. A month after admission the left 
elbow was incised ; at that time there was brawny thickening over the upper part of the 
same arm ; ten days later, on exploring the humerus, there was found to be extensive but 
ill-defined mischief in it ; a fortnight after, the disease had extended so that the whole 



1 A combination of these two conditions appears to have existed in a case recorded by 
Mr. Paul in the Med. Press and Circ. , 1884. 



Strumous Dactylitis 565 

"humerus was the seat of osteomyelitis ; pus discharged freely from the medulla at the 
upper part of the bone. The limb was amputated at the shoulder joint ; in doing so a 
large axillary abscess was opened. The shoulder joint was healthy, the elbow disorganised ; 
there was a sequestrum at the surgical neck of the humerus. He recovered fairly well 
from the operation, but subsequently fresh mischief occurred in the thigh, and he was 
removed by his friends, probably to die. 

Treatment of Chronic Osteomyelitis. — The treatment of the different 
forms of chronic osteomyelitis has been almost sufficiently indicated in the 
description of the disease. The general management will be that of 
tuberculous children : locally, in the early stages, rest to the part by means 
of splints, and in some cases confinement to bed, is all that can be done. If 
the disease does not subside, the bone must be freely exposed — the limb 
having been made bloodless by the elastic bandage, and the bone gouged away, 
all tissue that is dead or infiltrated with pus being removed ; if the mischief 
spreads far along the medulla, a groove must be cut in the bone, and all 
affected cancellous tissue scraped away. Should no repair take place and 
the disease spread to an adjacent joint, if the child"s health is good, an 
.attempt may yet be made to save the limb by incising the joint and draining 
it ; in some cases, however, nothing seems to arrest the disease, and ampu- 
tation is required. 

Washing out cavities with carbolic or mercurial lotion (1 in 4,000), and 
free dusting with iodoform, is perhaps the best wound treatment. In some 
cases it is a good plan to try the application of the actual cautery to the in- 
terior of the bone, in the hope = 'of arresting the tubercular process. In pyasmic 
cases incision of abscesses, removalof sequestra, and amputation are the only 
local resources, and each case has "to be judged on its own requirements. 

' Strumous Dactylitis.' — The condition sometimes called ' strumous 
dactylitis ' requires brief mention here. The disease is simply chronic tuber- 
culous osteomyelitis, or more rarely periostitis, attacking usually the first 
phalanx of one or more fingers ; sometimes the metacarpal or metatarsal 





\ 




/ 


:/ 


/ 


| I IP 






y 


- 


c 






|p 


Fig. 112. 


— Multiple ' 


Tubercular 


Dactylitis. 




Fig. 113. — Shows overgrowth of one Thumb, 
which had been long the seat of Tuber- 
cular Hisease. This is a rare condition, and 
should be compared with fig. 109 of over- 
growth of the tibia. 

b»ones are affected. The disease usually begins as a hard, painless swelling 
of that segment of the finger, though occasionally there is a good deal of pain, 
and always some tenderness. If no treatment is employed, the swelling 
increases, the soft parts become involved, abscesses 1 appear usually at the 

1 It must be understood that here as elsewhere the words ' abscess ' and ' pus ' are, in 
relation to tuberculous lesions, used in a sense implying the naked-eye appearance rather 
than the actual pathological condition. The ' pus ' is broken-down caseous tubercular 
material diluted with serum, and mixed with simple inflammatory products, and not the 
true pus of an acute abscess.— Vide Watson Cheyne's Lectures, Brit. Med. Jour., 1890, 
for a good description of the process. 



566 Diseases of the Bones 

sides of the finger, and on their bursting or being opened thick curdy pus ? 
with, perhaps, some bony detritus, escapes. On further examination, a large 
cavity is found occupying the site of the old shaft, which is either entirely 
gone or remains in part as a cheesy sequestrum, or in some cases, if the 
abscess is opened early, appears to be simply bare. Around the cavity, 
which is filled with pus and caseous matter, is a thin layer of new bone 
formed by the periosteum. As successive layers of new bone have been, 
laid down and absorbed so-called ' expansion ' of the bone has occurred. 
After removal of all the cheesy matter and sequestra the finger may 
gradually shrink and get well, but is shortened, distorted, and usually weak 
and useless. Sometimes the destruction is so great that amputation is 
required. When seen in the earlier stages, constitutional treatment, with 
fixation of the finger on a splint and gentle pressure, will sometimes succeed 







~Fig. 114. — The hands of an adult showing the effects of Tubercular Dactylitis in childhood. 

in arresting the disease. It has been recommended to excise the bone sub- 
periosteally in the early stage, and this would no doubt cut short the disease, 
but the finger is not likely to be of much use. It is better treatment to wait 
patiently, and keeping the finger quietly fixed on a splint to try the effects 
of pressure and general hygiene ; when sequestra are present they must, 
of course, be removed, and should no progress be made the cavity must be 
cleared out — but, as a rule, a more useful finger is obtained by expectant 
than by active treatment. 

Should, however, abscess form, the best plan is to freely open and 
carefully scrape out the abscess cavity, removing all caseous material. The 
cavity should then be well dusted with iodoform and boric acid or some 
iodoform emulsion injected, and the wound should be closed by sutures 
without drainage. Primary union will usually be obtained if the wound is 
kept aseptic. 



Syphilitic Dactylitis — Leontiasis Ossea 567 

Often many fingers are affected, and the disease is most commonly a 
part of ' General Surgical Tuberculosis ; ' it is most frequently met with in 
the first few years of life. The disease is probably sometimes periosteal 
rather than endosteal. 

' Syphilitic Bacty litis,' so called, is more often described than met with. 
The general appearance closely resembles that of ' strumous dactylitis,' and 
it is said that in children the disease is usually primarily an osteomyelitis, 
though the gummatous material may be deposited first either in the peri- 
osteum or soft tissues overlying it. The occurrence of ' dactylitis' in a child 
showing other signs of congenital syphilis would lead to a suspicion that the 
affection of the fingers was also specific. The results are usually very much 
the same as those of the tuberculous lesion, and the treatment is simply that 
of syphilis. 1 

' Leontiasis Ossea' is a disease in which the bones of the face, especially 
the upper and lower jaws and the malar bones, undergo hypertrophy. The 
disease begins in early life and may go on indefinitely. In a case we saw 
which had been under the care of Dr. Brown, of Bacup, and Mr. T. Jones, the 
disease began at 9 years old, and the patient when we saw him was 28. 

1 Vide Eschle in Lange?ibeck's Archiv, xxxvi. , 1887 ; or an abstract in Med. Chron., 
February 1888. 



568 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

DISEASES OF THE JOINTS 

Diseases of the Joints. — There is no essential difference between the 
joint diseases of children and those of adults, but certain forms of disease 
are found most typically, or even almost entirely, in childhood. The con- 
ditions of growth as regards the relations of epiphyses to the adjacent joints 
and to the shaft of the bone are, however, most important factors in deter- 
mining the occurrence of disease and the kind of lesion met with, and, 
further, the liability of children to the various exanthemata is of much 
importance in regard to joint affections. Ordinary acute synovitis from 
injury or cold is in no way peculiar to, nor even specially common in, 
children, and need not be discussed here ; while hip disease, acute sup- 
purative arthritis of infants, scarlatinal synovitis, and even the common 
tubercular pulpy disease, are instances of the modifying effects of the con- 
ditions of childhood upon forms of lesion which are also to be met with in 
adults. 

In early life the lesions of joints are more complex than in adults, for the 
reason already alluded to, that not only may disease begin in the joint 
structures proper, but it may often reach the articulation by extension from 
the neighbouring epiphysis or epiphysial line. It is generally said that bone 
lesions are limited by the epiphysial zone and do not extend to the bone 
below ; this, as already shown, is only partially true, and, besides this, disease 
spreads frequently from a starting point in the epiphysial line, or from the 
periosteum of the diaphysis, and extends to the capsule, and so to the synovial 
membrane. There is, however, often effusion into a joint adjacent to bone 
disease without actual continuity of disease. (For further details see chapter 
on Bone Diseases.) 

Joint disease, then, in children may arise as a simple acute serous 
synovitis, which may subside, suppurate, or become chronic. 1 There may be 
a primary acute or chronic tubercular synovitis. Pyaemia or certain of the 
exanthems, notably scarlatina and typhoid, may give rise to an acute, some- 
times suppurative, synovitis, while measles and whooping cough, as well as 
scarlet fever and typhoid, may result in a development of tubercular lesions. 
Finally, the joint disease may arise by extension from the shaft, epiphysial 
line, or from the epiphysis itself, and possibly from the ligaments and 
tendon sheaths in exceptional cases. The specific fevers are not so often, 
as is sometimes stated, the direct cause of joint disease : it is in most cases 

1 Chronic simple serous synovitis is, however, rare in children. 



Pathology of Joint Diseases 569 

rather that the depressing effect of the fevers makes the child more liable to 
the onset of disease — thus of 125 cases of joint disease, taken consecutively 
from our records, including cases of disease of the hip, knee, shoulder, 
-elbow, ankle and tarsus, and wrist joints, in only six cases was the joint 
affection a sequela of measles, in four of scarlet fever, in two of typhoid, and 
in three of whooping cough. Only those cases were reckoned in which there 
was no interval of health between the exanthem and the joint trouble. 

In certain joints bone lesions are far most commonly primary, as in the 
liip, and perhaps the shoulder ; in other joints, as in the knee, ankle, and 
wrist, bone disease when present is much more often secondary to a primary 
synovial inflammation, while in other joints again, as in the elbow, either 
starting point is common. 

The hip is by far the most frequently diseased joint in children, and the 
knee comes next. Of 698 cases of joint disease under our care in the out- 
patient department of the Children's Hospital in three years, 369 were cases 
of hip disease, 160 of knee disease, and all the other joints together amounted 
to 169. Disease of the spine is excluded from this calculation. 

For any detailed account of the pathology and symptoms of each diseased 
joint we must refer to the special works of Barwell, Macnamara, Howard 
Marsh, Hueter, and others ; space will only allow of selection of the hip and 
knee as types of the two forms of joint disease found in childhood, with a 
brief reference to the other most commonly affected articulations. Hip 
disease stands so much by itself that its consideration will be most con- 
veniently postponed till after that of the other joints. 

Chronic disease of the knee-joint may be taken as the type of joint 
disease beginning in synovial membrane— pulpy disease, chronic synovitis, 
tubercular synovitis, white swelling, and various other titles, all implying the 
same condition. 

Here we may say at once that we believe all the cases of chronic dis- 
ease of joints marked by great thickening of synovial membrane, with little 
or no tendency to accumulation of fluid, but with great tendency to the 
formation of small multiple abscesses in the thickness of the gelatinous 
tissue, are truly tubercular in the most strict sense. In some cases a consider- 
-able amount of fluid, either serous with caseous material and flakes of lymph, 
or more puriform, is found in the joint ; this is, however, not a common con- 
dition in children. In many instances evidence of tubercle elsewhere and a 
tubercular family history will be found ; x in many, death ultimately results 
from tuberculosis of other organs. The anatomical characters of tubercle 
are constantly to be found in the pulpy tissue, and, though not so constantly 
or readily, yet in a large number of instances, tubercle bacilli have been de- 
tected. 

The usual history of a case of chronic tubercular synovitis of the knee- 
joint in a child is as follows. There is perhaps a history of phthisis or joint 
disease in the family ; the child has been healthy, till at the age of, say, four 
years it was attacked by measles or some other exanthem. It was slow in 

1 In 192 histories of chronic joint disease under our care (the spine being included), in 
43 ( + 6 doubtful cases) there was a tubercular family history ; in 61 ( + i doubtful case) the 
disease had followed an injury. In 19 cases out of 111 patients there was more than one 
lesion, i.e. there was evidence of tubercle elsewhere. 



570 Diseases of the Joints 

recovery, and was never quite strong afterwards ; a year later, perhaps, it 
received some injury to the knee. Shortly after the knee swelled, but gave 
rise to no great pain or inconvenience, except a slight limping and feeling 
of tiredness ; the swelling slowly increased and became somewhat more pain- 
ful, especially at night, with night startings. 1 At this time the child comes 
under observation. The knee is found markedly larger in circumference 
than its fellow, its natural hollows are obliterated, it may or may not be 
slightly hotter than the other, there is slight flexion, and it cannot be fully 
extended, 2 any attempt to do so causing pain. There is considerable pain 
on pressure over the inner tuberosity of the tibia, and to a less degree over 
the outer side. The swelling is soft, elastic, and pseudo-fluctuating : it may 
exactly follow the normal outlines of the joint, or be more globular, the 
upper synovial pouch not being thickened ; occasionally the swelling is 
almost limited to the upper sac. There is pretty free mobility of the joint 
at this stage, unless an attack of acute inflammation has supervened upon 
the chronic mischief. Such a case left to itself will later on become more 
flexed and less mobile, abscesses will form and burst at the sides or front of 
the joint, the swelling will increase, and the veins over the surface may 
become dilated and full ; the tibia will become subluxated backwards and 
outwards, and at the same time rotated outwards upon the femur ; the limb 
will become wasted and powerless. In many cases pain increases and the 
child's health suffers, until at last the pain and discharge, or the invasion of 
other organs by tubercle, wears him out. 

The severity of the symptoms varies greatly : in some instances pain and 
stiffness exist throughout ; in others free, though not usually full, mobility 
and absence of pain may be found during nearly the whole course of the 
disease. 

If a knee joint, such as the one described, is laid open, the synovial 
membrane is found everywhere converted into a thick, pinkish-grey or 
yellowish, semi-transparent material, soft and gelatinous to the touch, but in 
parts tough and elastic ; in parts the grey tissue is streaked with opaque 
fibrous bands, and here and there caseous foci will be found softening and 
breaking down — these are especially common towards the posterior part of 
each femoral condyle. These breaking-down foci do not usually commu- 
nicate with the cavity of the joint itself, which is largely filled up by the thick 
granulation masses, and contains little or no fluid. 

The pulpy tissue grows over the cartilages at first in delicate vascular 
tendrils or films, but afterwards these become thicker and form fleshy pads 
replacing the cartilage at the edge and lying in pits dug out of its surface, so 
that finally only a small central island of healthy cartilage remains in the 
middle of each condyle and each articular surface of the tibia. 

Often granulation sprouts spread beneath the cartilage and, detaching 
it from the bone, give rise to superficial rarefying ostitis, ' subchondral caries,* 
which causes necrosis and separation of the articular cartilages. 

1 We cannot too strongly insist upon the fact that tubercular disease of joints may go 
on for months, steadily getting worse, without any pain at all, and with but little impair- 
ment of mobility ; this so frequently occurs, and yet is so frequently a cause of mistakes, 
that we desire to emphasise the statement here. 

2 This is usually, but not always, true. 



Disease of the Knee 571 

The semilunar cartilages are as it were embedded in the gelatinous tissue, 
and in some far advanced cases can hardly be distinguished ; usually, how- 
ever, they are readily made out. The crucial ligaments are coated over 
with the pulpy tissue, and are often very vascular, with bright streaks of vessels 
running along them ; on scraping away this tissue the ligaments are found to 
have nearly their natural appearance, except that here and there a little 
sprout has forced its way between their fasciculi. The degree of destruction, 
however, of course varies in different cases, and in some the tubercular focus 
is, at first, strictly limited to one patch of synovial membrane. 

The cavity of the joint is often subdivided into loculi by adhesions be- 
tween masses of the granulation tissue. On gouging out one of the granula- 
tion pits in the cartilage, it will be found in some cases not to extend through, 
in others the bone beneath is reached and locally eroded. 

The capsule and lateral ligaments, &c, are much thickened, and this 
gives rise to the deceptive sensation of bony thickening so often met with in 
the knee. However much it may appear that there is enlargement of the bones 
in a case of chronic disease of the knee, it is almost perfectly safe to say that 
the thickening is in the soft parts alone, and that there is no new bone 
formation. It is only very rarely that a layer of periosteal new bone is 
found beyond the limits of the capsule. 1 

There is usually more or less atrophy of the bone adjacent to a chronically 
diseased joint. The cancellous tissue is more open in texture, and the com- 
pact tissue thinner than in health. Wasting of the bones, in fact, takes place, 
just as of the muscles and other tissues around the joint. These changes 
are general. When local patches of marked rarefaction are present, that 
part must be considered the seat of actual disease. 

In the great majority, however, of cases of disease of the knee the bone is 
healthy, unless the disease is far advanced ; when this is so, islets of soft 
rarefying bone and carious patches will be found, the latter in their early 
stages being recognised by the yellow and red mottling in the neighbourhood 
of the articular cartilage, 2 with some rarefaction. In some instances, how- 
ever, sequestra of varying size are found — most commonly in the femur, less 
often in the tibia ; usually the necrosis is at the back of one or other condyle ; 
we have, however, found it in the middle of the intercondyloid notch. Where 
necrosis does occur the disease often tunnels a considerable way through the 
bone, or rather the disease has probably begun in the epiphysial line or 
epiphysis itself, and extended towards the joint. 

As Mr. Howard Marsh has pointed out, a condition of ' quiet strumous 
disease'* may exist, leading to a stiff joint without any active stage or suppu- 
ration ; we have seen such joints occasionally, and they are to be distinguished 
by having a greater amount of solid thickening than occurs in serous syno- 
vitis, but less than in the ordinary tubercular joint. 

1 The presence of new bone about a chronic tubercular joint is usually a sign of repair 
and of subsidence of the disease ; sometimes, however, it is associated with central bone 
disease (chronic osteomyelitis), never, we think, with progressive synodal disease alone. 
Mr. AVatson Cheyne, however, states that microscopically thickening of bone trabeculae 
precedes tubercular infiltration in caries of the articular ends of bones. 

- It is often very difficult to be certain of the condition of bone in very early stages of 
disease : patches of various shades of yellow and red are met with in perfectly healthy bone ; 
where there is any local rarefaction or opaque yellow deposit disease is present. 



57 2 Diseases of the Joints 

Tubercular disease of the Shoulder is rare in children; there is hardly- 
sufficient evidence to show how often the disease begins in the synovial 
membrane and how often in bone. The swelling forms a globular mass, 
most prominent in front, and stiffness of the joint is usually marked. When 
suppuration occurs the abscesses usually point behind or in front of the del- 
toid, occasionally in the posterior triangle ; no information as to the primary 
lesion can be obtained from the position of the sinuses, since extra-articular 
abscesses due to epiphysitis discharge in the same spots. Disease in the 
epiphysial line may or may not lead to destruction of the joint. In one inter- 
esting case, we removed, as a sequestrum, part of the upper end of the 
diaphysis, including the epiphysial line, and subsequently nearly the whole 
shaft of the humerus ; the inflammation had spread from the periosteum 
to the capsule, and the ligaments became so relaxed that there was a deep 
groove below the acromion, the humerus having dropped away from the 
scapula ; the joint did not suppurate, and all went on well. 

We have only two or three times found it necessary to excise the shoulder 
joint in children ; in all the other cases the disease has subsided. 1 In one 
instance, where there was much necrosis, a very useful limb resulted with 
f-inch shortening, and but little wasting, but the joint was hardly at all 
mobile. 

Case. — Disease of Shoulder Joint. Excision. — Lewis H., age 4 years; admitted 
July 19, 1882. Three years ago the left arm was seen to be stiff and painful ; abscesses 
formed about the shoulder and were opened ; no bone removed ; for last eighteen months 
had been discharging a little constantly, and lately' the child had lost flesh ; no phthisis in 
family ; other children healthy. On admission, rather pale, but fairly nourished boy ; 
general thickening all round the left shoulder ; a patch of red thinned integument, with 
pus beneath, in front of the insertion of the deltoid, and a sinus at the posterior border of 
the muscle : the pectoral fold bulged downwards and forwards ; there was pain in move- 
ment. July 26, much discharge, especially on pressure about the axilla ; very little 
mobility, even under chloroform, slight power of rotation alone remaining. August 2, 
the upper end of the humerus was excised, together with about an inch of the shaft, by a 
single straight incision at the anterior border of the deltoid ; two loose sequestra were 
found in an abscess cavity surrounding the head of the humerus ; the joint was entirely 
destroyed ; the glenoid cavity and acromion were roughened ; there was some deposit of 
new bone around the upper part of the shaft of the humerus ; the part removed was not 
entirely necrosed, but there was a large cavity in it ; terebene dressings, hand slung up 
to chest ; some rise of temperature followed. He went on well, but slowly ; at one time 
some bare white bone was seen, but this vascularised subsequently, except a small part 
removed on August 26, and two more small pieces which came away in September. 
Passive movement was begun on September 23, and on the 28th more free movement was 
made under chloroform. He had chicken-pox in October, and was discharged with sinuses 
still open on November 8. Passive movement failed subsequently to give him any great 
amount of mobility. February 1883, he is well and strong, and has good use of the arm, 
but the movement is almost entirely of the scapula ; the limb is not much wasted, and 
there is f-inch shortening. 

Disease of the Elbow joint arises either as a primary synovitis or about 
equally often as disease of bone ; in the latter case the olecranon or one 
of the condyles, most often the outer, is first attacked. 2 Swelling extends 
all round the joint, but usually appears first over the radio-humeral line 

1 Or the case has been lost sight of. 

2 Well-marked cheesy masses are often found in one or other condyle, but any exten- 
sive disease of the radius is very rare. 



Disease of the Wrist 



573 



at the back of the joint. Later the front of the joint becomes swollen : 
this is sometimes due to glandular enlargement, comparable to the swelling 
of the inguinal and iliac glands in hip disease ; in other cases the supra-con- 
dyloid gland suppurates. When the olecranon is the seat of the primary lesion 
the sinus is usually over it and leads directly, or nearly so, down upon it. 

In old neglected cases, the number of sinuses is sometimes considerable , 
and the soft parts are undermined and much destroyed by pulpy infiltration. 
The joint is kept slightly flexed, and there is usually much muscular wast- 
ing. Occasionally we think the disease begins in the olecranon bursa, which 
is so common a starting-point for mischief in older patients ; this bursa is 
sometimes chronically enlarged in children. Stiffness is an early and marked 
feature of disease of this complex joint, though the mobility of the fingers 
is good, even if there is much infiltration of the muscular attachments about 
the elbow. 

Case. — Joseph L. D., age 3 years 11 months; admitted January 27, 1882. Left 
elbow injured by a fall in April 188 1 ; had been swollen ever since. On admission, 
healthy-looking child ; the left elbow was flexed and the hand semi-pronated ; very little 
mobility ; two sinuses at the upper and back part of the joint led down to rough bone ; a 
little tenderness, but no pain ; general swelling all round the joint. February 2, the joint 
was excised ; disease primarily synovial ; cartilage diseased, especially on head of radius ; 
operation not antiseptic ; the limb was put upon an angular splint. On the 13th passive 
motion was begun. On March 1 passive movement could be carried through the full range 
in all directions, and there was a little power of active movement ; the wound was nearly 
healed ; discharged. October 3, 1882, at out-patients' ; elbow quite healed ; had almost 
perfect range of mobility in every way, and the arm was strong ; he could lift a chair with it. 

The Wrist joint is perhaps even more rarely affected with tuberculosis 
than the shoulder, but in children we have on three occasions had to excise 
the joint ; in all, the wrist joint 
itself, as well as the whole carpus, 
was disorganised, the disease hav- 
ing spread among the synovial 
sacs. In one instance the mischief 
began in the base of the second 
metacarpal bone, in the others the 
starting-point was apparently syno- 
vial. In two of the cases an ex- 
cellent result followed, the whole 
of the carpus, the bases of the 
metacarpal bones, and the lower 
ends of the radius and ulna having 
been removed by a single median 
dorsal incision between the tendons 
of the extensor communis digi- 
torum and the extensor secundi 
internodii pollicis ; no tendon was 
cut through, though necessarily 
those attached to the parts re- 
moved were stripped back. In both of these cases a nearly perfectly mobile 
joint was obtained with almost full mobility at the metacarpophalangeal 
articulation— the point of greatest difficulty in disease of the wrist. 



I 




^V 



J 



TIP 



Fig. 



-Tubercular Disease of the Wrist. 



574 



Diseases of the Joints 



Case. — Disease of Wrist Joint.— Annie E. , age 6 years. Admitted March 25, 1885. 
History unimportant. No cause known for swelling of left wrist, which began six months 
before admission ; much pain ; poulticed for three months. On admission, a strumous- 
looking child ; on palmar aspect of left radius at lower end is a sinus ; much thickening 
round wrist ; fluctuation in front of carpus ; movements of fingers perfect ; those at carpal 
joints absent. April 16, whole carpus except pisiform bone removed by longitudinal inci- 
sion on dorsum ; some bones broken down and unrecognisable ; cavity scraped, and drained 
through palmar sinus. May i, wound has progressed fairly and is now healing. 15th, 
sent home ; tube still in wound ; arm on splint ; result very good ; a strong and mobile 
hand (fig. 115). 

One patient remains sound ; the other, after keeping well for a long 
time, developed tubercular teno-synovitis, which will probably cause some loss 
of movement. In the third case the carpus alone was taken away, with an 
even better result. The operation mentioned is practically Langenbeck's ; it 
is much simpler than Lister's method, and we think much superior to it : the 
bones which are not already softened and destroyed shell out easily from the 
pulpy material in which they are embedded. The position of the sinuses in 
carpal disease is inconstant, but the general appearance is shown in fig. 115. 
Chronic Tubercular disease of the Ankle is much less frequent than 
that of the knee ; but in four years we had 43 cases of disease of the ankle 

or tarsus admitted as in-patients at the 
Children's Hospital. Of these, excluding 
disease of the os calcis, most of the cases 
were probably primarily synovial, but in 
the tarsus extension of disease around 
the small bones so interferes with their 
nutrition, and so readily spreads to their 
interior, that in late cases there is always 
more or less destruction of bone. We 
can only recollect one instance of 
primary necrosis of the astragalus 
setting up disease of the ankle joint; 
but it is much more common to find 
mischief spreading from the lower 
epiphysis of the tibia to the joint. 

Except the posterior calcaneo-astra- 
galoid joint, the anterior calcaneo-astra- 
galoid and its continuation, the astragalo- 
scaphoid joints are, perhaps, the most 
commonly affected of th.e tarsal articu- 
lations ; but the common sac or any of 
the tarsal joints may be attacked by 
disease, which then spreads from one joint to another. Calcaneo-astragaloid 
disease is very frequently the result of necrosis of the os calcis, and it not 
rarely extends upwards to the ankle joint itself. 

Disease of the ankle joint is marked by swelling at the back of the joint, 
obliterating the hollows on each side of the tendo Achillis, and then spread- 
ing round and below each malleolus, especially the inner (fig. 116) ; the front 
of the joint also becomes swollen, and acquires a peculiar flatness or square- 
ness of outline as a result of loss of salience of the extensor tendons. The 




-Tubercular Disease of the 
Ankle Joint. 



Acute Synovitis 575 

foot is usually kept with the toes pointed, at other times it is dorsi-flexed ; 
the leg rapidly wastes ; later, sinuses appear, usually above or behind the 
malleoli. It must be remembered that disease often extends from the joint 
into the sheaths of the neighbouring tendons, and in such cases suppuration 
or swelling may track up the leg or along the foot for a considerable distance ; 
the general conditions do not differ from those met with in the knee. In 
disease of the tarsal joints the foot is swollen in the position corresponding 
to the affected articulation, and movement of the particular joints may be 
painful. 1 When the common sac is involved the foot assumes a bulbous 
look, with the toes pointed and pressed closely against one another. The 
disease often spreads beneath the extensor or along the plantar tendons, 
and gives rise to widespread mischief in the soft parts, so that a sinus by no 
means always indicates disease of the nearest joint. The arch of the foot 
is seldom lost, in consequence of the resistance of the rigid structures in the 
sole of the foot. With two exceptions, the disease is usually primarily 
synovial : one is that already mentioned, of caries or necrosis of the os calcis, 
which often extends to the calcaneo-astragaloid joints ; and the other, that it 
is common for disease of the first metatarsal bone to extend backwards to 
the joint between it and the internal cuneiform. 

It is sometimes difficult to be sure whether an abscess on the dorsum of 
the foot — the most common situation for pointing in tarsal disease — is con- 
nected with the joints or is merely peri-articular : in some cases pain on 
pressure or movement of individual joints, localised by pressing back 
towards the ankle individual toes in turn, in others swelling over some 
particular joint or in the sole, will indicate a deep lesion ; but often explora- 
tion is required before a certain conclusion can be arrived at. 

Acute simple serous or suppurative Synovitis is uncommon in child- 
hood except as the result of injury or rheumatism ; any joint may be affected, 
and the symptoms in no way differ from those seen in adults. There is 
swelling, which, being due to distention of the synovial sac, follows its out- 
lines ; heat and pain, with immobility and some constitutional disturbance, are 
also present. The inflammation commonly subsides readily by treatment 
with splints and ice or evaporating lotions, and leaves no ill results. In 
some cases, however, usually in unhealthy children, or where there has been 
a wound of the joint, suppuration occurs ; all the symptoms are then greatly 
aggravated, any movement is exceedingly painful, and the temperature may 
rise to io3°-io4°. 

The acuteness and severity of the symptoms vary much in these cases : 
in one instance the hip joint suppurated, nearly the whole thigh was occu- 
pied by a large abscess, the head of the femur was partially destroyed, and 
the mischief extended to the knee joint, which also suppurated ; both joints 
were incised, but the child sank and died. Pus was found in the knee, with 
superficial erosion of cartilages ; the synovial membrane was thick and hyper- 
aemic, the thigh was infiltrated with sero-purulent fluid, and the acetabulum 
was granulation-lined. 

In other cases there is a thick 'mucous' discharge and the cartilages are 

1 This is not, however, a very trustworthy symptom in tubercular disease, though of 
much value in acute inflammation. 



576 Diseases of the Joints 

not destroyed : in these cases incision generally results in recovery with a 
mobile joint. This form of disease most commonly occurs in children under 
two years of age, and is met with in the knee — less often in the shoulder, 
elbow, hip, or foot. Somewhat like the above-mentioned catarrhal inflam- 
mation of joints, described by Volkmann, appears to be a form of painless 
purulent exudation, not connected with pyaemia or epiphysitis, which has 
been described by Atkin, of Sheffield. 1 

Pyaemic joint disease is not rare in children, and may run an acute or 
chronic course. The articular lesions may be the only evidence of pyaemia, 
or they may occur in conjunction with bone or visceral abscesses. Both 
forms of disease are exceedingly dangerous, though neither by any means 
always fatal. We have had a case under our care of a boy aged 3^ years, 
who had pneumonia after measles, and subsequently suppuration in one 
shoulder and one knee, with effusion into one of his ankles, and double em- 
pyema, together with abscesses in other parts ; this child recovered perfectly,, 
with a mobile knee, though with a somewhat stiff shoulder. Effusion into a 
joint in pyaemia is not always purulent, nor does the presence of pus in a 
joint or elsewhere always demand incision and drainage ; the effusion may 
be absorbed, or, after aspiration, may not recur, and on examination the 
articular cartilage may be found quite smooth and healthy, or only somewhat 
yellow and opaque. In other cases, however, the cartilage becomes necrotic, 
or it may rapidly melt away entirely or in patches, leaving the articular 
lamina of bone smooth and bare ; this is perhaps the most typical condition 
of acute pyaemia. 

Exanthematous Synovitis, or that form of joint disease which occurs 
in connection with the specific fevers, has already been alluded to in discuss- 
ing those affections, and scarlatinal synovitis or rheumatism has been fully 
described (p. 246). A second variety occurs generally, but not always, later 
in the course of the fever, and usually in connection with severe throat lesions. 
The affected joint suppurates and becomes disorganised ; this is clearly a 
pyaemic condition. 2 It must also be remembered that the exanthems are 
sometimes a determining cause of the appearance of a tubercular lesion. 
Typhoid synovitis is rare, and is said to be almost limited to the hip joint ; 
we have, however, seen the knee attacked, and, as Gibney has pointed out, 
the spine may be affected. Synovitis, probably pyaemic, occurs as a rare 
complication of diphtheria. An exanthem such as scarlet fever or measles,, 
occurring in the course of a joint disease, usually gives rise to suppuration 
and rapid destruction of the joint ; in some cases, however, it appears that, 
as in the case of erysipelas, the more active inflammation does good by 
causing melting away or absorption of the chronic imflammatory material. 

Chronic rheumatic Arthritis occurs occasionally in children, both in its 
polyarticular (nodular) and monarticular forms, as pointed out by Charcot 
and others, and we have once or twice seen it. It must be remembered 
that such cases may become tuberculous, and we have seen a joint, which 

1 Brit. Med. Jour., July 11, 1885. 

2 Chains of micrococci have been found in the pus from such joints by Heubner and 
Bahrdt, and a similar joint affection has been caused by inoculation with cultivations from 
tonsillar exudation by Loffler ; vide Berlin. Klin. Woch., November 3, 1884, or abstract 
by Dr. Ashby in Med. Chron., December 1884. 



SypJi Hi tic Syn ovitis 



577 



had the characters of chronic rheumatic arthritis well marked, which subse- 
quently became an ordinary pulpy knee, just as occurs in adults ; the two 
conditions may be seen co-existing in one joint. 

Case. — Chronic Rheumatic Arthritis. — Mary JaneE., age 13 years ; admitted Febru- 
ary 25, 1884. No rheumatic or gouty history. Duration since August, 1882, when she 
had pains in her shoulders, which subsided in a week. Nine months ago had pain in left 
hip, which lasted four months ; then the left knee was attacked ; both were swollen ; 
no other joint affected ; pains worse in wet weather ; not increased in bed ; sweats a good 
deal at night ; urine often contains red lithates. On admission, well nourished ; slight 
eczema of face ; heart sounds normal ; right knee a little swollen ; no crackling or thicken- 
ing ; no osteophytes. Left knee, thickened synovial fringes ; well-marked crackling ; edges 
of both condyles distinctly lipped. Her condition improved with blistering and iodide of 
potassium, and she was sent out on March 15. 

Syphilitic Synovitis is occasionally met with ; we have, however, only 
seen a few cases of pure synovitis in the first few months of life in congeni- 




Fig. 117.— Congenital Syphilitic Synovitis of both wrists. 



tally syphilitic children ; the most common condition is syphilitic telostitis. 
A subacute recurrent syphilitic synovitis occurring in older children is met 
with ; it sometimes rapidly subsides under antisyphilitic treatment, as in the 

P P 



578 Diseases of the Joints 

following instance ; but this is not always the case — it is sometimes rather 
intractable. 

Case. — Syphilitic Sy?iovitis of Knee. — Jane B., age 8 years 3 months ; admitted Octo- 
ber 31, 1882. A history of syphilis in the brothers and sisters, of whom there have been 
twelve, seven being dead ; patient herself had always been hearty ; two years ago the left 
knee swelled without known cause, but recovered completely in fourteen days ; the eyes 
had been bad since May 1882 ; the right eye was first affected, and the left was only 
attacked three weeks ago ; has not had much photophobia ; the left knee began to swell 
on October 29 ; she had a good deal of pain in it. On admission, the left knee was much 
distended with fluid, and was slightly hotter than the right ; she had well-marked inter- 
stitial keratitis, which was, however, subsiding ; facial aspect and teeth also characteristic ; 
no other signs marked. Under hyd. c. cret. and pot. iod. , together with a back splint for 
the knee, all the swelling rapidly subsided, the eyes improved, and she was discharged, 
nearly well, on November 21. 

Clutton has noticed the occurrence of symmetrical synovitis of the knee 
in congenital syphilis, and Gutterbock ] other cases of asymmetrical effusion ; 
we have seen the same thing associated with periostitis of both tibiae. Car- 
rington and Lane record a case of suppurative synovitis of the hip, knee, 
shoulder, and both elbows in a child with congenital syphilis ; there was 
rickets also present, but no epiphysitis. 2 

The best treatment of these cases is the administration of iodide of 
potassium internally with hydrarg. c. creta, while mercury ointment should 
be rubbed into the part affected ; if there is much pain, blisters will sometimes 
give relief. Gonorrhceal rheumatism is sometimes met with in children 
in association with vaginitis or ophthalmia neonatorum, as pointed out by 
Clement Lucas and others. We have seen an infant a few weeks old in 
which a stiff flexed wrist remained as the result of what was described as 
' erysipelas of the hand.' The swelling of the hand was noticed on the 
evening of the day the child was born, and it had also purulent ophthalmia. 

Acute suppurative Arthritis of infants, first described by T. Smith of 
St. Bartholomew's, 3 is a remarkably well-defined affection of fairly frequent 
occurrence. It is limited usually to children under a year old, though we 
have occasionally seen it in older children, the eldest being nearly two years of 
age. Pathologically the disease is an acute epiphysitis leading to rapid de- 
struction 4 of the ossifying centre of the bone it attacks, with perforation into 
and disorganisation of the adjacent joint. A large number of the infants so 
attacked die of pyaemia. The hip is the joint most frequently affected, the 
knee standing next. Of ten cases of our own the hip was involved in eight 
instances — six times alone ; in one other case the knee was involved by direct 
extension, and in another the wrist, shoulder, and hip were implicated. In 
two instances the disease followed whooping cough, in one it came on after an 
injury, and in one some evidence of the onset of the disease in utero was 
obtained. We have adopted Mr. Smith's view that the lesion is primarily 

1 Rev. Mens, des Mai. de T Enfance. 

2 Brit. Med. Jour. , January 1885. Path. Soc. Trans. , 1885. 

3 Morrant Baker, John Poland, and one of the present writers have also contributed to 
the literature of the subject. 

4 In one instance the epiphysial nucleus of the head of the femur was found lying loose 
in an abscess cavity, or rather in a sinus leading from the joint. 



Acute Suppurative Arthritis 579 

epiphysial ; and it is so certainly in the majority of cases, but in one or two 
we have not found evidence of anything more than synovial disease, 1 and, on 
the other hand, we have met with several cases in which the abscess pointed 
outside the joint, the cavity of which was not involved. In one instance the 
lesions were secondary to a cervical abscess, and there was epiphysitis of one 
shoulder and a peri-articular abscess of the other, so that sometimes at least 
the presence of an abscess about a joint in an infant is not due to an epiphy- 
sitis, and sometimes it is not an arthritis. Battle believes it to be usually an 
affection of the end of the diaphysis 2 primarily. It is often difficult to make 
out the connection between the abscess and the joint, but with care it may 
be found in most cases. The severity of the disease varies considerably ; in 
some instances the mischief goes on for two or three months, in others it is 
fatal in a few days. The characteristic features are the age of the child ; 
the existence of great swelling round the affected joint, often involving nearly 
the whole limb, and not uncommonly 'flying about' — i.e. one limb becomes 
swollen and then subsides, then the swelling appears in one of the other 
limbs, and finally the disease becomes localised in one joint only, leaving the 
parts first attacked, uninjured. 3 In acute cases there is much fever, but there 
may be little rise of temperature in the more chronic ones. 

The symptoms and course of the disease point to thrombosis, extending 
from the vascular cancellous tissue, or to embolism, but we have not verified 
this condition post mortem. The size of the abscesses is sometimes remark- 
able ; in one case the whole thigh, from the hip to the knee, was a bag of 
pus, both joints being involved. 

These children are generally much prostrated and often very ansemic, 
worn out by pain and rapid outpouring of pus. 

Treatment consists in early and free incision into the abscess, opening 
the joint if it is swollen, and keeping it well drained. Stimulants and abun- 
dant nourishment must be given. It is not necessary to put the limb in a splint 
in infants, but it is a good plan to tie it up in a pillow so as to keep it steady ; 
there is little or no fear of a stiff joint. Probably half the acute cases die. 
If recovery takes place, the limb is usually shorter and weaker than the 
other, but there may be a practically perfect recovery, and there is generally 
good mobility. We have once or twice seen older children with weak limbs 
clearly the result of this disease in infancy. Arrest of growth is less likely 
to occur where the hip is involved than the knee. The two following are 
fairly typical cases. 

Case. — ' Acute Suppurative Arthritis ' of Hip. — Alfred W. , age 9 months ; admitted 
May 3, 1884. History good ; never very strong ; no known cause ; swelling about hip 
one month ago. On admission, pale, but not thin ; abscess round right hip ; grating 
felt in joint. Incision, head of bone gone. 5th, takes food well ; much discharge ; 
temperature subnormal. Did moderately, but on 15th still looked pale and ill. Sent 
home on 24th with wound superficial. Subsequently fresh suppuration occurred, but 
after a hard struggle the limb became sound and well, with good mobility and little 
shortening. 



1 These would perhaps rather correspond to Volkmann's ' catarrhal synovitis.' 

2 Brit. Med. Jour., May 9. 1891. 

5 This curious feature of the disease perhaps indicates its relation to pyaemia. 

P P 2 



580 Diseases of the Joints 

Case. — 'Acute Suppurative Arthritis' of Knee. — Mary H., age 9 months; ad- 
mitted March 21, 1885. Family history good ; child first noticed to be feverish and 
restless nine days ago ; the knee then swelled rapidly, and was very tender ; the swelling 
is now less than it was a few days ago. On admission, a well-nourished child ; right knee 
swollen, hot, tense, and shining ; fluctuation felt readily ; girth 10 in. , as compared with 
7^ in. on the left side ; temperature 97 . Joint freely incised on outer side, and a quantity of 
pus escaped. 23rd, swelling gone down ; a fair amount of discharge ; takes food well, and 
sleeps well ; temperature 101 . April 1, pus tracking upwards and inwards ; a larger tube 
inserted. 13th, swelling less ; doing well. May 2, all swelling gone ; tube removed, 
nth, wound healed ; all well. 

Acute Tubercular Synovitis is not a very common affection ; it does, 
however, occur, and rapidly goes on to suppuration in quite young children. 
The most typical instance we have seen was in a baby ten months old, in 
whom suppuration of the ankle occurred a week or two after a scald over the 
joint. On incision a few drams of curdy pus escaped. A week later the 
child died of pneumonia and was found to have generalised tuberculosis : 
the lungs, liver, kidneys, spleen, and brain were all affected. Here, from the 
condition of the tubercular masses in the brain, it was clear that tuberculosis 
existed at the time of the injury to the skin over the ankle, and the joint 
subsequently became tuberculous. The case serves to illustrate the fact that 
in the first year or two of life suppuration occurs as a result of inflammation 
more readily than in older children. Acute tubercular disease also some- 
times follows strains or fractures in the neighbourhood of joints ; thus we 
have seen advanced pulpy disease of the elbow, in a girl of eight years, nine 
days after an injury which loosened the epiphysis of the inner condyle and 
trochlea of the humerus. The following case is also noteworthy as an illus- 
tration of the occasionally acute onset of the disease : — 

Case. — Acute Pulpy Knee. — Harry A., age 3 years 9 months ; admitted January 4, 
1885. No tubercular history ; had measles at two years of age, followed by whooping 
cough ; disease of knee first noticed fourteen days ago ; no cause known. On admission, 
stout, well-nourished boy ; right knee is much enlarged, joint hollows obliterated ; swelling 
elastic ; no distinct fluctuation ; movements very limited and painful ; right knee 10 \ in., 
left knee 9 in. ; extension applied. 17th, knee straight ; no night pain ; general condition 
good. 21st, as some fluid was thought to be present, the knee was aspirated, and two 
drams of sero-pus drawn off. 25th, temperature normal ; general health good, but there 
is still fluid in the joint. February 4, the knee was enlarged to its original size, a Thomas's 
splint was applied, and he was sent home. Readmitted April 29. He wore the splint up 
to readmission, and has been doing fairly well till lately. On admission, the swelling has 
increased to 11 in., and extends some distance up the thigh ; the veins are full, and the 
skin tense and shining ; the patella floats ; free incisions were made into the joint : a 
large quantity of turbid serum escaped from the incision on the outer side, while from 
the inner one, which was somewhat lower down, pus flowed ; operation antiseptic ; 
drainage as usual ; the wound was dressed on May 2 and 12, when there was not much 
discharge and the knee was quiet ; temperature never above 99 '4 . 26th, still a good deal 
of swelling ; some thick, cheesy pus squeezed out ; the knee did not improve much, and 
on June 29 he was taken home by his friends. July 6, readmitted, knee as on discharge. 
18th, temperature 102 ; some retention of pus on inner side of thigh above knee. 23rd, 
excision of joint; much thick pulpy material, cartilage eroded, but surface of tibia healthy, 
except a small portion at the inner margin, which was gouged away ; surface of femur 
bare and rough, and bone soft and showed several points of pus ; when gouged the bone 
was quite soft, yellow, and infiltrated with pus ; this was removed, leaving a cavity \ in. 
long and \ in. deep in the inner condyle ; the bone surface and the upper synovial cavity 
were cauterised with the thermo-cautery, dusted with iodoform, and the limb was put up 



Treatment of Acute Tubercular Synovitis 581 

in a Howse's splint ; Wood-wool dressing ; on section of the part of the femur removed 
a yellow caseous mass was found surrounded by soft bone ; there was much shock for 
some hours, which was treated by opium, warmth, and alcohol ; did fairly well, and tem- 
perature was never above ioo° till 29th, when the knee was dressed for the first time, the 
temperature having run up suddenly to 104 (?) ; wound looked well and was quite sweet ; 
pads of wood wool uniformly soaked ; temperature fell and was not above 101 after 
30th. August 3, free discharge, doing well, but splint soiled ; it was removed and replaced 
next day ; union seemed firm. 8th, tubes removed ; there was afterwards some trouble 
with the splints, which needed changing, and the wound on the 14th was no longer aseptic ; 
the tibia became displaced somewhat backwards and some fresh suppuration followed ; this 
was combated by making him lie on his face for half the day ; he slowly improved, and on 
October 16 the wounds were nearly healed, and he was sent to Convalescent Hospital. 
April 3, 1886, one sinus, the rest of the wound well shrunk ; not yet firm, but in good 
position ; fat and well. 

The treatme?it of the various joint affections can only be briefly given 
here ; it is impossible to mention all the applications and apparatus that 
have been devised. In acute 11071- suppurative joint affections of the upper 
limb, in the case of the shoulder, it is sufficient to strap the arm to the side, 
or, if the child is very young, to bind the limb with a flannel bandage across 
the chest ; lead lotion in infancy and an icebag in older children is the only 
further application required. For the elbow nothing is better than a common 
inside or outside angular splint, which must reach from the axilla to beyond 
the end of the fingers ; all short splints, leaving the wrist and fingers free, are 
obviously insufficient. For the wrist a straight palmar or dorsal splint reaching 
from the elbow to beyond the finger tips should be applied. 

For the hip a Bryant's or Thomas's splint should be put on, or, in their 
absence, a long Liston's splint does very well. For the knee and ankle the 
ordinary back splint with a foot-piece should be used, taking care that when 
the knee is the part injured the splint reaches well up to the buttock. A 
Thomas's knee splint answers excellently for all stages of knee-joint disease, 
but the child must of course be kept in bed for acute affections of the joints 
of the lower limb. 

When suppuration occurs free incisions should be made into the joint, and 
drainage tubes inserted ; where there is no previous opening, and the wounds 
are aseptic, washing out of the joint should not be employed unless flakes of 
lymph or blood clot likely to obstruct the drainage tube are present ; it is 
quite sufficient to drain the cavity properly, choosing a dependent position 
for the incisions, and avoiding the dangerous anatomical area of each joint. 
In subacute cases, with sero-purulent fluid or even pus in the joint, aspiration 
should be tried once or twice before free incisions are made ; but the joint 
must not be allowed to become distended with fluid, since this frequently 
leads to subsequent ligamentous weakness. 

In chronic 7ion-purutent effusion, and in cases where a simple synovitis 
has left thickening behind, elastic pressure by a Martin's bandage lightly 
applied, or by common bandages applied over a thick layer of absorbent 
wool, does good service. Friction is often useful, and blisters frequently 
relieve pain and promote absorption. Care must be taken not to be misled 
by the presence of adhesions .remaining after subsidence of disease into 
thinking that progressive mischief exists. A joint that has been acutely or 
subacutely inflamed, and after a week or two of treatment remains stiff, a 



582 Diseases of the Joints 

little swollen, cold, and tender on pressure over one or two spots, with intense 
pain at perhaps one spot on any movement beyo?id a certain point, though 
movement may be free up to that point, is the seat of adhesions, and requires 
breaking down of these bands under chloroform. In such cases inquiry 
should always be made to ascertain that there is no evidence of any tubercular 
taint before moving the joint. After breaking down adhesions the limb 
should be kept quiet for twenty-four hours and effusion prevented by pressure 
or cold ; and then, if all is quiet, both active and passive movement should 
be begun. While recognising the effect of adhesions in and about joints, it is 
well to remember that it is much less common to meet with cases of this 
kind among children than among adults or adolescents ; probably because 
the restless activity of childhood prevents the joint from being kept still after 
the acute and painful stage is over. 

When a joint has suppurated no premature attempts at procuring mobility 
should be made. As soon as the joint has been soundly healed for a 
week or two all apparatus should be left off, and the child allowed to try for 
itself — left, in fact, to do as it likes, in reason — it will seldom do too much. 
If after a few days no progress in mobility is being made, chloroform should 
be given and the joint carefully examined. It is generally possible to make 
out whether the adhesions are few and cordlike, or general ; in the latter 
case a permanently stiff joint will almost certainly result, in the former the 
adhesions should be at once broken down. Where a stiff joint is arranged 
for, the limb must for many months, often years, be provided with a splint to 
keep it in the desired position. Children's joints are very slow to anchylose. 

We have no great belief in inunction with Scott's ointment or oleate of 
mercury, and painting with tincture of iodine, as modes of treating chronic 
joint lesions, while pressure and friction are invaluable when acute mischief 
has subsided. 

In all cases of synovial tuberculosis in the early pre-suppurative stages 
but one form of local treatment is, we believe, of much value — absolute: 
fixation, with or without pressure. Where there is acute pain or a subacute 
attack in the course of chronic disease counter-irritants in the shape of 
blisters or the actual cautery are useful to relieve the pain, but we do not 
think they do any great good otherwise. We have tried and given up 
injections of iodine and carbolic acid into the pulpy tissue, and we cannot 
say we think Scott's dressing is of any great use, except as a means of 
pressure. For the upper extremity the plans mentioned for acute disease, 
combined with elastic compression, are all that is required ; for the elbow 
and wrist the splint may be made permanent by fixing it on with plaster of 
Paris, or substituting light iron strips in the plaster for the wooden splint, 
or a poroplastic splint may be used. ' The joints of the lower extremity must 
be considered more in detail. 

Treatment of Tuberculous Disease of the Knee Joint. — In early 
stages, where there is no dislocation and little flexion of the knee, the limb 
should be fixed upon a back splint with a foot-piece, and as long as the 

1 It is common to see figures of appliances for disease of the elbow and wrist in which 
the fingers are left free and can be moved ; this seems to us opposed to all principles of 
keeping the joints at rest, inasmuch as every movement of the fingers must necessarily 
disturb both elbow and wrist joints. 



Evasion 583 

symptoms are acute the child should be kept in bed. If there is much 
flexion and pain the limb should be straightened gently under chloroform, 
and a splint then applied with an icebag over the knee for the first twenty- 
four hours ; where there is flexion, but not much pain, an extension should 
be put on by a weight fixed with strapping below the knee, 1 or a Macintyre's 
splint may be used — we prefer the weight. As soon as the acute symptoms 
have passed off and the limb is nearly straight— it need not be quite so — a 
Thomas's knee splint with patten and crutches should be provided, and the 
child allowed to get about ; if there is much thickening, elastic pressure 
should be employed at the same time. Where the Thomas's splint cannot be 
obtained, or the friends cannot be trusted to look after the splint, or the child 
is too young to use crutches, a plaster of Paris casing should be put on, 
strengthened by the iron strips, as shown in fig. 121. As Mr. Paul of Liverpool 
has suggested, it is a good plan to cover the metal with rubber tubing. The 
child, if it is old enough, may get about with patten and crutches after the 
plaster of Paris is applied. Children under four years of age cannot usually 
be trusted to use crutches, and must be kept off their feet and taken out of 
doors in a perambulator or carriage. Cod-liver oil and iron, careful dieting, 
and fresh, above all sea air — the great medicine for tuberculous bones and 
joints — should be the general treatment where possible. As long as there 
is no suppuration a fair trial should be given to the plan described ; it is 
simple, and we know nothing better. There must be no taking off splints 
for washing or to see how the joint is getting on — one movement of a joint 
may undo weeks of rest ; leather and lace-up splints are for this reason not 
so good for hospital patients as plaster of Paris. Where the nurse can be 
trusted not to play pranks with the joint, such as allowing the child to bend 
it, or stand upon the limb, washing is a luxury that may be occasionally 
indulged in, but fixation comes first. If in spite of this treatment the joint 
gets worse, operation is necessary ; but in the case of the knee a very large 
proportion of patients will get better, and this because the disease is mainly 
synovial. 

When a joint such as the knee, in spite of efficient treatment for two or 
three months, steadily gets worse, pain and swelling increase, and the child's 
health begins to suffer, more active means must be taken, and these will 
become necessary much sooner in acute than in chronic cases. If the pulpy 
material is rapidly breaking down and suppurating, and yet the child's health 
is keeping good, success is sometimes obtained by fixing the limb on an 
interrupted splint, or better in plaster of Paris, and then opening and 
carefully draining the abscesses, taking care, if the whole joint cavity is 
suppurating, to drain at the back of the joint or at the lowest point of the 
abscess sac if the suppuration is localised. By this means a certain number 
of these children will do well and acquire sound, straight, and in some 
instances movable limbs. The plan is, however, only exceptionally appli- 
cable. If there is no suppuration, but the pulpy swelling increases, the best 
mode of treatment is Erasion. 

Erasion, or, as it is now sometimes called, arthrectomy, consists in the case of the 
knee in opening the joint freely by a semilunar incision, just as in the ordinary mode 

1 One pound of weight for each year of the child's age up to six is a good general 
rule. 



584 Diseases of the Joints 

of excising the knee ; the skin is reflected and the capsule removed on each side of 
the patella and patellar ligament, or, better, the patella is sawn across and the frag- 
ments turned upwards and downwards ; if necessary, free vertical incisions must be 
made to reach as high as the upper limit of the synovial pouches. Next, every 
particle of pulpy granulation tissue is carefully cut away with scalpel or scissors ; all 
the infiltrated capsule and the semilunar cartilages are removed, and the articular 
cartilage scraped quite clean, any granulation tissue being carefully picked out from 
pits in the cartilage, and, if necessary, any foci of disease in the bone gouged away. 
This process must be most thorough, and extreme flexion of the limb is required to 
fully expose and clean the back part of the joint ; the crucial ligaments are scraped, 
but if sound preserved, the lateral ligaments are divided. The upper synovial sac 
must be thoroughly cleaned. The most difficult part of the operation is getting away 
the posterior part of the semilunar cartilages and the synovial membrane at the back 
of the joint. After thoroughly removing all pulpy tissue it is a good plan to apply 
the actual cautery to any doubtful spots. The process is a tedious one, often lasting 
one and a half or two hours, including the subsequent putting up in a splint. As 
soon as all bleeding has been stopped the limb is fixed on an. excision splint and 
dressed in the usual method, antiseptically. Drainage should be at the back of the 
joint on each side, as after excision, the tubes being carried through openings made 
behind the joint. More recently we have used no drainage and closed the wound 
entirely. Usually healing throughout by primary union is obtained. We prefer to 
Esmarch the limb before beginning the operation. For a series of cases vide 
Med. Chron., vol. ii., 1885. We introduced the operation in its complete form in 
January, 1881, and the first case was that recorded and figured below. Mr. Greig 
Smith of Bristol had, however, he tells us, performed the same operation on an elbow 
in the previous year, but the case was not published until after our first case was 
recorded. There is, however, we believe, no doubt that Mr. Greig Smith was 
actually the first surgeon to perform erasion, though our case was the first, published 
and his was unknown to us till long afterwards. We desire to give him full credit for 
his work. 

Case. — Lizzie N. , age 13 years 9 months ; old pulpy disease ; joint erased, all syno- 
vial membrane, much of capsule, semilunar cartilages, and a largish patch of carious bone 
removed, as well as a good deal of articular cartilage scraped away ; result, a perfectly 
movable, sound, painless joint, used as freely as the other ; ligamentum patellae not 
divided. She was under observation for nearly four years after the operation, and, except 
that she was liable to occasional serous effusion into both knees as a result of overwork, 
she remained well. The knee operated on differs little from the other except for the 
presence of the scar across it. In July 1889 this patient was again seen, and the knee 
remained perfectly sound and mobile. 

Erasion, we think, is applicable to cases of fairly early disease which 
have resisted efficient treatment by splints, &c. Though in the case recorded 
we obtained a freely movable joint, we have never had such a perfect result 
since, nor do we think it wise to try for mobility, except in a few instances 
where the wound heals at once and the adhesions are few. Erasion, if it 
fails, leaves the limb still fit for excision ; where it succeeds, the limb is as 
sound as after excision, but without shortening. 

Oilier and Volkmann are opponents of excision of the knee in young 
children, and the former prefers free incisions with application of the actual 
cautery, scraping, and, if necessary, ' tunnelling ' of the bones, and adequate 
drainage, planned according to the requirements of each joint. We prefer 
•erasion, as above described, for the knee, but the general rules of treatment 



Excision 



535 



must, of course, vary with the particular joints, stability and absence of 
shortening being the cardinal points for the lower limb, mobility for the 
upper. Mere scraping through sinuses is of but little use, though if fistulas 
exist they should be well cleared out. 1 Since the case above reported was 
operated on, many other ' arthrectomies ' have been performed, and, on the 
whole, with very good results. 

Should the case have suppurated and failed to get well after incision, or 
should it be too far advanced for erasion, excision of the joint should be 
performed. Of several plans that we have tried we now employ most com- 
monly the transpatellar operation. 2 





Fig. 118. Fig. 119. 

Show the condition of Lizzie N. after operation, and the free mobility of the joint. 

A short anterior flap of skin is turned upwards by a curved incision running with 
its convexity downwards from one condyle across the apex of the patella to the other 
condyle ; the patella is then cut through with scalpel or saw, according to the degree of 
ossification present ; the lateral attachments are divided and the fragments turned upwards 
and downwards. The lateral ligaments and capsule are freely divided, the bone surfaces 
cleared, and a thin section taken from the tibia with a Butcher's or amputating saw, care 
being taken only just to open up the cancellous tissue and not to trench upon the epiphy- 
sial line. A section is then made through the condyles of the femur, exactly at right 
angles with the long axis of the limb, so that when femur and tibia are brought together 
the limb is straight. It is important to remember that in the femur the epiphysial line is 
usually said to correspond with the upper border of the articular cartilage, or with the 
level of the adductor tubercle ; it may, however, as we have found, be below this, and it 



* VxteRev. de Chir., March 1885. 

2 This operation was first employed by Volkmann, but was introduced to this country 
by Golding Bird ; it is an admirable method, and, we think, far the best that has been 
devised. 



586 Diseases of the Joints 

is not necessary in cases suitable for excision to take away so much bone as to approach 
this line. Where there is necrosis or caries deeply involving the epiphysis a thin section 
only should be removed, and the diseased part then gouged away, leaving all the sound 
bone. We have excised with a perfectly successful result, removing a sequestrum from 
the lower end of the femur so large that it reached above the epiphysial line. It is by no 
means necessary for success in excision of the knee to take away healthy bone up to the 
end of a carious or necrotic cavity. We usually make the femoral section with a Butcher's 
saw from behind forwards, but there is no special importance in the method of doing it. 
All the pulpy tissue should be cut away, and all abscess cavities carefully scraped out. 
The two halves of the patella are then stitched together with stout catgut l or wire. As 
to wiring the femur and tibia together, or pegging them with steel or ivory pegs, or 
mortising the ends of the bones, good as the plans are in adolescents and adults, in 
children they are unnecessary, as their limbs are small and light, and there is but little 
leverage ; further, the bones are so soft that wires readily cut through and give but little 
extra security ; hence, though we sometimes employ these plans, we do not consider them 
by any means essential. When all bleeding has been stopped, and the wound well pow- 
dered with iodoform 2 and dressed with wood-wool wadding, the limb is fixed on a splint. 
As to the choice of splint it is a much simpler matter in children than in older patients, 
since the limb is short and light, and displacement is much less likely to occur. We now 
generally use a simple interrupted wooden splint, and at the first or second dressing give 
chloroform and fix up the limb in plaster of Paris strengthened with iron strips. Howse's 
excision splint, padded with wood wool and fixed on with plaster of Paris or bees'-wax 
and paraffin, is a very good apparatus, but somewhat more troublesome to use. We 
sometimes mould the iron strips along the sides of the limb instead of the back and front : 
there is thus less interference with drainage should the wound not heal by primary union, 
and less difficulty in keeping the splint clean. Drainage of the excision wound, if required 
at all, should always be through openings at the back of the joint : a director or raspatory 
is thrust through from within at each side of the popliteal space, and then cut down upon 
from outside ; the whole of the excision wound is then able to be stitched up. 

As soon as the anaesthetic has passed off, opium should be freely given. 3 
As soon as the wound is healed, or in less favourable cases as soon as only 
sinuses remain open, the limb should be fixed afresh in a plaster splint or 
put upon a Thomas's splint, and the child allowed to get about with a patten 
and crutches ; but the case is by no means done with, since nearly every 
case of excision of the knee in children, unless thoroughly well looked after 
and a stiff apparatus kept constantly on for from two to four years, according 
to the child's age, will become crooked. 4 Flexion, with dislocation backwards 
and outwards, is the common deformity, but we have seen a general curve of 
the limb develop, or distortion at the epiphysial line of the tibia. This de- 
formity is the great difficulty and drawback in excision of the knee ; the 

1 A simple plan is to pass the catgut round the bone — i.e. through the quadriceps and 
the ligamentum patellae — but in young children a needle will readily penetrate the soft 
bone or cartilage. The patellar ligament at the end of the operation often seems lax and 
redundant : to avoid this some surgeons remove part of the patella ; this is, however, un- 
necessary, as the parts soon adjust themselves. 

2 We prefer a mixture of equal parts of iodoform and boric acid powder to iodoform 
alone. 

3 TTti for each year of the child's age is the usual dose, and this should be repeated in 
an hour or more if required. 

4 Occasionally, after excision of the knee, a more or less movable joint has resulted, 
but we do not look upon this as an object to be aimed at, but rather as a failure of the 
operation, inasmuch as flexion and dislocation are likely to result where no bony union is. 
obtained. 



Deformity from Disease of Knee 



587 



operation itself is not a very dangerous one : we have done some twenty-five 
cases in children without a death, though some required subsequent amputation 
—this was the end of four of our first twenty-three cases. 

The amount of shortening resulting varies much : in three cases, after an 
interval of about three years, it averaged i\ inch. Though the results after 
excision of the knee are necessarily imperfect, it must be remembered that 
they are to be compared with prolonged suffering, danger to life, and ampu- 
tation as the alternatives. 

In neglected cases of disease of the knee, even though the disease may 
have to a great extent subsided, the joint often remains flexed and subluxated 
to such a degree that the limb is nearly _^ 

or quite useless. If there is well- 
marked dislocation backwards, little 
can be hoped for in the way of re- 
duction ; all the tendons and ligaments 
become so shortened and contracted that, 
except in a recent case, little good can 
be done by extension or attempts at 
straightening — indeed, in some cases 
these attempts only make matters worse. 
Where there is flexion, but no, or only 
slight, displacement, extension by weights 
should be patiently used for some weeks ; 
if no result follows, chloroform should 
be given and an attempt made to 
straighten the limb by forcible, though 
not violent, manipulations, frequent ex- 
tension and flexion movements being 
employed to break down any adhe- 
sions in or around the joint. Should 
it be clear that muscular contracture is 
an important factor in the resistance, 
the tight hamstrings should be divided, 
but we would dissuade from any violent 
efforts, especially if there has been much 
suppuration in the popliteal space : in 
such cases there is much risk of lacera- 
tion of vessels. Should the attempt 
succeed, the limb is brought straight, fixed upon a back splint for a day or 
two, and then an immovable apparatus or Thomas's splint applied. 1 

Should it be found impossible to straighten the limb by these means, the 
choice lies between excision of the joint and osteotomy. We have employed 
both with good results, but they are applicable to somewhat different con- 
ditions. Suppose the joint allows considerable movement although it can- 
not be straightened sufficiently to be of use, osteotomy is likely to leave an 
unsteady limb ; on the other hand, an acutely flexed limb requires removal 
of a very large amount of bone in excision before the leg and thigh can be 

1 Joints will often straighten when somewhat flexed, and even when slightly subluxated, 
merely by prolonged wearing of a Thomas's splint. 




ig. 120. — Shows the result of premature use 
of the limb after excision. The operation 
had been done at another hospital, and the 
patient was subsequently admitted under 
the care of our colleague Mr. T. Jones. 
There was bony anchylosis in the position 
seen in the figure. 



[/ 



588 Diseases of the Joints 

brought into a straight line. We think, then, that osteotomy is best for cases 
of stiff joint with great flexion, excision for those where there is more 
mobility, less flexion, and more displacement. 1 

Osteotomy in such cases is not a difficult operation ; a longitudinal in- 
cision is made about three to four inches in length on the front of the thigh 
from the patella upwards, the femur is exposed, and a sufficient wedge of 
bone removed from its anterior surface to allow the limb to be brought 
straight. We prefer this plan to simple section, which may cause danger- 
ous pressure on the popliteal vessels, and be followed by gangrene. In one 
of our cases after excision we could not nearly 
straighten the limb at the time, but by keeping up 
extension after the excision the limb was gradually 
brought almost straight. The following case 
illustrates the value of osteotomy in certain cir- 
cumstances : — 



Case. — Necrosis of Tibia. Angular Flexion of Knee. 
Osteotomy. — Ralph H., age 13 years ; admitted January 12, 
1885. History good ; well till two years ago ; complained 
of pain in knee, which soon swelled ; no cause known ; 
twelve months later had some dead bone taken from the 
leg ; discharge has continued till now. On admission, 
well-nourished boy ; was sent in for amputation ; the left 
tibia is enlarged and longer than the right ; on the inner 
side are scars of former operations, and a large sinus over 
the upper end of the bone ; the leg is flexed nearly to a 
right angle ; hamstrings tense ; toes pointed ; foot cannot 
be straightened. 24th, has had 6 lbs. extension on since 
admission, but the knee is no straighter. February 12, has 
had on a Thomas's knee splint since last note, and has been 
getting up ; no improvement. 13th, under chloroform an 
attempt was made to straighten the limb forcibly: a few 
adhesions gave way, but no sensible improvement followed ; 
back splint. 20th, an incision 3 inches long was made in 
the axis of the femur above the knee, the periosteum was 
peeled back, and a large wedge of bone removed with an 
osteotome ; the limb could then be nearly straightened ; 
operation antiseptic. 24th, tube removed. March 11, limb 
put up in back splint with movable foot-piece ; wound healed 
and limb straight. 20th, fair union of shaft ; leg straight ; 
foot in good position ; gets up with the Thomas's splint. Sent 
1886, leg straight, walks without splint, sound and well ; toes 




Fig. 121. — Splint for Disease 
of the Ankle and Tarsus. 
It is made of iron, covered 

• with indiarubber tubing, 
as suggested by Mr. Paul. 
The splint is fixed to the 
limb with plaster of Paris 
bandages. 

home on 24th. January 30, 
still somewhat pointed. 



In another recent case the joint was much flexed, but mobile through a 
certain range ; on excising the joint it was found impossible to straighten 
the limb without greatly shortening it, so an osteotomy was done at the 
junction of the lower and middle thirds of the femur, and the limb was then 
brought into good position. 



1 M. Beck and B. Pollard advocate division of the crucial ligaments with subsequent 
reduction in cases of subluxation, and have recorded a few cases ; we think the applica- 
tion of the method likely to be limited, since division of these ligaments certainly does not 
allow of reduction in all cases. 



Pulpy Disease of Ankle 589 

Treatment of Pulpy Disease of the Ankle Joint. — The same general 
rules apply to the treatment of tubercular disease of the ankle as to that of 
the knee in the earlier stages of the disease, and many good results will be 
obtained by simple pressure and fixation. To carry out this plan the best 
means are to use either the apparatus shown in fig. 121, or a short metal back 
splint with a foot-piece, the child being allowed to get about with a Thomas's 
knee splint. Should suppuration occur, and the joint not recover by the means 
described, the prospect is a somewhat poor one : however, erasion and resec- 
tion of the ankle for tubercular disease are becoming more satisfactory 
operations, though the disease sometimes spreads, and amputation is required. 
A patient trial of fixation, pressure, and drainage should be as a rule given, 
even after suppuration occurs, provided the child's health is maintained and 
the disease not actively progressing ; but the prospects of such cases in disease 
of the ankle are not nearly so good as in the knee. We have had a good 
result from erasion of the ankle in the following case : — 

Case. — Peter H. , age 8 years 8 months ; admitted January 30, 1882. Ten weeks ago the 
right ankle became swollen ; no cause known ; had been treated with cold water, strapping, 
&c. ; never had much pain in it. On admission, fairly nourished but muddy-complexioned 
boy ; there was much swelling round the right ankle joint on all sides, with increased heat 
and redness on the outer side, but little or no tenderness to pressure, though movement of 
the joint was painful ; the circumference was an inch and three-quarters greater than the 
opposite side ; the position was semi-extended and rotated slightly inwards. On Febru- 
ary 9 the joint was opened by a transverse incision (Mr. Holmes's plan) across the front of 
the joint, dividing all the extensor tendons, &c. ; much pulpy synovitis existed with ' sub- 
chondral caries ; ' all the pulpy tissue, as well as the loosened cartilages, was removed as 
far as possible, and a drainage tube passed across the joint, a groove being cut in the 
upper surface of the astragalus to prevent the tube from being nipped ; the tendons were 
then stitched together with catgut and the wound closed ; no attempt was made to unite 
nerves, and the anterior tibial artery was twisted; sponge pressure was applied around the 
joint, and the operation was antiseptic ; finally the limb was fixed on a back splint with a 
foot-piece ; a little oozing followed at the first dressing ; on the following day the appear- 
ance of the foot was natural below the line of incision ; a little superficial ulceration 
occurred at the outer aspect of the front of the foot, and union of the edges was slow, but 
by March 13 the incision had healed except at the drainage-tube openings ; no pus had 
been discharged up to this date. On April 20 some sensation was perceived on the dorsum 
of the foot. There was no discharge, and on May 28 he was sent out with plaster of 
Paris over an Esmarch's splint and a sponge dressing still applied ; after this progress was 
very slow, some thickening remaining about the ankle, and occasionally a small part of 
the cicatrix would ulcerate and break down. February 1885, foot sound and well, but 
toes are somewhat pointed, and he ' throws' the foot in walking. He gets about well with 
a boot and without any support. A good deal of new bone formation about line of incision, 
but some mobility. 

We have also had some excellent results after excision of the ankle. 

Case. — Disease of Right Ankle. Necrosis of Astragalus. — Richard T., age 4 years 
5 months ; admitted September 18, 1882. Family history good. Histoiy : Well till six 
months ago, when the ankle began to swell and has gradually got worse ; no pain ; no 
injury ; can walk. On admission, fairly healthy child ; somewhat rickety ; right ankle 
swollen ; bulging on each side of extensor tendons and round each malleolus, especially 
on inner side and in front of tendo Achillis. September 30, ankle joint aspirated ; a little 
serum drawn off, and some tr. iodi injected. October 20, no improvement ; an incision 
behind the inner malleolus gave exit to two teaspoonfuls of gelatinous and almost melon 
seed-like material. October 28, wound healed ; joint refilled. November 16, tempera- 



590 



Diseases of the Joints 



ture rose; 104-2° on 18th. November 23, joint opened ; a large, loose sequestrum of the 
astragalus was found and removed ; the whole astragalus was then taken away, and the 
lower end of the tibia and fibula resected, as well as the upper surface of the os calcis and 
the inferior tibio-fibular joint. The joint was opened by a transverse incision across the 
front ; the tibial and extensor tendons were stitched together afterwards. Operation anti- 
septic ; sponge pressure, and subsequently salicylic silk. January 13, antiseptics left off; 
had been doing fairly, but slowly; still some swelling. February n, sent out in plaster of 
Paris over an iron splint round foot ; wound not healed. He finally got a good sound 
foot. 

If excision is performed the astragalus should always be removed entirely, 
and all tubercular material taken away ; there is then a fair prospect of a good 
foot, and only when this fails should amputation be done. The prospects 
after excision are much better now than they were before recent improvements 
in the management of such cases. We have had some very satisfactory 
stumps after Pirogoff's operation, and watched them for years ; and, although 
it occasionally fails, where it is successful it gives a much better stump than 
Syme's amputation. If removal of the foot is too long postponed, disease is 
apt to spread up into the tibia and along the sheaths of the tendons, and 
then amputation higher up the limb will be called for. 

Treatment of Tarsal Disease. — It has already been pointed out that, 
except in the case of the os calcis, disease of the tarsus is usually synovial 

in origin, hence it should be 
treated on the general principles 
of such lesions— absolute fixation 
of the foot, with entire rest from 
any strain — and the usual hy- 
gienic means should be employed 
in addition. The apparatus 
already referred to for disease 
of the ankle is the best means 
with which we are acquainted of 
carrying out this plan, and to it 
a patient trial should be given. 
Should, however, this treatment 
fail, two courses are open : one 
that of complete removal of the 
disease by amputation, the other 
that of removal of the diseased 
parts alone. It is impossible 
here to fully discuss the question, 
but the conclusions to which our 
experience has led us are these. If there are definite sequestra of one or more 
tarsal bones, these should be removed, and an attempt made to save the foot ; 
the fact of there being necrosis often means that there is a line of demarca- 
tion formed and recovery may follow. 1 If there is general synovial disease 
with caries, it may be worth while to freely expose the affected parts by 
turning up a dorsal flap of the soft structures and removing the diseased 

1 It cannot be stated absolutely, because, as already pointed out in the case of the leg, 
even where sequestra exist tuberculous infiltration of surrounding bone may be present. 




Fig. 122.— Shows a foot after resection of the whole 
Tarsus on the left side except the back of the os 
calcis. Annie E. Both feet are flat. 



Tarsectomy 



591 



tissues, but so long as any affected synovial membrane or carious bone 
remains recurrence is to be expected. In such cases the best plan is total 
resection of the tarsus — i.e. removal of all the tarsal bones, with or without the 
exception of the back part of the os calcis, which, if sound, may be left to 
form a support for the heel. 

The simple transverse dorsal incision turning up a dorsal flap is, we think, the best 
method ; it fully exposes the parts, the divided tendons can be stitched together afterwards, 
and the use of the foot is wonderfully little impaired. After the operation the foot may 
be at first kept merely upon a back splint with a foot-piece, but as the cavity begins to fill 
-up and the parts consolidate the iron splint (Paul's splint) with plaster of Paris forms the 
best appliance. 

By this method excellent results, far superior to those obtained by a 
PirogofFs or Syme's amputation, will be obtained (fig. 122). 

Case. — Annie E. , age 17, sprained her foot in the winter of 1883-84, and came under 
our care in the Royal Infirmary in November 1884. She was then a fairly healthy -looking 
girl, with disease of the anterior calcaneo-astragaloid and astragalo-scaphoid joints, as 
well as swelling of nearly the whole foot ; there was a sore below the inner malleolus. After 
treatment by rest and fixation part of the astragalus and scaphoid were removed in Janu- 
ary 1885. In May the disease was still progressing, and the whole of the tarsus, with the 
exception of the posterior part of the os calcis, was taken away, the bases of the metatarsal 
bones and the malleoli being also removed ; some of the tendons were stitched together, 
otherwise no attempt at adjustment of the deeper structures was made. In the spring of 
1886 the foot was as seen in fig. 122 ; she could ' spring ' upon it to a certain extent ; there 
was fair mobility and power ; and she did her housework with no other support than a 
Martin's bandage. — Vide Med. Chron., September 1886. In 1891 the foot still remained 
sound. We have had a good many similar cases. 

Should the disease recur, amputation should of course be done, but this is 
far less likely to be required than after mere gouging or scraping operations. 
Partial resection of the tarsus, except for ne- 
crosis, is rarely successful — i.e. where there is 
mischief spreading about among the tarsal 
joints it is of little use to remove merely an 
individual bone or two bones. Unless a clean 
sweep is made of the disease it will probably 
recur. The exception to this rule is the os 
calcis, but, as in this bone the disease is usually 
central, it stands by itself ; removal of the 
entire os calcis without any other bone is a 
highly successful and very valuable operation, 
and is often called for. 

CASE. — Disease of Calcaneo-astragaloid Joint. 
Caries of Os Calcis. Excision. — Norman G. , age 
2 years 4 months ; admitted June n, 1883. Family 
history : phthisical. History : measles ten months ago ; 
swelling of foot followed ; has been under treatment for 
it. On admission, sinus in sole of right foot over cal- 
caneocuboid joint, another below outer malleolus ; much thickening about os calcis, 
movement of ankle free. June 14, explored ; sinus led into os calcis, and probably to 
calcaneo-astragaloid joint ; drainage. July 7, put up in plaster of Paris with ankle splint 
and discharged ; splint had to be removed in a few days on account of swelling- ; back 




Fig. 123. — Shows the result of excision 
of the Os Calcis. There is nearly 
complete restoration of the bone. 



592 Diseases of the Joints 

splint put on ; had varicella July n. Readmitted July 24, foot worse ; discharge in- 
creased. August 1, flap turned forwards from heel, and os calcis excised ; found carious, 
with a large cavity ; operation sub-periosteal ; did well ; discharged August 25. Febru- 
ary, 1884, the foot healed and become sound and useful ; a small fresh collection of pus 
has, however, just reformed ; the os calcis has been largely reproduced, and the foot is 
fairly well shaped. May 1884, sound and well ; walks excellently. 

The treatment of tarsal disease, then, is rest and pressure first ; failing 
this — and it should have full trial —removal of sequestra if there are any ; 
if not, resection of the whole tarsus, or at least of such part of it as shall 
include all the joints communicating with the seat of disease. If disease still 
goes on, Pirogoff's or Syme's, or, of course rarely, Chopart's operation, as the 
disease may demand ; for disease of the os calcis removal of it alone is the 
better plan, and when done subperiosteally there is usually a most perfect 
reformation of bone (fig. 123). 

After total resection of the tarsus we much prefer to keep the foot in its 
natural position and allow the parts to adjust themselves, rather than artifici- 
ally produce a sort of equinus foot as proposed by Wladimiroff. 

Conner, in a paper in the American Journ. of Med. Sci. , October 1883, relates 108 
cases of resection of the tarsus in which two or more bones were removed, including two 
cases of his own in which the entire tarsus was taken away through an incision along the 
outer side of the foot. He concludes that the mortality is not much, if at all, greater 
than that of amputation at the ankle joint ; that it can be followed by ariiputation if 
necessary, and in 68 of the 108 cases the result was good. A paper by one of the present 
writers in the Medical Chronicle, 1886, may also be referred to. 

Disease of the phalanges and metatarsal bones of the toes differs in no 
way from the corresponding disease of the fingers, and requires the same 
management except that amputation may be resorted to in the foot earlier 
than in the hand, since the loss of a toe is of less consequence than that of a 
finger. 

Disease of the first metatarsal bone and of the metatarso-phalangeal 
joint of the great toe is common, and of importance, since it is liable to be 
followed by considerable lameness. Failing rest and general measures, the 
question of amputation or resection remains ; either is followed by a certain 
amount of crippling, but resection of the first metatarsal bone is so frequently 
unsuccessful that the most speedily satisfactory result is probably that of 
amputation. We usually resect the bone as a first resort, and only amputate 
failing this ; but we must confess that even when resection succeeds the toe 
is so shrunken and short as to be of little use. 

Sacro-iliac disease is not very rare in children ; it is usually, we think, 
the result of extension of chronic tubercular disease from the adjacent bone, 
most often the ilium — at any rate, necrosis is common, and we have removed 
sequestra which included the articular surface of the ilium. The disease 
usually runs a chronic course, and gives rise to comparatively little pain ; 
often attention is first called to it by the presence of an abscess over the back 
of the joint ; sometimes, however, the matter forms at the intrapelvic surface 
and may point in the groin or track down behind the rectum : under such 
circumstances there may be pain down the leg from pressure upon the sacral 
nerves. Pain is sometimes felt in walking from the weight of the body bearing 



Disease of Temporo-maxillary Joint 593 

upon the diseased joint, and pressure directly upon the joint or upon the 
iliac crests, or, again, traction upon the iliac crests, tending to draw them 
backwards, gives rise to pain. It is occasionally possible to make out 
mobility of the ilium upon the sacrum, and we have seen displacement of 
the bones as a result of disease. Caries of the spine may cause sacro-iliac 
disease from the burrowing of pus into the joint, and in most of the cases we 
have seen there has been disease of bone or joints elsewhere. 

Sacro-iliac disease is best treated by rest in bed on a firm mattress, no 
sitting up being allowed. Should an abscess form and increase in size in 
spite of treatment, it should be opened and any diseased bone removed ; as 
soon as the acute symptoms, if any are present, have passed off, the child 
should have a double Thomas's hip splint applied, the splint being fixed on 
with plaster of Paris round the limbs and above the joint : he may then be 
moved out of doors on a couch with safety. If the position of the abscess 
prevents the application of the splint in the ordinary way, the apparatus may 
be so arranged that on the affected side the splint is applied to the outer 
side instead of to the back of the limb {vide figs, in chapter on Spinal 
Disease). If the child recovers, there will probably be some arrest of growth 
of the pelvis on that side, and a lateral curvature of the spine. 

We have not seen a case of acute non-tubercular sacro-iliac disease, and 
the strength of the articulation is such that any acute traumatic mischief is 
unlikely to be met with. 

Disease of the Temporo-maxillary joint occasionally occurs in children 
as the result of scarlet fever, injury, or necrosis of the jaw or of the temporal 
or malar bones, or arises by extension from the ear, and gives rise to stiffness 
and inability to open the mouth, and later to distortion of the face from arrest 
of growth. Pain in movements of the jaw and swelling over the joint are the 
usual symptoms ; when suppuration occurs it usually points over the articu- 
lation. We have seen the joint suppurate in a case of pyaemia which was 
associated with acute suppurative arthritis in an infant. 

The treatment consists in opening the abscess, should one form, and the 
child should be fed on soft food ; unnecessary disturbance of the joint is to be 
avoided. Should the jaw become stiff, attempts should be made to overcome 
the stiffness by means of a Maunder' s screw, used several times daily after 
forcible opening of the mouth under an anaesthetic, just as in periarticular 
adhesions from suppuration in the neighbourhood of the joint. 

Case. — Spurious Ankylosis of yaw, tenth Atrophy of the Bone. — Thomas C, age 
8 years 4 months ; admitted June 21, 1882. Had ' low fever and inflammation of the 
lungs ' at two years old, and since then his jaw has been stiff, so that he lives on liquids 
and sop ; was thought to have hydrocephalus ; soon after he became ill he had otorrhcea, 
which continued until the time of admission with intervals. On admission was only able 
to open his mouth about a quarter of an inch ; nearly all his teeth were carious ; he spoke 
fairly well and seemed to be in good health ; the jaw was much atrophied, so that the 
upper teeth far overhung the lower ; the jaw was forcibly prised open under chloroform, 
and subsequently Maunder's screw was used, with the result of increasing his gape to 
more than an inch, and enabling him to masticate fairly well ; the use of the screw has 
been continued up to present date, February 1883. 

Failing this plan, one of the forms of operation for the establishment of a 
false joint should be performed ; probably the most satisfactory in permanent 

Q Q 



594 Diseases of the Joints 

results is resection of the head of the bone by an incision parallel to and 
below the zygoma, taking care to avoid injury to the facial nerve, but we 
have not met with a case requiring the operation. 1 

Disease of the Acromio- clavicular and Sterno-clavicular joints is 

occasionally met with ; it should be treated by fixation of the arm to the side. 
If suppuration occurs the joints should be freely opened and the tuberculous 
material removed. We have found sequestra in the acromio-clavicular 
joint (vide General Surgical Tuberculosis). A certain amount of 
disability in use of the limb may result. 

1 Or Mr. Spanton's plan of dividing subcutaneously the resisting structures in and 
around the joint {vide Mr. C. Heath's lectures, Brit. Med. Jour., July 9, 1887). 



595 



CHAPTER XXIX 

HIP DISEASE. 



Hip disease 1 in the ordinary sense of the term— i.e. tuberculous disease 
of the hip joint — is almost entirely an affection of childhood ; thus only 73 
patients, the subjects of this disease, were over twenty years of age out of a 
total of 619 cases collected by ourselves, and probably in most of these the 
disease had begun at an earlier age. It is somewhat more commonly met 
with in boys than girls, and is much more frequent among the poorer than in 
the well-to-do classes. Mention has already been made in general terms of 
the pathology and causation of the disease : that the hip may be taken as the 
joint in which primary tuberculosis of the bones forming the articulation is 





Fig. 124. — Diagram showing at A, a (in 
vertical shading) the parts most commonly 
affected in Hip Disease. B is the trochan- 
teric epiphysis. The lower a points to 
the 'calcar.' (Altered from Barwell.) 



Fi?. 125. —There is a large sequestrum, in the 
neck. The head, which is still cartilage- 
covered, but is almost detached, is propped 
up by a quill. Vascular perforations are 
seen in the marginal cartilage. Removed 
post mortem. 



most frequent. Indeed, our own belief, based mainly upon examination of 
some 150 cases of excision of our own, is that in true chronic morbus coxae, 
such as we ordinarily see, and also in the acute and rapidly destructive cases, 
the disease begins almost invariably in the bone. In older patients a primary 
synovitis is more frequent, but in children an acute, subacute, or chronic 
inflammation of the upper epiphysis of the femur or its neighbourhood is by 
far the most common condition. In some cases the disease begins in the 
neck of the femur, and when this is so it is generally the under surface that 
is attacked, and this is the part on which the greatest strain comes in injuries 

1 For a more detailed account of Hip Disease in Childhood than space allows here 
the reader is referred to the monograph by one of the present writers : Hip Disease in 
Childhood, by G. A. Wright (Longmans & Co., 1887). Also to a recently published work 
by Dr. R. W. Lovett of Boston, 1892. 

QQ2 



$ 9 6 



Hip Disease 



applied direct to the trochanter, and also the part least abundantly supplied" 
with vessels (figs. 124 and 125). 

In some cases the disease is primarily acetabular, but much more fre- 
quently the initial lesion is femoral, though rapid destruction of the acetabulum 
may occur secondarily. In one hundred cases of our own the acetabulum was 
necrosed or perforated in twenty-seven, but in many of these the disease was 
probably primarily femoral. The part of the epiphysis usually first in- 
volved is the immediate neighbourhood of the epiphysial line. The occur- 
rence of synovitis of the hip joint is not, of course, denied by us, but we believe 
that two entirely different classes of cases come under observation : the one is- 
a simple synovitis, usually traumatic, a lesion that occurs in the healthy and 
unhealthy alike, and is as amenable to treatment in the hip as elsewhere. 
The other class is one composed of tuberculous patients ; from some injury., 
or even slight overstrain only, of the part, the cancellous tissue of the bone 
has its normal circulation slightly interfered with ; inflammation follows, and 
inflammation in a tuberculous subject is only too prone to follow the usual 
course of a tuberculous lesion, and the special anatomical features of the hip 
joint make it especially liable to serious and progressive disease. Necrosis 
of the pelvis or femur is common in the course of this disease ; thus in our 
first hundred cases of excision there were seventeen instances in which 
sequestra were found, either in or detached from the femur, and the aceta- 
bulum contained sequestra in twenty-two cases. 



The naked-eye characters 
are the following: : — The carti 




Fig. 126. — There is disease on 
both sides of the epiphysial 
line. On the under surface of 
the neck is the rough depres- 
sion caused by pressure against 
the rim of the acetabulum. 
There was pathological dislo- 
cation. A section has been 
made through the upper end 
of the femur. 



of a typical specimen from hip disease in an advanced stage 
lage is all gone or hanging in tags or worm-eaten plates, or 
it may be merely loosened and thinned with a layer of" 
granulations underlying it (fig. 126) ; the synovial mem- 
brane is red and vascular, somewhat thickened, but rarely 
to anything like the degree already described in the case 
of the knee joint. The bone ; as seen in section, varies 
somewhat, but certain characters are very constant. 
Sometimes the whole upper epiphysis is detached and 
forms a hard, loose, marble-like sequestrum ; in a larger 
number the upper epiphysis is destroyed to a greater or 
less extent : sometimes only a small part of it is actually 
gone, but in all it is of a dull yellowish-white colour. In 
some late cases the colour is opaque, and the bone is- 
putty-like, with or without obvious rarefaction ; in earlier 
cases there is a mottled appearance, patches of dark red 
hyperaemic bone alternating with dull yellow areas, and 
here and there a soft patch of granulation tissue. Se- 
questra may be present, and the epiphysial cartilage may 
be little altered, perforated, or entirely destroyed. 



Occasionally the disease spreads far down the shaft; more commonly 
the bone below the level of the great trochanter is congested, with more or 
less rarefaction, but no extensive disease. Corresponding lesions are found 
in the acetabulum, which is often rough and eroded, and its walls absorbed,, 
so that the cavity is wider and shallower than in health. Occasionally there 
is very extensive caries or necrosis of the pelvis, and, indeed, nearly the 
whole innominate bone may be diseased. It must be remembered that even 
when the pelvis is perforated there is a thick wall of dense fibrous material 



Etiology and Pathology 



59/ 



intervening between the pelvic organs and the joint cavity, so that, although 
the bone is bare on both aspects, and much of it requires removal, there is no 
danger of injury to the viscera. The joint itself usually contains pus and 
false membrane, with broken-down caseous granulations and detritus. The 
conditions commonly found in the'acetabulum have been already mentioned ; 
it should, however, be stated that in the later stages of the disease what is 
called ' travelling acetabulum ' may be produced where repair to some extent 
is going on ; the rim of the acetabulum is destroyed by what looks like a sort 
•of ploughing-up process, and when repair begins new bone is formed higher 
up on the dorsum of the ilium to form a socket for the end of the femur. In 
some instances the innominate may be separated into its component bones, 
as in two specimens in our collection. (See fig. 127.) 

In other cases suppuration may occur within the pelvis, either as a result 
of perforation of the acetabulum or of extension of inflammation through the 
thickness of the bone, or of pus, as it not 
^infrequently does, tracking over the brim 
of the pelvis and then gravitating down- 
ward. We have seen several cases where 
•pus has burrowed up the sheath of the psoas 
and so got within the pelvic cavity. 

The remains of the head of the femur 
may lie in the little-altered acetabulum, or 
be drawn upward upon the dorsum, or even 
project through the acetabulum into the 
pelvis ; it has been found fixed to the ace- 
tabulum, though quite detached from the 
femur, or, rarely, firmly impacted, as we 
have seen it. The amount of acetabular 
disease depends, apart from the possibility 
of the origin of the affection there, upon the 
fact that when once the joint cavity is in- 
volved, a large surface — i.e. the whole aceta- 
bulum — is at once exposed to irritation, and 
so the process in it is more rapid ; it also 
depends upon how much the head of the 
femur has been allowed to press upon the 
pelvis. 

It is very rare to find any attempt at a 
new formation of bone while the disease is progressing, while, after removal 
of the upper end of the femur, new bone may be rapidly formed ; in this, of 
course, the hip resembles other joints. This rapid formation of new bone 
after excision is a strong indication for that operation, in that it shows that 
nature is unable to begin repair until the disease is removed. 

The etiology and pathology of morbus coxae, then, may be summed up as 
follows : — 

1. Hip disease is dependent upon that deficient power of recovery and 
tendency to caseous degeneration which may be called the strumous or scrofu- 
lous, or, better, the tuberculous diathesis, and this constitutes the predisposing 
cause. The disease is, in fact, a local tuberculosis. 




27- 



Shows extensive Acetabular 
disease. The ilium is completely de- 
tached from the other two bones, and 
is largely necrosed ; white scale-like 
patches of new bone are seen on the 
surface. The disease was acute. 



59^ Hip Disease 

2.. Any slight or severe injury, over-use, &c, or the onset of a specific 
fever, may, in such a constitution, prove an exciting cause. 

3. Injury in a healthy child may produce synovitis, or even acute inflam- 
mation of bone about the hip, as elsewhere, but this does not, except very 
rarely, lead to chronic hip disease. 

4. In the vast majority of the cases of morbus coxae the disease begins 
as an osteomyelitis of the upper epiphysis of the femur, or of the immediate 
neighbourhood of the epiphysial line. 

5. This particular osteomyelitis tends to destruction, and usually runs a 
chronic course with caseation of the inflammatory material, and resolution 
can rarely, if ever, be expected when the disease is well established. 

6. The occurrence of the disease in childhood is explained by the physio- 
logical and anatomical peculiarities existing before puberty. 

Besides the common chronic hip disease, there is a form of acute hip 
disease which may run its course in a few weeks, or even days, and produce 
as much or more destruction of parts than months or years have in the chronic 
cases. Instances of this condition are not very rare ; every hospital surgeon 
sees them occasionally. Some of these cases are probably pyaemic, others 
belong to the class of ' acute suppurative'arthritis of infants ' {vide p. 578) : others,, 
again, are acute traumatic inflammation, synovial or osteomyelitic ; possibly 
in some partial separation of the upper epiphysis may occur, with rapid 
necrosis ; others, again, are probably cases of acute periostitis of a nature 
similar to that occurring in the shaft of the femur, tibia, &c. These 
last may result in widespread suppuration and necrosis of the pelvis and 
femur. An acutely destructive condition may come on in the course of 
chronic disease. 

Lastly, acute tuberculosis sometimes leads to rapid suppuration. 

Symptoms. — In describing the symptoms of hip disease it will be con- 
venient to take them one by one, and discuss the views and explanations of 
each symptom before passing on to the next, and finally to group them 
together in a type case. 

Pain.— Pain is a prominent feature of most cases of hip disease from the 
beginning ; at least, until complete disorganisation of the joint and displace- 
ment or destruction of the head, or recovery. 

The seat and degree of pain are, however, alike very variable. Thus 
pain may be referred to the hip itself, the buttock, the back or front of the 
thigh, the knee in front or behind, or any part of the leg or foot. It may be 
localised or diffused, so that the patient strokes the whole thigh down in 
some cases when asked where his pain is, and but rarely points to any one 
spot. There is no consistent relation to be made out between the seat 
of pain and the position or extent of disease. Probably the front and 
inner side of the knee is the most frequent seat of pain. Tenderness, 
however, is often much more localised to the position of the joint, but 
even that is very variable. Pain is, undoubtedly, often remittent : some- 
times an interval of some weeks intervenes, even without treatment, 
between the attacks. We have seen cases where the child had been walking 
about with a shortened, distorted limb, who never had any pain from 
beginning to end ; and others, with large abscesses, who have also been 
throughout free from pain ; while the agonising pain of those who have to 



Pain in Hip Disease 599 

endure 'night startings' is only too familiar to all who have been residents 
in hospitals. 

In considering the question of pain, it is well to bear in mind the number 
of different sources of nerve supply to the joint. 

It is not practicable, nor very important, to distinguish by a knowledge 
of the nerve distribution the exact patch of synovial membrane or ligament 
that is locally inflamed : its only value, if it were possible, would be from a 
prognostic point of view ; but here history, duration, and other symptoms 
are more trustworthy. There is, however, no doubt that 'night pains' give 
us evidence of extension of the disease to the articular surface. 

It is, then, clear that pain in cases of hip disease is variable in its seat, 
or rather that it may occur in a great many different places ; of these, 
special attention has always been paid to pain in the knee, and several 
explanations are given of this pain. In the majority of cases it is probably 
due to 'transferred sensation ' from one of three sources, the anterior crural, 
the sciatic, or the obturator nerves, branches of which are distributed to the 
front and back of the joint. In our experience, the pain in the knee is generally 
rather vaguely referred to the front of the knee, the child passing its out- 
stretched hand over the whole of the front of the joint. The pain, in fact, is 
referred rather to the distribution of the anterior crural than of the obturator. 

Pain in the hip is not usually a marked sign in the sense of there being 
any constant pain ; tenderness on pressure over the front or back of the 
capsule, and pain in pressing the trochanter inward or the head of the bone 
upward, is, of course, present in all acute cases, and a large proportion of the 
chronic ones. 

Night starti7igs or pains are a prominent and important feature in acute 
and subacute cases ; they may be altogether absent in chronic disease — - 
except where acute mischief has supervened upon chronic — and they may 
be absent throughout the whole course of a case. When they do occur, 
they indicate that inflammation has extended to the joint surfaces ; and 
further, that our means, whatever they may have been, of treating the lesion, 
have been inefficient so long as these startings continue. Their cause is too 
well recognised to need discussing. The rigid muscles, acting under the 
influence of 'joint sense' (Barwell), contract spasmodically to fix and 
immobilise the joint surfaces ; as sleep comes on, with its accompanying- 
muscular relaxation, some friction or pressure of the tender surfaces together 
takes place, causes acute pain, a sudden awakening with a cry, and a violent 
spasm of the muscles to again fix the joint. This may be repeated many 
times in a night, and is a strong indication for treatment. These night 
pains are very uncommon after excision ; where they do occur they mean 
that disease is extending in the pelvis, and probably the femur is not kept 
sufficiently far away from the acetabulum to prevent pressure upon it ; in 
such cases, then, it is well to increase the extending force, though in some 
cases too great extension may increase pain. Tenderness or pain on 
pressure has been already alluded to. When superficial tenderness really 
exists, the fears of the child, if he has already been ungently handled, being 
taken into account, it means that suppuration has occurred in the soft parts 
and is becoming superficial, or, in very acute cases, it seems that really all 
the parts in the neighbourhood of the joint are hyperassthetic ; it is certainly 



6oo Hip Disease 

the case that in no joint does inflammation extend so widely among the soft 
tissues as in hip disease. 

When, however, no pain is produced, except on deep pressure applied 
over the head of the bone, it is probable that the disease is limited to the 
bone, and has not yet set up mischief of any serious nature within the joint, 
or, at least, that any such change is a very chronic one. It is well to bear 
in mind that pressure on an inflamed ligament is very painful indeed — a 
fact easily verified in chronic synovitis of the knee — and it is possible that 
the pain in these cases may be due to extension of the disease to the capsule 
rather than to the inflammation in the bone itself. 

Certain movements of the joint are more painful in case of inflammation 
than others, and it is true that a patient may have quite or almost painless 
power of flexion of the joint, and yet be quite unable to bear rotation or 
abduction. 

Night startings may exist and be due to hip disease without any re- 
collection of pain on awaking ; but Howard Marsh cautions us against 
mistaking the cries of nightmare for those of night starting. 

It is well to remember that inflamed inguinal or iliac glands may cause 
pain and tenderness, which must be distinguished from that of the joint 
itself. 

Lameness. — Limping or lameness is the symptom usually first noticed by 
the parents in the case of children with chronic hip disease. Even this, 
however, may be preceded by a feeling of tiredness or ill-defined aching 
about the limb after exercise, the aching passing off after rest, but recurring 
again after less and less exertion. The limping may be quite painless at 
first, and differs in appearance from the well-marked ' drop ' seen in later 
stages, when there is shortening of the limb. At this time the child generally 
shows a tendency to rest the affected leg, and throw the weight upon the 
sound limb at every opportunity. Later, well-marked lameness comes on, 
and is accompanied by pain. It is at this time that the mistakes in diagnosis 
are so often made ; the obvious symptoms are lameness, and often pain in 
the knee or thigh ; there is no other marked sign, and the condition is sup- 
posed to be disease of the knee or ' weakness ' with ' growing pains/ and so 
on. This stage requires careful and exact investigation to discover it, and 
at the same time is the period at which treatment is most effectual. Later 
in the disease lameness is due either to actual shortening, or to tilting of the 
pelvis to take the strain off the tender limb, or to flexion. 

Heat. — Increased temperature in the joint is, of course, only perceptible 
where the inflammation is acute, and from the thickness of the parts cover- 
ing the joint is not readily ascertained ; it is not, therefore, a symptom of 
much value, except in the third stage, where superficial swelling combined 
with heat indicates the presence of suppuration outside the joint. In some 
cases of acute synovitis, pure and simple, a local rise of temperature may be 
made out, and is a valuable indication of acute inflammation of the soft tissues. 
Swelling. — Swelling is one of the most important symptoms. In the 
first place, local swelling over the front and back of the joint— i.e. just ex- 
ternal to the femoral vessels or pushing them forward, and just behind the 
trochanter, obliterating the normal hollow — indicates effusion into the 
synovial sac, and, with a recent history of injury, indicates an acute synovitis. 



Muscular Spasm. Rigidity 60 1 

"With a longer history such swelling is due to the secondary inflammation of 
the joint by extension from osteomyelitis. 

Swelling of the great trochanter indicates suppuration, or rather caseation, 
within the joint, and we believe may be relied upon as pathognomonic of it ; 
it is true that this thickening may disappear under treatment, but none the 
less has there been puriform material there which has been absorbed as far 
as its fluid portion goes, and if once that thickening has occurred we do 
not think any case is free from danger of relapse. 1 

Periarticular or ' adjacent ' abscess certainly does occur, but not so 
commonly, we think, as some writers describe. Swelling of the inguinal 
glands is considered by Mr. Barwell to indicate osteitis. We would go even 
farther, and say that when considerable it often indicates disease of the 
pelvis rather than of the femur. 2 

Muscular Spasm. — Spasm of the muscles around the hip is, as in the 
case of other joints, an almost universal condition — quite universal, if we 
except those cases of osteomyelitis where the inflammation is as yet limited 
to the bone, and the few cases where the joint is slowly and painlessly dis- 
organised — cases already alluded to under the section of Pain. 

The spasm is due, as is well known, to two causes : reflex spasm from 
irritation of the terminal nerve filaments supplying the articulation, the 
stimulus being reflected in accordance with Hilton's laws to the muscles 
moving that joint — Barwell's 'joint sense ;' and secondly, a voluntary con- 
traction of the muscles to prevent movement of the painful surfaces the one 
upon the other. 

It is well known to what the particular position of the joint in disease rs 
due ; flexion and abduction, as long as it remains a closed cavity, is the 
position of least tension and therefore of least pain ; the aggregate mass of 
flexors, too, is stronger than the extensors here as elsewhere, so that flexion 
is the position of rest. 

The rigidity of the spasm is very great indeed, so much so that in many 
cases, without painful manipulation, it is impossible to say from mere 
physical examination that the joint is not anchylosed. In most cases, how- 
ever, there is a certain limited range of movement allowed through, perhaps, 
io° in the middle of flexion, and in many cases a considerably larger range, 
while in some it is only in extreme flexion and extension that spasm exists. 

Nocturnal spasm has already been alluded to under the section of 
Pain. 

Fixation or Rigidity. — Fixation of the joint, apart from muscular spasm, 
may depend upon any one of three causes, but can only exist in the second 
or third stage of the disease, or as a result of quiescent or cured disease. 
The causes are adhesions within or around the joint, matting together of 
muscles so that their power is lost, or bony anchylosis. Chloroform at once 
reveals the nature of the rigidity, whether it is due to mere muscle spasm, 

1 This thickening results from extension of the disease from the interior of the bone 
to the surface, and, as soon as the cavity of the joint is involved, suppuration almost 
invariably occurs, though of course not necessarily outside the joint. 

2 It is common to find some enlargement of inguinal glands in tuberculous children, 
but we think they seldom suppurate unless the pelvis is diseased. The condition of the 
iliac glands will be noticed again. 



602 



Hip Disease 



when, of course, it will disappear ; or to adhesion or permanent muscular 
contracture, when it can generally be sufficiently overcome to show that 
there is no bony union of the parts. 




Fig. 128. — Showi 



the extreme Lordosis produced by partial correction of the deformity 
in a case where rectangular flexion existed. 



Grating or Crepitation. — Grating felt on movement of the hip joint can be 
produced by one cause only, the presence of exposed bone. This may be 
due either to erosion of cartilage allowing the bare head of the femur to grate 
against bare acetabulum, or to sequestra grating against one another, or to 
the upper end of the femur rubbing against its own bare and detached head. 
It is, therefore, where it can be felt, an absolute and pathognomonic indica- 
tion of the presence of dead or carious bone. But it must be remembered 
that it can usually only be obtained under an anaesthetic, when free move- 
ment without pain can be procured. 

Abscess. — The vast majority of cases of hip disease go on to suppuration. 
A certain number of cases get well by the process of removal of the inflamed 
end of the bone without suppuration — a caries sicca ; but the greater number 
by far go on to the formation of pus. Yet of this number by no means 
all develop abscesses which open and discharge externally. Suppuration 
within the cavity of the joint takes place and even bursts the capsule, and 
yet by absorption of the fluid and removal more slowly of the solid elements > 
the swelling caused by the abscess may disappear and the case recover. 
Still we are convinced that nearly every case of chronic disease of the hip^ 
if the joint was examined, would at a certain period of its course be found 
to contain pus or puriform liquid. 

When the joint cavity suppurates the pus may take very various courses, 
after it has burst from the joint, but usually it issues at the posterior part, 
sometimes on the inner, sometimes on the outer side. It may then pass 
forward beneath the rectus femoris and point at the anterior border of the 
tensor vaginae femoris ; it may travel down the thigh and point at a lower 
part of the edge of this muscle ; it may gravitate backward and open at the 
upper or posterior border of the great trochanter, or, farther still, at the 
lower border of the gluteus maximus ; it may reach to the perinaeum, extend 
along the adductor tendons, and come to the surface at the inner side of the 
thigh ; or, again, it may pierce the skin just at the inner angle of the fold of 
the groin between the scrotum or labium and the thigh. It may travel up 
the sheath of the psoas and point above Poupart's ligament, or, travelling- 
over the brim of the pelvis, may then gravitate downwards and burst into the 
rectum or the ischio-rectal fossa, or escape through the sciatic notch. We 
have records of two cases where pus was discharged through the rectum, and 



Wasting — Outline 603 

Ave are inclined to think it is commoner than is supposed, and that the dis- 
appearance of abscesses about the joint is sometimes to be thus accounted 
for. A bad result does not necessarily follow, and some cases are probably 
glandular abscesses not directly connected with the joint ; in other instances 
faecal matter has been discharged into the joint. 

Abscesses in the neighbourhood of the hip not due to disease of that joint 
must be carefully distinguished from those which either directly communicate 
with the joint cavity or result from the breaking down of tubercular matter 
in the walls of the articulation. 

From the cases we have watched we think the conclusion may be drawn 
that when an abscess points on the front of the limb, above a line drawn 
through the upper border of the great trochanter, there is disease of the 
pelvis, and this is the more certain, the higher and the more internal the 
opening. Abscess pointing between the scrotum or labium and the thigh we 
always look upon as of serious import, indicating pelvic caries. The peculiar 
conical projection to be felt on pressure above Poupart's ligament, as pointed 
out by Barwell, is rather due, in our opinion, to enlargement of the iliac glands 
than to periosteal pelvic thickening in the great majority of cases ; like 
thickening to be felt by rectal examination at the site of the acetabulum on 
the inner wall of the pelvis, it is to be looked upon as a grave sign and one 
pointing to marked pelvic disease. 

Wasting of Limb. — Muscular wasting of the affected limb is an early 
and prominent condition in hip disease — so early and so rapid that it is, and 
with good reason, ascribed to the result of trophic nerve changes rather than 
to mere disuse. The limb in later stages assumes a peculiar bulbous look > 
the thigh and leg are small, thin, and weak, while the hip itself is rounded, 
swollen, and distended as compared with the opposite side, and coldness 
and venous congestion are commonly present, often with oedema of the 
foot from venous or lymphatic obstruction. The bone, too, undergoes a great 
amount of atrophy, the denser layer is thinned, and the spaces of the cancel- 
lous tissue enlarged, so that the bone becomes diminished both in diameter 
and strength. Such is the condition which has in several cases led to frac- 
ture of the bone in attempts at thrusting the upper extremity out of the 
wound in the operation of excision, and this is a fact to be remembered in 
the forcible straightening of the limb. 

Arrest of growth under such circumstances is to be expected and does 
occur, but to a much less extent than would be imagined, as will be seen in 
the section on Results of Excision. 

Outline of Region of Hip. — Two points are always described in con- 
nection with disease of the hip as being characteristic of it — loss of the fold 
of the groin, and flattening and widening of the buttock with lowering and 
partial obliteration of its fold. These conditions are worth noting, although 
they are not always present, nor always characteristic of hip disease when 
they are present. The fold of the groin is most completely obliterated when 
the limb is abducted and rotated out, especially if there is also swelling of 
the front of the joint or glandular enlargement. On the other hand, the 
fold is exaggerated in adduction and rotation inwards ; in this position in 
girls the labium will be compressed, flattened, and partially or entirely 
hidden. 



604 



Hip Disease 



The rima natium is inclined upwards and towards the diseased side, 
which is simply the appearance produced by lowering of the buttock in the 
second stage ; in the third it of course takes the opposite direction. 

Dislocation and Shortening.— -The older writers on hip disease spoke 
of dislocation as one of the common results of the destruction of the joint. 
Probably they were misled, in the absence of actual dissection, by the 
shortening, adduction, and inversion of the limb which occur in the third 
stage. 

pc|As a matter of fact it is probable that without injury true dislocation of 
the head of the femur out of the acetabulum very rarely occurs. Several 
conditions may exist and give rise to the appearance of dislocation, the 
most common being destruction of the head of the femur ; the truncated 





Fig. 129. — Shows the position assumed in the 
second stage of hip disease. Flexion, abduc- 
tion, rotation outwards, apparent lengthen- 
ing. Right hip disease. 



Fig. 130. — A side view of fig. 129. 



upper end of the bone is then drawn upwards by the muscles attached to 
the trochanters, so that the upper border of the great trochanter rises above 
Nelaton's line ; here, as the head of the bone no longer exists, true disloca- 
tion can hardly be said to have occurred. Occasionally, however, true dis- 
location of the head of the femur on to the dorsum does occur— we have met 
with several instances of it. 

Apparent lengthening of the limb is due to a lowering and throwing for- 
ward of the pelvis on the affected side ; apparent shortening, on the other 
hand, to the pelvis being raised and thrown behind the sound side. Or, to 
take the same fact in another way, the apparently lengthened limb is flexed 
and abducted, the apparently shortened limb is flexed and adducted, the 



Diagnosis 605 

two conditions being usually, but not always, associated with rotation outward 
and inward, respectively. 

Taking the usual classification of the course of the disease into three 
stages, the position assumed successively by the limb will be — in the first 
stage, flexion to a variable degree, with or without slight abduction, and 
possibly rotation outward ; in the second stage, flexion, usually well marked, 
with abduction usually, and rotation outward, producing apparent lengthen- 
ing — sometimes, however, there is adduction, and sometimes mere flexion, 
with no rotation, or with rotation inward ; in the third stage there is always 
flexion, and most commonly adduction and rotation inward, with apparent 
or real shortening, but there may be abduction and rotation outward. Thus 
position, though a valuable, is not an absolute guide, and requires to be 
checked by the other symptoms present. 

Diagnosis. — The diagnosis of disease of the hip is as difficult in some 
cases as it is easy in others. In well-marked cases where the disease is ad- 
vanced it usually is quite readily diagnosed, while, on the other hand, few 
diseases are so closely simulated by a large number of other affections as 
disease of the hip, and the variety of symptoms that it presents is in itself a 
fruitful source of mistake. It will, perhaps, most conduce to a clear under- 
standing of the subject if we first tabulate the diseases for which hip disease 
is most likely to be mistaken. 

1. Acute rheumatism. 

2. Bursitis of the psoas or one of the gluteal bursa?. 

3. Ostitis or periostitis of the great trochanter. 

4. Periostitis of the upper end of the femur. 

5. Sacro-iliac disease. 

6. Psoas abscess. 

7. Iliac abscess. 

8. Gluteal abscess, traumatic or spinal. 

9. Abscess connected with disease of the pelvis. 

10. Perityphlitic abscess, suppuration around the sigmoid flexure of the 
colon, pelvic glandular abscess, or chronic adenitis, or possibly renal disease. 

1 1 . Superficial abscess, glandular or other, and deep abscess around the 
joint. 

12. Infantile paralysis. 

13. Syphilitic synovitis or telostitis. 

14. Hysteria. 

15. ' Congenital dislocation' of the hip, or other congenital conditions. 

16. Rickets. 

17. Disease of the knee. 

Of these diseases only a few of the more important need be selected 
here. Inflammation of the gluteal bursas, of which that between the gluteus 
maximus and the great trochanter is the most commonly affected, may 
simulate hip disease. In this case a large gluteal abscess may be mistaken 
for abscess connected with the joint, or if the abscess has burst the long 
track left may lead upwards, and be indistinguishable from one com- 
municating with the joint ; the absence of shortening, of adduction, or of 
grating on movement of the joint, which will also move freely through a 
certain range, absence of pain on jarring or pressure, and of fulness in front 
of and behind the joint, are the diagnostic points. 



606 Hip Disease 

Disease of the great trochanter is more difficult to distinguish, and it must 
be remembered that inflammation may extend from the shaft to the joint ; but, 
although in trochanteric disease sinuses may exist in the same positions as 
those in which they are found in morbus coxae, the smoothness and freedom 
from grating, as well as the wide range of mobility of the joint, will serve to 
distinguish between the two ; other abscesses in the neighbourhood of the 
joint are recognised by their history, which is usually too short for chronic 
hip disease, and not acute enough or sufficiently severe for acute joint in- 
flammation. They are also recognisable by the freedom and smoothness of 
the movements of the joint through a certain range, even though that range 
may be a limited one. Absence of pain and tenderness in some part of the 
joint circumference will be contributory evidence. 

Infantile paralysis simulates hip disease in the lameness to which it 
■gives rise, but is distinguished from it by the absence of pain and swelling, 
and especially by freedom of mobility, and by an amount of wasting and 
coldness of the limb disproportionate to the other symptoms, as well as by 
the history of the disease ; it is, however, worth noting that in the ' British 
Medical Journal' for 1877 Mr. Savory records a case of acute hip disease in 
a leg affected by infantile paralysis. 

Syphilitic disease is distinguished by other evidences of syphilis, by the 
slight tendency there is to suppuration, and by its amenability to mercurial 
or iodide treatment. We have, however, seen chronic hip disease in a con- 
genially syphilitic child {vide also p. 577). 

Sacro-iliac disease and psoas abscess may both simulate hip disease in 
regard to the position in which they give rise to pain, and as to flexion of the 
joint ; it is, however, only necessary to examine the spine and sacro-iliac 
articulations to find in most cases symptoms incompatible with disease of the 
hip alone, while in simple psoitis flexion and inward rotation are free. 

It must be remembered, at the same time, that the abscess within the 
psoas sheath, resulting from either of these diseases, may open into the hip 
joint, and so a secondary hip disease may be developed. It is not, we 
believe, very rare for psoas abscess to do so ; and, although we have only 
had one opportunity of verifying the fact post mortem, we have in several 
instances believed such to be the case. Spinal caries and hip disease may, of 
course, coexist independently of each other, and this is not rare. It is some- 
times impossible to be sure that disease of the hip does not exist where an 
iliac or psoas abscess has burrowed down and surrounds the hip joint on all 
sides ; the symptoms are then often identical, and only the discovery of 
the spinal or iliac disease can clear up the case. In other instances free 
mobility of the joint through a certain range in all directions excludes hip 
disease. Rectal examination enables us to distinguish between hip disease 
and spinal gluteal abscess, since in the latter the abscess can be felt to 
■extend upwards over the brim of the pelvis. 

Abscess connected with the caecum, or sigmoid flexure, is not uncommonly 
mistaken for hip disease. Such cases closely resemble iliac abscesses from 
other causes, with the addition of symptoms indicating connection with or 
proximity to the large bowel. 1 

1 Vide paper ' On some Forms of Abdominal Abscess occurring in Children,' by G. A. 
Wright, in Arch, of Pediatrics , 1884 ; also Lancet, 1890. 



Diagnosis 607 

Congenital atrophy of the femur is not likely to be mistaken for recent 
disease, but may, perhaps, be a result of intra-uterine affection of the joint. 

One of the commoner sources of error is enlargement of the iliac or of 
the inguinal glands ; pain, lameness, flexion, and some rigidity of the joint 
are found ; on examination by deep pressure above Poupart's ligament the 
enlarged glands may be felt, and palpation is painful ; careful search, how- 
ever, will show rigidity only in extension or slightly in abduction as well, 
while flexion, adduction, and rotation are free ; there is no trochanteric 
thickening and no evidence of effusion into the joint. It must be remembered 
that the glandular enlargement may be due to hip disease itself. 

It is always well to use the 'method of exclusion ' in doubtful cases, and 
to bear in mind that there is no one symptom pathognomonic of hip disease, 
but that, as in other morbid conditions, several factors have to be taken into 
account in forming a diagnosis. Free, smooth, painless mobility is perhaps 
the most satisfactory evide?ice of the absence of hip disease. 

To sum up the diagnostic points of hip disease. A patient who is a child, 
who walks lame, especially after a little exercise, who has thickening of the 
trochanter, some tenderness on pressure over the hip joint, and pain together 
with slight flexion and some immobility of the joint, without evidence of 
spinal or sacro-iliac disease or pain in any part higher than the hip, and in 
whom pain is increased by abduction or rotation inwards, has got disease of 
the hip. We would here lay stress upon the fact that there is not the smallest 
necessity for hurting a child in an examination for hip disease. It is true 
that pressure upon the trochanter or heel, what is expressively called by 
American surgeons ' crowding the joint surfaces together,' gives rise to pain 
in disease of the joint, but it is neither a necessary nor a pathognomonic 
sign. Night starting is a valuable, but not a constant nor always trustworthy, 
symptom. Later in the disease the problem is usually easily solved, but 
not always, for, as indicated above, disease of the trochanter or abscess 
around the joint, as well as bursitis, may resemble hip disease very closely ; in 
such cases the position and swelling of hip disease, as well as its rigidity, 
are very closely simulated, and we must rely on other points. Such condi- 
tions can, however, only be mistaken for the later stages of the disease, 
in which there will be shortening of the limb, raising of the trochanter, 
and probably grating in the joint if examination is made under chloro- 
form. It is only occasionally that we see a child in quite the first stage 
before the mischief has reached the surface of the bone ; in such case 
pain, lameness, slight flexion, and slight rigidity are the principal signs. 
Usually the patient is brought in the early second stage, when trochanteric 
blurring is found. 

Believing, as we do, that chronic hip disease begins invariably, or nearly so, 
as an osteomyelitis, we cannot follow Barwell's distinctions in the diagnosis 
of this condition from synovitis. We do, however, think that aacte synovitis 
can be distinguished from the early stages of true hip disease by the greater 
pain on movement of the joint, with absence of trochanteric thickening, and 
under chloroform free and perfect mobility in the former ; there may be also 
swelling in front of the joint, but this depends upon the amount of the 
effusion. In simple traumatic synovitis the mischief immediately follows 
the injury, while in the bone lesion there is usually an interval of two or 



608 Hip Disease 

three weeks, or often months, between the accident and the onset of 
symptoms ; thus the child falls, cries for a few minutes, but is then well 
again, and in a month's time begins to limp. This evidence of the history- 
is most important. Careful inquiry should always be made in every case 
for any previous trouble about the hip, since the acute symptoms may be 
grafted upon old latent disease. 

Acute osteomyelitis is readily diagnosed ; great constitutional disturbance,, 
fever and prostration, great pain, amounting to agony on the least movement, 
helplessness of the limb, rapid and extensive swelling, with venous turgidity^ 
make the diagnosis easy. 

Mr. Howard Marsh, in his valuable paper in the ' British Medical Journal 
for 1877, gives us most useful information on the diagnosis of hip disease. 
Thus he points out that, though flexion may be free in some cases, the 
flexed limb is carried into abduction, and not straight up towards the 
abdomen ; again, flexion may be limited in cases of gluteal, or extension in 
cases of psoas abscess, but in hip disease both are limited in their more ex- 
treme degrees, even if free in part of the range of mobility. His caution as 
to the dangers of frightening the muscles into spasm is also well worth 
remembering. In examining children it is always wise to manipulate the 
sound limb first, as this gives the child confidence that he is not going to be 
hurt, and he is less likely to voluntarily hold the joint stiff. Rectal exami- 
nation for thickening of the inner wall of the acetabulum we have occasionally 
found of value in doubtful cases, and it certainly should be employed if there 
is any suspicion of primary acetabular disease ; under such circumstances it 
may be the only way to clear up the doubt. An excellent account of it is 
given in Dhourdin's work, ' De la Coxalgie Cotyloidienne.' 

In examining a child for suspected hip disease in an early stage the course 
of procedure should be as follows. First, the child's confidence should be 
gained, so that it will not be afraid ; next, all clothing should be removed 
and a blanket wrapped round the patient, who should be allowed to walk to- 
a flat, hard couch or table covered with a rug. The position of the limb and 
the child's gait should be carefully watched. Then, with the child lying 
straight and flat upon its back, any abduction of the limb should be looked 
for, an imaginary test line passing downwards from the middle of the 
sternum through the umbilicus and pubes being taken as the guide. The 
length of the two limbs, taking into account the pelvic tilting, is now to be 
compared. The next point is to notice whether the affected limb is put 
down flat upon the table — i.e. whether the thigh and knee are flexed or the 
back arched (lordosis) — also whether there is any wasting of the limb. 
The surgeon should then take the sound limb gently in the hand and fully 
flex it, looking for any movement of the pelvis ; as soon as the full degree of 
flexion has been ascertained the affected limb should be very gently raised 
and its range of mobility compared with that of the sound side, a finger 
being kept on the anterior superior spine of the ilium to feel for any tilting 
of the pelvis. Should there be any lordosis due to fixed flexion of the hip 
this will disappear as the limb is raised and be increased by extending the 
leg. The finger, or better the thumb, should then be gently pressed into 
each iliac fossa to feel for swelling there, due to enlarged glands or the 
presence of an abscess ; fulness below Poupart's ligament should also be 



Prognosis 609 

looked for. If no restriction of movement has been found, abduction, 
adduction, and rotation should be tested and the two sides compared. 

The child should next turn over and lie on its face — it is generally better 
to allow it to turn in its own way ; the shape of the buttock, the thickness 
of the trochanters, the gluteal fold, and rima natium are now inspected and 
the range of extension further investigated. The spine and sacro-iliac joints 
should be examined at this stage, swelling of the knee joint and thickening 
of the shaft of the femur having been previously searched for. If there is 
still a doubt, a finger should be passed into the rectum, and the inner wall 
of the pelvis examined for thickening, or abscess, or enlarged glands ; for 
this proceeding it is often necessary to give an anaesthetic. 

Xo one symptom alone is sufficient for a diagnosis in early stages, but 
limitation of movement to some extent, and trochanteric thickening, are 
perhaps the two most valuable signs of joint disease. 

We would here deprecate the use of any of the means of diagnosis which 
necessitate giving pain to the patient. The presence of disease is re- 
cognisable by the painless mode of examination in all cases where it can be 
made out at all. 

In all cases examination for hip disease should be made with the child 
completely stripped, and lying on a. flat hard couch or table. 

Prognosis. — As regards the prognosis and the results of affections of the 
hip joint when treated by means other than operation, it is necessary to dis- 
tinguish clearly between the two morbid conditions of acute synovitis and 
osteomyelitis, acute or chronic : the former recover perfectly with freely 
movable joints under proper treatment, and show no after ill-effects, though 
the treatment required is usually longer than that for other joints. On the 
other hand, cases of true hip disease, unless effectually treated in the early 
stage, very rarely recover without entire destruction of the upper epiphysis 
of the femur, usually accompanied by abscess, and always result in shorten- 
ing with more or less deformity, and a very large majority die before reaching 
adult life. 

Even when tuberculous disease of the hip seems to have subsided, re- 
lapses are exceedingly common after some slight injury or intercurrent 
illness. It is important, however, to distinguish between relapses due to a 
fresh lighting up of disease and the presence of an abscess the result of irri- 
tation by some quiescent local product of former inflammation — the residual 
abscess of Paget. 

As to the usefulness of the limb after recovery from hip disease without 
operation, more or less shortening is to be expected in all cases, either as a 
result of malposition, retraction of the femur upon the dorsum ilii, actual 
destruction of bone, or arrest of growth of the femur ; the last is the least 
important factor, since increase of length in the femur takes place almost 
entirely at the lower end, and what shortening there is is due rather to 
general arrest of growth of the limb than to destruction of the upper growing 
line. 

In private practice, where hip disease is seen early and treated more 
effectually than it can be in hospital practice, the prospect of recovers" is 
much better, though even here a perfect result is rare ; it will, however, be 
obtained under exceptionally favourable conditions. A movable joint may 

R R 



6io 



Hip Disease 



he obtained where the disease comes under treatment in its early stage, or 
even after destruction of the joint there may be a certain amount of mobility, 
though this is less frequent than it is after excision. 

In fatal cases of hip disease death is generally due to tuberculosis or 
-exhaustion, with hectic or lardaceous disease ; sometimes an intercurrent 
exanthem proves fatal. Hence it is seen the prognosis depends very 
largely upon whether early and efficient treatment, of which that by 
Thomas's splint is undoubtedly the best, can be obtained. The cases least 
likely to do well without operation are those in which there is a great amount 
of thickening, and those in which, in spite of fixation, pain continues, while 
under any circumstances the prognosis is bad if there is extensive pelvic 
caries (not necrosis). 

Treatiiwit. — First, the ideal treatment consists in seeing the case early, 
keeping the child in bed until by simple extension or a Bryant's splint the 
limb is straightened ; then a Thomas's splint should be applied, 1 and the 
child allowed to get up and about, out of doors, by the seaside. Good 
food, cod-liver oil and iron, with occasional administrations of rhubarb and 
soda if any dyspeptic troubles appear, comprise the rest of the management. 
Two years should be the time given for rigid treatment ; after this the 




Fig. 131. — Bryant's Splint. 



We have had sliding pieces made to fill up the interruptions when 
required ; this is seen in the figure. 



splint may be gradually laid aside, and the child allowed to go about with 
a patten and crutches for a few weeks ; if still there is no sign of disease, 
walking upon the affected limb may be gradually permitted. During the 
time of treatment the greatest care must be taken not to allow the foot of 
the affected side to touch the ground, and to avoid all falls or strains of the 
joint. 

American surgeons use to a great extent 'traction splints' of various 
forms, in which, while the patient gets about more or less, extension is kept 
up. 2 The weak point in most of these appliances is that the joint is not 
fixed. 

In hospital practice the nearest approach to the above lines of treatment 
should of course be carried out, but if there is progressive disease, and the 
management is unsatisfactory, excision should be performed at the first sign 
of external abscess, or before if the symptoms are acute. In either case the 
presence of progressive disease in spite of treatment, with an abscess other 
than a residual one, or sinuses, or great thickening, indicates immediate 
excision. If sinuses exist with receding disease, diminishing discharge, and 

1 Or the limb may be straightened by means of the Thomas's splint. 

2 For a good recent account of these splints we must refer to Dr. Lovett's work on 
Disease of the Hip, 1892. 



Treatment by Extension 



611 



puckering in of cicatrices, or if with an abscess the mischief is quite quiescent 
or receding, non-operative treatment should be adopted for a time, if it can 
be thoroughly carried out ; if not, or if no progress is made in a few weeks, 
the diseased part should be removed. 

In applying extension by weight it should be made an invariable rule to 
make traction from the condyles of the femur, and not from below the 
knee. A case is on record in which prolonged extension applied below the 
knee resulted in separation of the upper epiphysis of the tibia. It is also 
objectionable in that it throws strain upon the knee joint, and is more apt to 
slip off. The strapping should always, if possible, be applied for some hours 
before the weight is attached, in order that the plaster may get set, and not 
be dragged off by the weight. The strapping (of which Leslie's brown 
holland is the best) should be kept from the skin by a strip of lint or flannel 
bandage, or part of a stocking, to protect the sharp edge of the tibia and 
•the prominences of the joint from pressure (fig. 132). 

We have found that too great extension may be a cause of painful 







Fig. 132. — Shows extension by a weight applied above the knee, with a long splint on the sound side. 
Also the simple plan of keeping the child from sitting up by means of the board running behind 
the shoulders and fastened to the side of the bed. The shoulders are fastened to this board, and 
the arms are left free below the elbow. The bed on which the child lies is somewhat too soft. 

spasms, and it is well to bear this in mind, that too great extending force and 
too little are alike inefficient. In cases where treatment without operation 
is carried out, as for instance where adhesions, the result of old inflam- 
mation, exist, or muscular contracture has . taken place, the deformity may 
"be remedied in many instances by the ordinary extension apparatus by a 
weight, or by Bryants splint. In other cases, where simple extension is 
inefficient, or too tedious, it may be necessary to forcibly straighten the 
limb under chloroform, and then fix it by splints in its new position. The 
advisability of forcible straightening is a somewhat disputed point and is 
not in all cases free from risk, not only of laceration of important structures, 
but of setting up fresh inflammation in the joint, or what remains of it. 

Mr. Howard Marsh l and, in 1S36, Sir Benjamin Brodie, advised that the 
-extension should be made in the axis of the misplaced limb, and that 

1 Brit. Med. Jour. , July 1876. 

R R 2 



6l2 



Hip Disease 



the direction should be altered as the limb regains its normal position. We 
do not think this is a matter of great importance. 1 

It is sometimes a matter of difficulty to remedy the malposition of the 
limb in cases of fixation in combined flexion and adduction or abduction. 
Here, where possible, gradual reduction by a Bryant's splint is the best 
treatment (fig. 131) ; failing this, and it cannot be always used, a long splint 
on one side, with a weight to the mal-placed side, should be tried 2 (fig. 132); 
and, failing this, careful straightening under chloroform. These methods 
are, we think, better than remedying the deformity by weights applied 
laterally. In more acute cases, where the deformity is mainly due to spasm. 





Tig. 



134. — Thomas's Hip Splint adjusted 
for a case with no deformity. 



Fig. 133.— Thomas's Hip Splint, applied. Slightly altered 
from Mr. Thomas's work on the ' Hip, Knee, and Ankle.' 



gradual extension is best, but by some means the limb must be got as 
quickly as possible into good position. 

Thomas' apparatus is a very valuable appliance, and is undoubtedly the 
best splint we have for patients able to be up (figs. 133 and 134). The splint 
requires careful attention to detail, both in fitting it and in management ; it 
is of use, first, in the early stages of disease, where it is possible to give the 
child the chance of long-continued and perfect rest, with general hygienic 
measures ; and, secondly, after excision, to keep the limb quiet for a time 

1 If it is desired to carry out this plan, probably Hodgen's splint for fracture of the 
thigh would be the most efficient apparatus. 

2 Where there is much abduction Volkmann applies a weight to eachrleg, the'heavier 
one being attached to the sound side. (A. H. Tubby.) 



Excision of the Hip 613 

until the parts are sufficiently consolidated to allow of movement being 
begun. We have habitually used it for many years. 

The question of when to excise a hip joint is no doubt a difficult one, but 
the conclusion we have come to is this. Treatment, short of excision, when 
once suppuration occurs, is, if the disease is progressing, useful only as a 
palliative. Our opinion, bearing in mind Mr. Holmes's valuable remarks 
on the social circumstances of these patients, 1 is that where there is an 
abscess outside the joint, or, without this, great trochanteric thickening, or 
much pain that does not yield to treatment by rest, excision ought to be 
performed. While fully aware that abscesses disappear and tuberculous 
lesions cicatrise under favourable circumstances, we think that in the case of 
the hip delay is unwise among the hospital class, with whom it is as yet 
impossible to deal on the same lines as with the well-to-do. In almost every 
instance we have found much more extensive disease than might be expected 
from the external evidence, unless the pathology of the affection is borne 
in mind, and we believe that, once this chronic osteomyelitis is fully 
established, nothing short of excision can, in the majority of hospital cases, 
prevent the ultimate progress of the disease to abscess, and too often to 
gradual exhaustion of the patient by pain and discharge. Nature, of course, 
in many cases will, unaided, get rid of the dead bone by slow and tedious 
processes, but the number of children who can survive the process of elimi- 
nation is very small, while the mortality after early excision is not great, and 
the failures are mainly in those instances where the operation has been put 
off till too late. Where actual necrosis, or caries of the head of the femur, 
with destruction of bone and cartilage, and often sequestra of varying size in 
the acetabulum, or at least caries of it, are known to exist, we think few advo- 
cates of non-operative treatment will be found. It is then, as Mr. Bryant 
points out, to be looked upon rather as an ordinary operation for necrosed 
bone than anything more formidable, and that this is the state of the joint 
even in cases often spoken of as those of early disease is the fact upon 
which we should like to lay stress. 

As soon, then, as there is any evidence of external abscess, excision 
should certainly be performed, and still better results will, we believe, be 
obtained by operating even before the pus has escaped from the articulation. 
It is necessary of course to distinguish sharply between abscess the result of 
progressive disease and residual abscess ; it is in the former that immediate 
excision is called for. Where the disease is quiescent abscesses may well 
be dealt with by the method already described, of thorough cleaning out and 
closure after injection of iodoform emulsion. W T e are not disposed to think 
that mere injection of iodoform into tubercular joints without removal of the 
original focus of disease will be successful to any great extent. It is 
undoubtedly useful in some cases to deal with the abscess first, and when 
that has healed, to remove the diseased bone by a second operation under more 
favourable conditions. The operation of excision is discredited because it 
is put off until disease is so far advanced that no mode of treatment can 
have more than a small proportion of good results ; while timely excision 

1 In private practice cases are usually seen in the first or early second stage, and it is 
possible to ensure that the Thomas's splint shall be kept on and no strain thrown upon the 
joint : hence recovery without operation is the rule. 



6 14 Hip Disease 

cuts short the disease, saves pam, lessens the time of treatment, and gives a. 
better limb. 

Modes of excision. — Various incisions for removal of the upper end of 
the femur have been advocated. Of these the incision over the middle of 
the trochanter and slightly concave forward is the one we usually adopt. 
We see no advantage in most of the others over the one extending downwards 
for about three inches, more or less according to age and the extent of the 
disease, along the middle of the trochanter. Where however it is proposed 
to remove a large part of the pelvic wall, a flap operation is desirable, and 
we have recently frequently used it ; the flap incision has the advantage of 
freely exposing the diseased area and allowing thorough cleaning of the soft 
parts, and by chiselling off and turning up the trochanter with its muscles 
attached the power to move the limb subsequently is likely to be greater. 

Next, if a flap is not made, the soft parts should be divided vertically 
above the trochanter and the capsule opened freely, if this has not been 
done by the first incision. The joint should then be explored with the finger 

The next step is to separate the soft tissues from the bone on the inner 
side, stripping back the periosteum as far as it exists as such. The finger 
should then be used to pass round the bone and feel that the upper end 
is free ; next, still using the finger as a guard at the inner side of the bone, 
the femur should be sawn through just below the trochanteric margin with a 
keyhole- or finger-saw. Some part of the trochanteric epiphysis is usually 
left behind. The upper extremity of the bone is then readily prised out with 
the finger or raspatory. The acetabulum should be then examined and any 
sequestra removed. If there is a large carious surface it may be gouged or 
scraped with a Volkmann's spoon or left alone. It is well to remove any 
rough or semi-necrosed bone, but we doubt the possibility of being able to 
remove all the disease without greatly adding to the severity of the operation 
where there is extensive inflammation without necrosis, nor is such treatment 
desirable. 

The upper end of the femur should be examined to see if the whole 
disease has been removed ; if not, a further section should be made, and 
this may be carried a considerable distance down the shaft ; six inches have 
been removed with a good result, and but little shortening, by an American 
surgeon. 

Here it is well to point out the danger of the practice of thrusting the 
head of the femur forcibly out of the wound before sawing it through, instead 
of dividing it in situ. Several cases of fracture of the shaft of the atrophied 
fatty bone have occurred. An additional objection to this practice is the 
ease with which the periosteum may be thus stripped off the inner aspect of 
the shaft, and so necrosis may occur. 

The operation is much more easily and safely done in the way described^ 
and involves less violence to and less division of the soft parts. The finger 
is quite as good a guide as the eye to the condition of the bone. 

Usually no vessels require ligatures, though there is sometimes free 
oozing of blood. If the wound can be made aseptic it should be carefully 
cleaned and closed by sutures after injection of iodoform emulsion ; if the 
case is one with old-standing sinuses, we prefer to leave it quite open, and in 
that case a large drainage tube should be passed deep into the cavity of the. 



Excision of the Hip 6 1 $ 

joint. Any sinuses or abscess cavities should then be thoroughly scraped 
out and well cleaned before applying the dressing, (see p. 355). It will often 
be found that a distinct membranous layer of lymph lines the cavity of the 
articulation, but there is rarely anything like the thickness of granulation 
tissue so often seen in the knee and other joints. It is well to remove any 
masses of pulpy granulations should they exist, but anything like the 
elaborate dissection required in erasion of the knee is impracticable. 

There is not, we think, any great advantage in removing only the head 
of the bone and leaving the trochanter. 1 In many cases the head of the 
femur is so far destroyed that it would be impossible to do less than take 
away the trochanter, while the trochanter if left in cases that require drain- 
age tends to block up the orifice of the wound and prevents the free escape 
of discharge and debris of bone, and thus interferes with one of the main 
objects of the operation. The Clinical Society's Committee advised that 
the trochanter should be left unless diseased, or unless there is extensive 
pelvic disease, and where the flap operation is employed it must be left. 

Where intrapelvic abscess exists the acetabulum should be perforated. 
Examination per rectum enables the diagnosis to be made if this condition 
is suspected. 

As regards the use of antiseptics, they should, of course, be used in all 
cases. The most convenient form of dressing" afterwards is a thick pad of 
wood-wool wadding, over a thin layer of wet gauze. Iodoform should be 
freely dusted into the wound before applying the dressings, and iodoform 
emulsion injected into the recesses of the wound after thoroughly cleaning it 
out. 

Messrs. Barker and Pollard, in December 1888, brought before the Medical 
and Chirurgical Society of London a new method of managing the operation of 
excision of the hip. The method consists in clearing away all disease of the 
soft parts by scraping or excision ; scraping out abscess cavities, and by 
means of thorough and careful asepticism getting the wound clean. The 
novelty is in their mode of carefully drying out the wound and closing it en- 
tirely after removal of all tuberculous material as far as possible, so that 
primary union is obtained. Messrs. Barker and Pollard showed cases in 
which this result had been obtained, and we have since then followed their 
plan in its main features with success. There is no doubt this is a valuable 
improvement, but it is applicable to cases of early excision chiefly, or only,, 
and experience shows that even so there is danger of relapse. For further 
details we must refer to the ' Medico-Chir. Transactions,' 1888 ; but we may- 
reprint here Mr. Pollard's abstract of the essentials of the method : — 

1. The whole of the tubercular growth must be removed. 

2. Perfect asepsis must be assured. 

3. Bleeding must be checked and the wound made as dry as possible. 

4. Oozing must be checked by the even, elastic support of a wool dressing" 
and a moderately tight bandage. 

5. Absolute rest of the part must be maintained during the process of 
healing. 

Following Mr. Howse, we prefer to have the extension put on before the 
operation, so that the weights, or, better, Bryant's splint, can be applied at 
1 A section through the neck will often leave unhealthy bone behind. 



6i6 



Hip Disease 



once before the patient is put to bed. The shock of the operation is often 
somewhat severe, but usually soon passes off under the use of opium and 
stimulants. Rarely, however, much more severe and prolonged shock 
occurs. 

The subsequent management of the case requires some special remarks. 
It is exceedingly difficult always to keep the wound aseptic ; still, as com- 
paratively few cases can be treated in hospital till the wounds completely 
close, they are under somewhat different conditions to other patients. It is, 
however, a great gain if the wounds can be kept sweet even for a time. 

The after-treatment of cases of excision simply consists in dressing and 
in keeping the limb quiet and in good position. 
This may be done by various means, of which 
the best are simple extension by a weight 
(the weight may usually be reckoned at one 
pound for each year of the child's age from two 
to six ; six pounds is generally enough up to 
twelve years of age, after which more may be 
added) with or without a long splint on the 
opposite side, and a Bryant's double splint, 
which has many advantages in securing ' paral- 
lelism of the two limbs,' and in the ease and 
comfort with which the patient can be moved. 
It is an invaluable apparatus, and we now almost 
invariably use it. 

The sooner excision cases are got up and 
about, the better : some cases may leave their 
beds in three weeks ; others, of course, are much 
longer in getting up, the difference depending 
mainly upon the state of the disease at the time 
of operation. 

The period of convalescence after excision 
varies from the time mentioned to two years, 
while in some cases sinuses may remain open 
much longer if pelvic disease exists. We keep 
our patients usually in a Thomas's splint for 
from at least three to six months after excision ; 
after this the child, if old enough, should get 
about with a patten and crutches, allowing the 
limb to swing, and only after a year or more should he be allowed to 
gradually bear weight upon the leg. If, however, excision is done early, the 
limb is fit for walking sooner, sometimes in five or six months. If the 
affected leg is allowed to touch the ground too soon, it becomes pushed up 
upon the dorsum ilii, and much shortening results. On the other hand, if 
the limb is fixed too long, it becomes stiff. A very large proportion of 
cases of excision in the later stages of the disease remain with sinuses, but 
often these produce no ill result except the trouble of dressing them : a 
certain number may be got to close by scraping, cautery, &c. ; others are very 
intractable. In a certain number of cases the wound re-opens after having 
healed ; this is undoubtedly common, but is due to over-use, neglect, or 




Fig. 135. — From a photograph 
showing a good average result 
after excision, when the leg has 
been walked upon, and the stump 
of the femur is thrust up upon 
the dorsum ilii. 



Summary 617 

violence, and with ordinary care and frequently repeated scrapings, the 
Avounds usually again close. 

It is interesting and important to note that in measuring the amount of 
shortening after excision the real shortening — as measured from the upper 
end of the femur to the malleolus on each side — is often trifling, and some- 
times there is none, while the practical shortening as measured from the 
pelvis to the malleolus is considerable. Though some shortening Avill neces- 
sarily result, any large amount is due to weight being borne upon the limb 
prematurely. It has already been pointed out that growth in length of the 
femur takes place almost entirely at its lower epiphysial line ; hence the loss 
of length or true shortening is only the distance from the line of section to 
the top of the head, coupled with such arrest of growth as may result from 
impaired nutrition, this last being, of course, a very inconstant quantity. 
Oilier estimates that during the first four years of life growth takes place about 
equally at each end of the femur ; after that time the lower end grows more 
rapidly. 

The primary objects of the operation of excision of the hip are to save 
life and relieve pain ; the next most important question is that of the useful- 
ness of the limb and of the condition of the 'joint : after the operation. One 
of two results must occur after excision : either a freely movable limb, or one 
with varying degrees of stiffness, from some mobility to bony anchylosis. 
Bony anchylosis after excision is very rare. Close fibrous union so that but 
little mobility remains is very common ; movement through from 30 to 50 
is perhaps the commonest result, and a smaller number have complete 
mobility. 

It is not possible to estimate in figures the results to be expected from 
excision ; for details we must refer to the monograph mentioned at the 
beginning of the chapter. 

Whether, then, we consider the pathology of the disease, the actual local 
•condition, the relief of pain, the preservation of life, the duration of illness, 
the condition of the limb and its usefulness, or the dangers of secondary 
disease, on every ground, in our opinion, excision is the best course under 
the circumstances already stated. 

Conclnsio?is. — 1. The hip joint in childhood is commonly subject to two 
affections : (a) simple synovitis ; (&) tubercular disease. 

2. Simple synovitis is usually traumatic, very rarely suppurates, is amen- 
able to ordinary treatment, and as a rule leaves behind no bad results. 

3. Tubercular disease, or common ' hip disease,' affects primarily the 
upper end of the femur, or occasionally the acetabulum, and produces necrosis 
or extensive caries. 

4. In the early stage of hip disease, before caseation of bone or suppura- 
tion has taken place, proper treatment will, in a fair proportion of cases, 
result in recovery with a nearly perfect limb. 

5. As soon as suppuration occurs, it is certain that recovery will not 
take place without destruction of the upper epiphysis of the femur more or 
less completely. 

6. The process of removal of the diseased bone without operation is so 
slow, so exhausting, and so uncertain, that it should be reserved for those 
■cases where time and care can be fully devoted to it. 



6i8 Hip Disease 

7. Unless absolute rest and treatment for two years can be ensured, ex- 
cision of the upper end of the femur should be performed as soon as suppu- 
ration or other evidence of necrosis is present. 

8. A case of hip disease, seen before suppuration has occurred, is best 
treated by the use of a Thomas's splint with or without previous straightening 
by extension. 

9. Excision of the hip cuts short the disease, relieves pain, and gives a 
better limb than the average result obtained without operation in cases of 
equal severity. 

10. Excision should be looked upon as an ordinary operation for necrosis, 
and the operation itself is not necessarily attended by a higher mortality than 
sequestrotomy elsewhere. 

11. Excision in old pelvic disease, or where the health is broken down, 
or the patient is over fifteen years of age, should be rejected in favour of am- 
putation. 

12. The presence of a sinus after operation, unless there is much dis- 
charge or evidence of extensive pelvic disease, does not imply failure of the 
operation. 

13. The presence of an abscess after a long period of quiescence (resi- 
dual abscess), without other evidence of relapse, is not to be looked upon as 
of serious import. 

Amputation. — The question of amputation at the hip joint for disease is 
one of the highest importance. We must consider not only the unavoidable 
mortality and crippling caused by the disease, but also the interference with 
pleasure and education entailed by long confinement indoors. Where there 
is no reasonable prospect of recovery with a useful limb, amputation must not 
be too summarily set aside. 

There is little doubt that, in cases of extensive disease where the femur 
is necrosed for a long distance and the powers of the patient are inadequate 
to repair it, in cases where descending osteomyelitis occurs, and in cases 
where profuse discharge and amyloid disease come on, amputation should 
be performed. 

In cases of more advanced amyloid disease, unless the powers of the 
child are so enfeebled that the operation will prove fatal by shock, it ought 
also undoubtedly to be done. 

In another class of cases the question is more difficult. Where there is 
disease of the pelvis, is amputation contra-indicated if other conditions re- 
quire it ? We would answer yes, if the pelvic disease extends so widely that 
there is no hope of removing it at all, and the condition is one of caries and 
not necrosis. Where there is caries limited to the neighbourhood of the 
acetabulum, where there is necrosis, or where there is reason to think that 
the disease in the limb is preventing repair in the pelvis, amputation should 
be performed. 

As to the question of saving life, amputation at the hip performed with 
due precautions as to haemorrhage and shock, and special care during the 
first twenty-four hours, is not a very fatal operation in children. 

W^e have amputated in eleven or twelve cases in children. In nearly all 
excision had been previously performed. All of these recovered well from, 
the operation except one who died of haemorrhage. 



Double Hip Disease 619 

The best plan is the oval incision of Furneaux Jordan ; the excision 
wound should be utilised, and the line of section brought as far as possible 
from the anus and vulva. 

Neither the various methods of operation nor the best means of con- 
trolling bleeding are questions suited for discussion here. Elevating the 
limb before operation, and digital pressure with the help of an elastic tourni- 
quet in the early stages of the operation, are as efficient means of controlling 
the haemorrhage as any ; in several cases we have ligatured the femoral or 
external iliac as a preliminary, and think well of this plan. 

If possible, it is, as pointed out by Mr. Shuter, well to preserve as much 
periosteum as possible, and it will be fcund that after excision the bone 
usually very readily separates from the periosteal sheath ; a longer, firmer, 
and more or less mobile stump may be thus obtained. 

Double Hip Disease is not a very rare condition, and we have more than 
once had cases in which the second joint has become diseased while the child 
was lying in bed for the treatment of the first joint. The management of 
these cases is that of the common condition, except that a double Thomas's 
splint is of course required. Double excision is occasionally called for, and 
we have had good results from it ; in one case the child remains sound and 
well, and is able to walk without support. 

Scissor-legg-ed Deformity after Kip Disease. — Mr. Lucas, 1 Dr. Tyson 
of Folkestone, and others have recorded cases where, as a result of double 
hip disease, a peculiar 'cross-legged or scissor-legged deformity' occurs ; 
both legs are adducted, the one in front of the other, and progression takes 
place entirely by movement at the knee joint. It is easy to understand the 
condition by simply walking with the knees crossed over one another. It 
occurs, according to Mr. Lucas, in cases where disease has taken place first 
in one joint, resulting in adduction, and then subsequently in the other joint. 
Other deformities may result from the same condition. 

Tubercular Embolism. — Mention must here be made of instances in which,, 
after some operation upon a local tuberculous lesion, a rapid general tubercu- 
losis is set up and the child speedily dies, often of tubercular meningitis. 
There can be little doubt that in some, at least, of these cases there has been 
a direct infection of the system by the entry into the circulation of tubercular 
emboli from the wound. The only means of avoiding such catastrophes is 
to take care to remove all tuberculous material as thoroughly as possible, 
and to clean the wound efficiently. Happily such an occurrence is rare, but 
we have undoubtedly met with instances of it. 

1 Clin. Soc. Trans. , 1889. 



62C 



CHAPTER XXX. 

SPINAL DISEASE 

Caries of the Spine, Ang-ular Curvature, and Pott's Disease, are terms 
which, as commonly used, include conditions of very varying severity, affect- 
ing several different structures. This is so, since the spinal column is in each 
segment provided with several different articulations, and any of these, as 
well as the bone itself, may become the seat of disease. Thus the mischief 
may begin at the junction of a vertebral body and intervertebral disc, at the 
junction of a vertebral body with its epiphysis, in the centre of a body, or on 
its anterior, posterior, or lateral surfaces ; or, again, the articular processes, 
or their joints, the transverse and spinous processes, may any of them be 
separately diseased. Again, the mode of connection between the skull and 
atlas, the atlas and axis, and the sacral joints implies necessarily varying con- 
ditions from those found in disease of the rest of the column. 

Obviously, the names given to disease of the spine are not equally 
applicable to all these affections ; disease of a spinous or an articular pro- 
cess does not give rise to angular curvature. It is, however, quite the ex- 
ception to find in children disease of the spine affecting any part except the 
bodies and intervertebral discs ; we can only call to mind two cases of dis- 
ease of a spinous process alone, one of which was the following : — 

Case. — Necrosis of the Cervical Spinous Processes. — Edward H. , age 4 years 5 months ; 
admitted July 21, 1882. Six weeks ago a hard lump was noticed at the back of the neck, 
he having, a fortnight before, fallen on the back of his head ; the swelling had gradually 
increased, but he had had neither pain nor tenderness. On admission he was well nou- 
rished ; there was a large fluctuating swelling in the middle of the back of the neck ; it was 
opened antiseptically, and about dr. iij of healthy pus escaped ; the tips of one or more 
spines were bare ; the dressing slipped the next day ; the abscess continued to discharge, 
and he was sent out on August 25 with a jurymast on and a still unhealed sinus. In January 
1883, at Out-Patients', he was nearly well : the movements of the neck were perfect and the 
thickening nearly gone, but there was still a small sinus. Subsequently a sequestrum 
■consisting of the spinous process was removed, and he quite recovered. 

We have never verified a case of disease of a joint between the articular 
processes, and disease of the transverse processes is rare. The atlanto-axial 
and occipito-atlantoid joints are also very rarely affected in children in com- 
parison with caries of the bodies. 

The ordinary form of caries of the spine affecting the bodies or interverte- 
bral discs or both structures is met with in all parts of the spinal column 
from the axis to the sacrum. In a hundred cases taken at random from our 
Out-Patient papers we found eighteen cases of cervical disease, forty-one 
cases where the cervico-dorsal, upper, or mid-dorsal regions were involved, 



Pathology 



62 



thirty-three instances of lower dorsal or dorso-lumbar disease, six of lumbar 
caries, and two of disease of the sacrum. R. W. Parker, as quoted by 
Erichsen, gives the following figures : Cervical nine, dorsal eighty-two, 
dorso-lumbar twenty-one, lumbar or lumbo-sacral thirty-seven, out of 149 
cases. These figures are of some importance, for, in the first place, no 
attempt at removal of diseased bone can be made in the dorsal region, and 
only exceptionally in the cervical part of the spine, while the treatment of 
the disease by apparatus becomes more troublesome as we ascend from the 
mid-dorsal region. Pus is more likely to point externally as lumbar or 
psoas abscess when the lower dorsal 

or lumbar vertebrae are attacked, ==s=§i^k 

though it is not rare for dorsal J^fi^ " 

abscesses to track down the spine. 
Cervical abscesses point in the pha- 
rynx or side of the neck. Lastly, 
occasionally two foci of disease exist, 
as in fig. 136. 

Pathology. — It is probable that 
caries of the spine begins nearly 
always in the body of the vertebra, 
and not in the intervertebral disc 
itself; but it is difficult to be sure of 
the relative frequency of these sites, 
for the mischief soon spreads beyond 
the limits of a vertebra in most in- 
stances. Erichsen considers the epi- 
physial lines, the front of the bodies, 
and the centre of the bodies to be in 
this order the most frequent primary 
seats of disease. Wilks and Moxon 
apparently incline to the belief that 
the bones are the primary seat of 
' scrofulous' disease in children, while 
disease beginning in the discs is a 
separate type of lesion— at all events 
in some cases the result simply of 
injury ; probably the seat of disease 
varies. In most cases the lesion is 
an ordinary tuberculous disease of 

bone, rarefying ostitis being found in some parts, while in others caries 
necrotica or more extensive necrosis exists. Although a large number of 
patients, the subject of caries of the spine, never develop external abscesses, 
it by no means follows that no suppuration takes place ; large collections of 
pus may form beneath the anterior common ligament in the dorsal region 
without ever discharging, and may, like abscesses elsewhere, dry up and 
remain as cheesy or calcareous masses. More rarely the abscess may empty 
itself into the lung or intestine ; the latter result we have seen in a case of 
lumbar caries and in sacral disease, and it is probably more common than is 
supposed, the pus in the motions being overlooked or put down to enteritis. 




-Caries of the Spine, 
foci of disease. 



how ins; two 



622 Spinal Disease 

In other instances caries of the spine, like caries elsewhere, may be through- 
out unattended with any pus formation (caries sicca). 

There is often a discharge of small sequestra from spinal abscesses, and 
sometimes fair-sized pieces of dead bone come away or are extracted, but 
this is not common. 1 

Pus from a lesion in one part of the spine may track downwards and give 
rise to a second focus of disease lower down, but sometimes, as in fig. 136, 
the two foci are quite independent and isolated from one another ; in the 
case from which the figure was taken the lower patch of disease developed 
first. 

In some instances disease may begin as a simple non-tuberculous 
inflammation, the result of injury as already mentioned ; this is not, however, 
common in children in our experience, since in them the disease usually 
runs the course of tuberculous lesions generally. Cases of spinal curvature, 
due to the lesions of congenital syphilis, are also described. 

Abscess. — Pus in connection with spinal caries usually burrows along 
certain definite lines determined by muscular and fascial barriers ; thus in the 
neck, abscesses are either praevertebral, bulging forwards into the pharynx, 
as in atlanto-axial disease, or point at the side in the posterior triangle, just 
behind the sterno-mastoid, sometimes on both sides. 

In the lower cervical and upper dorsal regions the abscesses, if they exist, 
rarely point externally, but if they do so either track down the spine and 
appear as lumbar or psoas abscesses, or perforate an intercostal or intertrans- 
verse space and appear in the back. Abscess in upper dorsal caries com- 
paratively rarely points externally. Dorsal and lumbar caries commonly 
gives rise to psoas abscess, the pus getting into the sheath of the muscle at 
its upper attachment and burrowing down within it, often entirely destroying 
the muscle itself; it then may either pass outwards into the iliac fossa, 
beneath the iliac fascia, and form a swelling there (iliac abscess), or, travelling 
on beneath Poupart's ligament, bulge in the thigh on the outer side of the 
femoral sheath as a psoas abscess. Often, however, though forming a col- 
lection in front, the matter does not point there, but, passing on behind the 
vessels towards the lesser trochanter, appears at the back of the thigh as a 
gluteal abscess. In other instances the pus finds its way round the edge of 
the quadratus lumborum and through the transversalis aponeurosis, perhaps 
in the course of a branch of a lumbar artery, and points in the back (lumbar 
abscess). Again, the pus may gravitate backwards into the pelvis and escape 
through the sciatic notch, appearing as another form of gluteal abscess. We 
have seen an abscess bulging at both sciatic foramina, so that fluctuation 
could be felt across the cavity of the pelvis. Less often the abscess descends 
over the iliac crest on its outer aspect, or burrows forwards between the 
layers of the abdominal wall. Once it has reached the thigh, matter may 
track down it for an indefinite distance. 

Beformity. — In most cases caries of the spine sooner or later gives rise 
to angular deformity (kyphosis). This is, of course, due to destruction of 
the bodies of one or more vertebras, and consequent collapse of the column ; 
or possibly, to a certain extent, is caused by muscular contraction drawing 

1 As in the well-known instances of the odontoid process coming away entire through 
the pharynx. 



Deformity in Spinal Caries 623 

together the adjacent bodies, the spines being thereby made to project 
posteriorly. The amount of deformity in such cases varies from a mere faint 
prominence of one vertebral spine, only to be recognised by careful observa- 
tion, to a great prominent ' knuckle ' involving six or eight vertebrae. When 
the disease is in the dorsal region, the falling together of the vertebral bodies 
produces a corresponding chest deformity ; the ribs are brought close 
together, the shoulders are raised and the head looks sunken between them, 
the antero-posterior diameter of the chest being increased at the expense of 
the vertical. 

In the cervical region the deformity is usually much less marked ; some- 
times, however, there is a prominent angular curvature, and the head is 
drooped forwards with the chin upon the sternum ; or the head and upper 
cervical vertebra? are poked forwards with a projection backwards at the 
root of the neck. 

It must be remembered, however, that these deformities only occur in 
an advanced stage of destruction, and only when the whole breadth of a 
vertebra is eaten away ; thus, disease of one side or the posterior part of a 
body may exist without any angular deformity, and in some instances the 
spine is recurved, so that the convexity is forwards instead of backwards ; 
this is most commonly seen in the cervical region : we have, however, seen 
it in the lumbar vertebrae too. In such cases the bending is never sharply 
angular, but is due to spasm of the posterior spinal muscles ; it can rarely, 
if ever, be due to destruction of bone, for to produce such result, not only 
the bodies but the arches of the vertebrae would have to be destroyed : the 
condition is generally merely an exaggeration of the normal curves. 

Since there is a physiological curve with its convexity forwards in the 
cervical and lumbar regions, a certain amount of destruction of the vertebral 
bodies has the effect of merely straightening these curves, and it is only 
when considerable erosion has taken place that a curve with its convexity 
backwards is produced. 

Extensive disease of the posterior parts of the bodies may, of course, 
exist without any curvature, and in such cases the inflammatory material 
poured out may produce pressure on the cord or nerves, or inflammation 
by extension ; hence the old saying, ' the less the deformity, the more the 
paralysis.' 1 Paralysis in such cases is probably hardly ever due to bony 
pressure, since the spinal canal is not encroached upon ; this is only likely to 
occur where a sequestrum is pushed into the canal. 2 Lateral curvature 
sometimes results from destruction of the sides of the bodies and consequent 
collapse ; more often, however, any lateral curvature that does exist is a result 
of ligamentous and muscular weakness, and as such is a true lateral curvature. 

Before there is any permanent deformity from loss of material, certain 
characteristic attitudes are assumed by the subjects of spinal disease. In 
caries of the cervical spine the child often supports his head with his hands, 
to lighten the pressure upon the diseased spot and prevent any sudden jar, 
and is slow and careful in turning round and stooping. Where the dorsal or 

1 It is also a matter of frequent observation that paraplegia and abscess are rarely 
associated. 

2 Paraplegia is commoner in cervical and upper dorsal caries than in disease lower 
down. 



624 



Spinal Disease 



lumbar regions are involved, instead of bending the spine to reach any object 
upon the floor, the child bends the knees and hips, and so brings down the 
hands, and at every opportunity assumes the resting position shown in fig. T37. 
It is most important to distinguish angular curvature from lateral curva- 
ture and from rickety spine. It is only in the very early and very late 
stages of disease that there is likely to be any doubt whether a case is one 
of lateral or angular curvature ; in ordinary well-marked cases the distinc- 
tion is clear enough. In some old cases of lateral curvature, very sharp 
bends in the spine are much like angular deformity ; and again, we have 
more than once seen cases where there was an early lateral curve and 

no symptoms pointing to caries, yet 




in a few months undoubted caries 
appeared. Careful and repeated ob- 
necessary 



servations are, therefore. 



if there is any possibility of doubt, 
and it must be remembered that the 
two affections may co-exist. Ordi- 
narily a diagnosis is readily made by 
the presence in the one of a lateral 
curve and of rotation, and by the 
fact that the curve in caries is abrupt, 
in lateral curvature gradual, as well 
as by the presence or absence of the 
other symptoms of caries mentioned. 1 
The rickety spine is distinguished 
by its being a general rounded curve, 
by the absence of rigidity, by the 
disappearance of the curve when the 
child is held so that no weight comes 
upon the spine, by the evidences of 
rickets elsewhere, and the absence of 
the characteristics of caries. Caries 
also is very rare in the first two 
years of life, rickety spine much 
more common during that period. 

With these exceptions and the 
possible ones of an old fracture or 
dislocation, or congenital undue pro- 
minence of certain spines, or the development of bursas over the spines, the 
result of friction or pressure, angular deformity may be taken as pathogno- 
monic of caries either present or pre-existing. 

Abscess is not by itself a certain indication, since it may be due to many 
other causes than spinal caries ; still, the presence of a lumbar, gluteal, iliac, 
psoas, post-pharyngeal, or cervical abscess should always lead to a careful 
examination of the spine. It must be remembered that pelvic disease, 
glandular, perityphlitic, perisigmoid, and perinephritic abscesses, empyema, 
carious ribs, sacro-iliac and hip disease, &c, may give rise to suppuration, 



-^m^^mk 



Fig. 137. — Caries of the Spine, showing a cha- 
racteristic resting attitude, which should be 
contrasted with the rickety spine seen in fig. 70, 



1 See also a paper by Lovett of New York, 1890. 



Symptoms of Spinal Caries 625 

which may point in positions identical with those in which spinal abscesses 
may find outlet. 

Rigidity is a most important sign of spinal disease, important all the 
more because it is an early one ; the stiffness is due to spasm of the spinal 
muscles, just as in disease of any other joint. Rigidity is best tested by 
stripping the child and putting some object upon the floor for him to pick 
up ; by watching carefully it will be seen whether the whole spine bends as 
in health, or whether it is held stiff and immovable in any part. 1 Absence 
of flexibility is, taken alone, the most valuable sign of caries except deformity. 
In the cervical region, muscular spasm may give rise to wry neck, in- 
ability to nod or to turn the head round, according to the part involved. 

Besides contraction of the posterior spinal muscles, there maybe rigidity 
of the ilio-psoas, causing flexion of, and inability to straighten, one or both 
legs ; this usually means that a psoas abscess is beginning to form, and the 
muscles are rigid in consequence of irritation, or kept voluntarily contracted 
to prevent pressure upon the abscess. Local rigidity of the lumbar muscles 
or of certain of the posterior spinal muscles will sometimes be found ; thus 
the erector spinae may be seen tightly contracted and standing out promi- 
nently just above the sacrum. 

The test of bending the body backwards is more applicable to adults 
than to children, in whom it is difficult to estimate amounts of pain ; it 
should, however, always be employed. 

Muscular wasting occurs in spinal as in other joint diseases, but is rarely 
well marked, except when the disease is far advanced, and hence is not of 
great value alone as a symptom. 

Dysphagia may result from pressure by an abscess upon the pharynx or 
oesophagus, or dyspnoea from pressure upon the trachea or lungs or upon the 
recurrent laryngeal nerves in disease lower down ; so too, possibly, extensive 
.abscess in the chest may give rise to physical signs, dulness, &c. 2 

Large abdominal abscesses may produce pressure effects upon vessels 
and viscera, but these are rare results. Abdominal distention from flatu- 
lence may be due either to pressure upon nerves or to failure of the digestive 
powers in later stages, or to coincident tubercular disease of the intestines, 
mesenteric glands, &c. 

The subjective symptoms of spinal caries are pain and loss of sensation. 
Pain may be acute or nothing more than a feeling of tiredness or aching ; it 
is usually an early and prominent symptom ; it may, however, be entirely 
absent, just as in some instances of chronic joint disease elsewhere. Usually 
there is pain over the affected spot, increased by pressure or jarring of the 
spine, such as may occur in jumping, or suddenly stepping down from a 
height ; in caries of the cervical spine, pressure upon the top of the head 
often causes suffering, and in any part of the column flexion or rotation 
movements may be painful. 

Further, there is usually pain in the course of the nerves passing out 
from the diseased area ; thus, in dorsal caries there is pain at the sternum 
or in the side ; in dorso-lumbar disease there is abdominal pain ('girdle 

1 Healthy children freely bend their spines, but in order to fully test the mobility of the 
column the child should be told to keep its knees straight. 

2 This is, however, more likely to be due to enlarged mediastinal glands. 

S S 



626 Spinal Disease 

pain ;' so called 'dry belly-ache'). Pains in the limbs, shooting down the 
legs over the distribution of the sacral and lumbar plexuses, and similarly in 
the arms, may be met with. Any obscure pain should always be carefully 
traced to its source by searching along the whole course of the affected nerve 
up to its origin. Thus, pain in the back of the head, so-called ' headache/ 
may be due to pressure upon the occipital nerves, and so on. 1 

The anaesthesia and paresthesia due to spinal caries are either the result 
of pressure upon the theca or nerves or of inflammation spreading from the 
bone to the meninges or cord, and will be found described in Chapter XXV. 

Pain in the spine is sometimes increased by the application of warmth, 
e.g. a hot sponge applied over the diseased part, but the symptom is not 
constant nor of any great value. In some instances we have found herpes 
zoster occurring in connection with caries of the spine, and it is worth while 
to examine the spine in cases of shingles, since the eruption may be a result 
of lesions starting in the spinal column. 

The conditions most likely to be confounded with spinal disease are, in 
the neck, sprains or stiff neck from cold, reflex irritation, &c, glandular 
inflammation, and cervical cellulitis. The ' vertebra prominens ' should be 
remembered, and the ease with which the cervical transverse processes can 
be felt ; there is often a deceptive feeling of thickening about the cervical 
vertebrae which is apt to mislead unless comparison is made with a healthy 
neck. In caries thickening will be felt. In glandular abscess the glands 
themselves can usually be felt to be enlarged, and generally the pain is 
most marked or only exists on one side, whereas in caries there is usually 
tenderness on pressure on both sides. This, with the other symptoms already 
mentioned, will serve to distinguish between the two conditions. Prever- 
tebral abscess, though often due to spinal disease, may be the result of 
several other lesions ; vide p. 65. 

Caries of the dorsal and lumbar spine has already had its distinguishing 
features pointed out ; it is only necessary to add that in all cases search 
should be made for evidence of abscess deep in the abdomen, since large 
collections of matter sometimes form very insidiously. 

Complications. — In addition to the troubles arising directly from the 
spinal lesion other complications may arise ; thus the vertebral disease may 
be only a part of a general tuberculosis in which viscera or bones and joints- 
other than the spine may be involved. Sometimes a psoas abscess in track- 
ing down gives rise to disease of the sacro-iliac or hip joints (vide Hip 
Disease). As a result of pressure upon or inflammation of the spinal cord 
and its membranes cystitis or paralysis of the bladder may result ; bedsores, 
may form both as a consequence of pressure and from the nerve lesions. 
Exhaustion, hectic, lardaceous disease, and general tuberculosis are the 
most common causes of death, though it must not be forgotten that sudden 
death may occur from displacement, the result of softened ligaments, in the 
upper cervical spine, or from bursting of an abscess into the air passages, or 
ulceration into a large vessel. In other instances pyemia or some inter- 
current disease cuts life short. 

Paraplegia may occur in the course of spinal disease as a result of pres- 

1 For illustrations of these peripheral pains the reader is referred to Mr. Hilton's 
admirable book, Rest and Pain, edited by Mr. Jacobson. 



Mode of Repair in Spinal Caries 62J 

sure from inflammatory exudation poured out into the spinal canal, from 
effusion pressing upon the nerve roots, an occurrence met with in the cervical 
region ('cervical paraplegia' of Gull), from necrosis and projection of a 
sequestrum into the canal, or rarely from the angular bending of the spinal 
column. Paraplegia occurs most frequently in cases of caries of some part 
above the lower dorsal spine, more rarely in lumbar disease. The degree of 
paralysis varies from mere weakness with paresthesia to complete paralysis 
of the lower limbs, the bladder, and rectum, or in rare cases the paraplegia 
may be complete below the lower cervical region. There are loss of power, 
diminished sensibility, exaggeration of the reflexes, more or less contraction 
of the limbs, and in cases where the cervical or lumbar enlargement of the 
cord is involved actual muscular degeneration. Pain may or may not be pre- 
sent. For details vide Chapter on Nervous Diseases ; Paraplegia, p. 491. 

Mode of repair. — Repair in the spine takes place just as in other joints ; 
the carious or necrotic process ceases, and the tissue injured beyond recovery 
is either thrown off and comes away in the discharge, or is encysted and 
remains quiescent, giving rise to no more irritation. The granulation tissue 
either develops into fibrous tissue or ossifies, and the adjacent bone surfaces 
are welded together ; in addition to this bony splints and buttresses are 
developed around the diseased spot and further strengthen it. 

It is possible in very early stages for the inflammation to subside, and 
the parts to return to their original healthy condition ; but once there is loss 
of substance the curvature is never lost, though the spine may appear 
straighter from development of compensatory curves, or from straightening 
out of other mere transitory yieldings due to muscular and ligamentous 
weakness. 

Treatment. — Disease of the spine requires treatment on exactly the same 
principles as disease of other joints, viz. rest and general hygienic measures, 
with such management of abscesses as each case may demand. 

The general treatment need not be specified here further than to say 
that nutritious and careful diet, iron, and cod-liver oil, together with good 
and, if possible, sea air, are the desiderata. The difficulties arise in 
obtaining rest and in the treatment of abscesses. Rest implies absolute 
fixation of the diseased part : this requires different arrangements in caries 
of the upper and lower parts of the spine. In cervical caries the best plan of 
treatment is to put the child on a hard mattress, with a small pillow 1 to fit 
in between the shoulders and occiput so as just to support the spine without 
straining it ; sandbags not too tightly filled are then laid along each side of 
the neck, packed well in, and secured by one placed across above the top 
of the head ; a folded handkerchief should be carried across the forehead 
and fastened to the sandbags at the side to prevent any possible lifting 
of the head. Arrangements should be made for defaecation, &c, without 
disturbing the child, by providing a hole in the mattress or a separate part 
in the middle that can be slid out. We know no better plan than this 2 
where it can be carried out rigidly, but it is difficult to manage for a sufficient 
time. As soon as repair has fairly advanced, as evidenced by absence of 
pain for some weeks previously, loss of tenderness, and diminution of 

1 A ring air or water cushion for the head answers very well. 

2 As advised by Mr. Hilton. 

S S 2 



628 



Spinal Disease 



thickening, with drying up of any abscesses that may have formed, the child 
should have on a stiff leather or poroplastic collar moulded carefully to the 
neck and occiput, and shaped to the shoulders below ; he may then begin 
gently and carefully to get about for a short time daily, but on the least 
sign of pain or swelling the original plan must be reverted to. 

Or a jurymast may be applied with a plaster or felt jacket, either in the 
original form devised by Say-re, or of a shape we prefer as less troublesome, 
and we think more efficient, as shown in fig. 138 ■; this form has the advan- 
tage of providing elastic support, of not requiring to be made of steel, and 
of not tending to press upon the vertex. The jurymast must be carefully 
modelled to the particular case, and never removed, but the straps kept just 
taut. Failing the treament in bed, the jurymast is, we 
think, as good a plan as any, though it is troublesome 
to manage. Various other methods, such as inflatable 
rubber collars, sawdust collars, &c, are used with ad- 
vantage in suitable cases, i.e. when the disease is sub- 
siding. Extension of the head by weights, the trunk 
being fixed, is sometimes usefully employed, but re- 
quires care not to overstretch the softened ligaments. 
Caries in the upper and mid-dorsal regions requires 
as absolute recumbency as cervical disease, but it may 
be either in the prone or supine position, and sand- 
bags are not required ; the child should be fastened 
doAvn by the simple plan shown in fig. 132 if he can- 
not be trusted to lie still. The jurymast plan is 
applicable, of course, to these cases as well, and must 
be used in any case where the ordinary jacket cannot 
be so applied as to carry the weight of the upper part 
of the body. 

The ordinary plaster of Paris Sayre's jacket is in 
our opinion the best appliance for spinal caries in the 
lower dorsal and lumbar regions. In acute and rapidly 
progressing cases a period of recumbency should be 
insisted on, either with or without the jacket. Certain 
points are essential in the use of this appliance. 1. Any 
sharply projecting spines must be protected by pad- 
ding round them, and by careful moulding of the 
plaster to avoid pressure. 2. The jacket must reach 
well up to the root of the neck in front and behind, 
being shaped out in the axillae ; this may be done by 
carrying the bandages crosswise over the shoulders and cutting out the 
cervical part afterwards, or by careful adjustment of the turns without crossing 
the shoulders. 3. The lower border of the jacket must come down well over 
the crest of the ilium, so as to distribute the pressure and prevent the forma- 
tion of sores on the crest and iliac spines. In fact, the jacket must be 
closely fitting and envelope the whole spine from neck to pelvis, and not be, 
as it too often is, a mere wisp round the waist. We generally apply these 
jackets in the out-patients' room, with the child lying on its face across two 
chairs with a gap between them ; the tripod may, of course, be used, but 
with the greatest caution, to prevent any stretching, and it must be remem- 




Fig. 138. — A Jurymast for 
Cervical or Upper Dorsal 
Caries. The altered shape 
of the upright makes it 
easier to fit, and it is not 
necessary to have it of 
steel ; it also prevents fall- 
ing forward of the head 
without making absolutely 
vertical traction. The 
spring of the steel is re- 
placed by elastic cords in 
the straps which have been 
omitted from the figure for 
the sake of clearness. 



Splints for Spinal Disease 



bered that the point in applyin 



12" a 



629 

- jacket is to fix the spine and prevent any 
further pressure, not to pull the surfaces apart-it would be as rational to 
put on powerful extension and counter-extension after excision of the knee 
dragging the bones away from one another, as to try to extend a carious 



Cg^tl 




( \\ 




0IE3 



6 — L -€3 f^-^} 




rT^ 



C5- 




D E F 

Fig. 139. — Patterns of Splints for Spinal Caries, Laminectomy, &c. a, for fixing head, trunk, and 
lower limbs ; b, for dorso-lumbar caries ; c, for upper dorsal ; d, for dorsal disease ; e, for dorso- 
lumbar laminectomy ; F, for fixing whole trunk and lower limbs in a case of lumbar or gluteal 
abscess, &c. These appliances are all Thomas's splints or modifications of them. 

spine. Of the various modifications of the jacket we have no experience, as 
we are quite satisfied with the results of the 100 jackets a year we use. With 
careful management a jacket will last from nine months to a year if the 
child does not grow out of it, but usually hospital patients require new 
ones every two or three months. The plan of putting on two jerseys and 



630 



Spinal Disease 



changing the inner one by tacking a new one to its lower edge, and then draw- 
ing it upwards beneath the jacket by pulling the old one over the head, is 
ingenious and saves frequent changing in some cases. Pain, after a jacket is 
put on, usually means pressure at some point, and should lead to careful ex- 
amination : if at the hips or axillae, it may be relieved by judicious packing 
or cutting out ; if in the back, the jacket must be removed, or it will cause 

sores. Free dusting between the jersey and 
the skin with powdered boracic acid, or, in 
dirty people, with pulv. hyd. amnion., is useful. 
From six to eight bandages are usually re- 
quired for a jacket in a child ; they should 
be applied in spirals so as to cross and 
strengthen one another, and care must be 
taken not to allow the edges to be thin and 
weak. ' Dinner pads ' are not necessary if 
the bandages are put on judiciously ; a soft 
patch in the jacket over the abdomen does 
not demand a re-application so long as the 
rest of the jacket is firm. In some cases, 
where, from the presence of abscesses in the 
back, or co-existent hip disease, or flexion of 
the legs from psoas abscess, a jacket is inap- 
plicable, we use a double Thomas's hip splint 
and find it very useful ; it ensures recum- 
bency, keeps the spine at rest, extends the 
legs, and does not interfere with dressings 
nor require removal (figs. 139, 140). 1 

Poroplastic and other jackets have only 
doubtful advantages over the original Sayre's, 
and have many drawbacks ; they are rather 
applicable as protections after consolidation 
has taken place than as a mode of treatment 
for active disease. Of the various special 
apparatus we can only speak in the same 
terms, but not from actual experience of 
them ; we have never been tempted to try 
them. 

If it were possible to reach and remove 
the source of suppuration in all cases, the 
management of spinal abscess would be that 
of all other abscesses in connection with bone 
disease, but the question is not a simple one, 
and each case has to be judged for itself. 
In cervical disease, as a rule, all abscesses should be opened as soon as 
they develop, for they are apt to track widely down the neck or, pointing 
in the pharynx, to become septic or a source of danger from pressure. Hence 
antiseptic incision, by dissection at the posterior border of the sternomastoid, 

1 Should the child be fit to be on its legs, it can get about, with crutches, in a double 
Thomas's. 




Fig. 140.— Caries of the Spine, with 
, double ilio-lumbar abscess, treated by 

the application of a double Thomas's 

splint. 



Spinal Abscess 631 

is the best treatment. In one case, where the disease was of the spinous 
process alone, we opened the abscess, and later removed the necrosed spine ; 
and this, perhaps, might sometimes be done in necrosis of the bodies as pro- 
posed by Mr. Treves more especially for lumbar necrosis. Opening the 
abscess in the pharynx is not a good plan, and should only be done in an 
emergency where the pressure is threatening suffocation ; even then we 
should prefer to do tracheotomy and then open the abscess in the neck at 
leisure, allowing the tracheotomy wound to close. 

Abscess in the dorsal region is not very common ; if due to disease of a 
spinous, transverse, or articular process, the seat of disease may be reached ; 
if of a body, this is hardly practicable unless possibly after resection of a rib, 
and is probably not desirable. Abscess pointing in the lumbar, iliac, or psoas 
area is the condition most commonly met with ; as to its treatment, our 
opinion is that if the abscess is on the point of bursting, or gives rise to much 
pain, or is rapidly increasing, it should be opened at once with full antiseptic 
precautions — the opening being made in the loin if there is any cavity there 
of sufficient size, or, if not, in some cases it is a good plan to pass a long probe 
from the lower opening, iliac, psoas, or gluteal, as the case may be, and cut 
down upon it in the loin. Where the abscess is chronic, stationary, or only 
slowly increasing, where no adequate treatment has been hitherto adopted, and 
there is not much pain, it is wiser, in our opinion, to wait. The pus may be 
absorbed, there may be no sequestra to keep up irritation, and the caries may 
subside with rest, while we cannot remove the disease if it does not subside. 
When once opened there is always the possibility of dressings slipping and 
the wound getting foul, with the usual result of slowly progressive or acute 
septic poisoning. As long as the child is not going downhill, it is, we think, 
wiser to leave well alone. All spinal abscesses, if opened at all, should be 
•dealt with by the method already mentioned as suitable for chronic abscesses 
elsewhere, i.e. they should be opened freely, all their contents thoroughly 
scraped, wiped, and washed out ; the wall of the abscess being thoroughly 
cleaned, the cavity should then be injected with iodoform emulsion and the 
wound closed. Should there be subsequently evidence of sepsis from im- 
perfect management of the wound, it must be opened and drained, but this 
must be looked upon as a serious disaster. If however the wound heals with- 
out fever, but the abscess gradually refills, the failure is due merely to incom- 
plete removal of the diseased material, and the operation must be repeated as 
often as fluid recollects. As to lumbar exploration and removal of seques- 
tra, the plan introduced by Mr. Treves, we confess we rather agree with 
Mr. Owen that, while opening the abscess as near the seat of disease as pos- 
sible is of course good, it is but rarely that we can hope to make out the 
exact condition of parts or find the sequestra in situ, and the method is, as 
already pointed out, only applicable to lumbar disease. Nevertheless the 
abscess should be explored with the finger in order to ascertain the size, 
shape, and relations of the cavity, as well as to reach, if possible, the original 
seat of the disease, and remove any sequestra and scrape or sponge out any 
caseous lymph lying loose in the abscess cavity. This is, of course, quite a 
different matter from cutting down upon the vertebral bodies. 

Where paraplegia occurs strict recumbency in bed should be the treat- 
ment, with very careful general management and the utmost watchfulness to 



632 Spinal Disease 

avoid bedsores. All discharges must be carefully cleaned away and the 
parts kept dry and powdered with boracic acid. Occasional washings with 
strong spirit tend to harden the skin and prevent pressure sores. Any con- 
tractures of the limbs should be prevented as far as possible by suitable 
appliances. The internal administration of large doses of iodide of potassium 
is highly recommended by our friend Dr. Gibney of New York, but it has 
failed in our own hands. Mercury may be tried with advantage in some cases. 
Counter-irritation in the form of blisters or the actual cautery is sometimes 
of service. Where the paraplegia resists all treatment for a long time, the 
question of trephining the spine (' laminectomy') and removing the source of 
pressure is to be considered. In one case in which we operated we removed 
a thick layer of lymph from within the spinal canal, and a paraplegia of six 
months' standing, which had resisted all other modes of treatment, at once 
began to improve, but the benefit was only temporary. Dr. Macewen has re- 
corded some successful cases {vide Address, ' Brit. Med. Jour.,' Aug. 1 1, 1888). 
Within the last year or two a great impetus has been given to this operation, 
and sufficient success has been obtained to fully justify it in cases where 
paraplegia does not improve by rest. The cord may be compressed by 
sequestra or by an extradural abscess, or possibly by distortion of the spine, 
but most commonly the pressure is due to effusion of thick tough lymph 
on the surface of the theca. For details of the operation we must refer to 
the special works on operative surgery. After the operation some such 
apparatus as that figured (fig. 139, A, C, orE) should be applied until the parts 
have consolidated. Our own experience is that the operation is seldom called 
for, and that the great majority of cases of compression paraplegia improve 
by continuous rest in bed. 

Disease of the sacrum, with abscess pointing into the rectum, is a des- 
perate condition. The abscess is certain to be septic, and can only be 
reached through the rectum until it has burrowed down to the sciatic notch, 
or unless it points at the back, as it may do. In one case we tried to remove 
the disease, but in consequence of an abnormal patency of the theca below 
its normal point it was wounded, and the child died of meningitis ; the ftost- 
mortem showed that any such operation would have been exceedingly 
difficult, and probably impracticable. 

The prognosis in spinal disease depends upon the stage to which the 
mischief has advanced, the presence of other tubercular lesions, and the 
amount of care that can be bestowed upon the case. It is not necessarily 
bad, and under favourable circumstances is decidedly good ; but from one 
to three years' treatment or even more is required. 

Atlanto-axial disease is, as already remarked, rare in children ; it is essen- 
tially the same disease as tuberculosis of any other joint, but its importance 
depends upon the effects liable to follow softening of the ligaments and 
sudden displacement of the odontoid process, viz. sudden death from pressure 
upon the upper cervical cord. Occipital pain, rigidity and thickening of the 
neck, with perhaps paresis, are the general symptoms ; there maybe special 
difficulty in rotating the head. The general rules for cervical caries apply 
in other respects to this locality. 

Disease of the costo-vertebral articulations sometimes occurs, either 
alone, or as a result of extension from disease of the spine or a rib. Pain, 



Costo-Vertebral Disease 633 

which may be radiating, and formation of abscess, are usually the only 
symptoms by which the disease can be recognised. The abscess may point 
either in the back or lumbar region ; possibly some cases of psoas abscess 
depend upon this lesion. It is likely to be mistaken for spinal caries, but 
the absence of curvature, the slight, if any, rigidity, and the unilateral pain 
and suppuration, as well as the results of exploration, will probably enable 
the difficulty to be cleared up. Fixation in a plaster jacket with, if 
necessary, a window for discharge, or, better still, one of the appliances 
figured (fig. 139), is the best treatment if the disease is intractable. 



634 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

CLUB-FOOT, DEFORMITIES OF LIMBS, ETC. 

The deformity known as club-foot or talipes may be congenital or acquired. 
The varieties of the congenital affection are named as follows : — 

Talipes varus 



" . the simple forms. 

„ equinus r 

„ calcaneus i 

Talipes equino-varus ) ., , , 

1 \ r the compound forms. 

„ calcaneo-valgus I 

Talipes cavus may be simple or associated with equino-varus or equinus. 

The only common form of club-foot is equino-varus ; this deformity is 
sometimes called simply varus, but, inasmuch as the distortion is a compound 
one in almost all cases, we shall consider it under the more accurate title — 
and this is the more necessary, since its successful treatment largely depends 
upon recognition of this complexity. Calcaneo-valgus is the next most 
common form ; the others are only occasionally met with, and as great 
rarities anomalous forms such as calcaneo-varus and equino-valgus are seen. 

The general appearance of congenital equino-varus is seen in the figures. 
The heel is drawn up (equinus) and the anterior half of the foot is adducted 
and rotated inwards upon an antero-posterior axis, the adduction and 
rotation taking place at the transverse tarsal joint. Considering this 
deformity more in detail, it will be found that abnormalities exist in the 
muscles, ligaments, bones, and fasciae of the foot, and, though the subject 
has long been under investigation, we owe to Mr. Parker and Mr. Shattock 
our most recent information upon the share taken by these several structures 
in the maintenance of the malposition. We use the word ' maintenance ' to 
show that we believe that the deformity is due to persistent fixation of the 
foot in a distorted attitude rather than to any active displacement caused by 
muscular or ligamentous contraction. In describing the anatomy of talipes 
we acknowledge freely our indebtedness to Mr. Parker's work. 1 

In talipes equino-varus the posterior ligament of the ankle joint, the 
anterior part of the internal lateral ligament, and the astragalo-scaphoid and 
inferior calcaneo-scaphoid- ligaments are those which are especially tight. In 
addition to these the plantar ligaments and plantar fascia help to maintain 
the concavity of the sole of the foot which co-exists with the equino-varus. 

1 Congenital Club-foot, 1887. 

2 Constituting the ' astragalo-scaphoid capsule ' of Parker. 



Talipes Equino- Varus 



635 



In severe cases the whole of the ligaments on the inner side of the foot are 
shortened, and there may be adventitious fibrous bands. 

Besides the ligamentous structures, the tibialis posticus and anticus, as 
well as the flexors of the toes, the short muscles of the sole, and the muscles 
of the calf acting upon the tendo Achillis, contribute to the maintenance of 
the deformity, though it has been shown that, with the exception of the 
tendo Achillis, all the rest may be divided, and yet, unless the ligaments are 
also cut, but little effect can be produced upon the malposition. This is, 
however, not always the case, and it is probable that the share taken by the 
different factors in talipes is not always the same. Mr. Parker places the 
resisting structures in equino-varus in early life in the following order of 
importance : — 

(1) The astragalo-scaphoid capsule. (2) The tendo Achillis. (3) The 
skin of the inner border of the foot. (4) The bony framework of the foot. 
(5) The other ligaments and muscles. 





141. — Severe Talipes Equino- Varus. 



Fig. 142. — Very severe Talipes Equino- 
Varus. 



As to the bones the trochlear surface of the astragalus is increased poste- 
riorly and diminished in front, and the neck of the astragalus is lengthened 
and directed more obliquely inwards than normal ; the articular surface 
on the head lies further inwards than usual. The ' calcaneum lies in a 
position of exaggerated rotation inwards beneath the astragalus, and in 
one case was found fused with the navicular.' The lower ends of the tibia 
and fibula are rotated inwards. The exact form of the astragalus appears to 
vary with the severity of the case. 

The drawing up of the os calcis tends to throw the head of the astragalus 
downwards, and the front of the foot is inverted at the transverse tarsal 
joint, and so the scaphoid slips partially off the astragalus and comes to 



636 Club-Foot, Deformities of Limbs, &c. 

articulate with the tibia. The cuboid, cuneiform, and metatarsals are also 
rotated inwards, and further retracted by the long and short muscles so as 
to contract the sole of the foot, thus producing cavus. In some cases all 
the tarsal bones show a tendency to curvature with the concavity inwards, 
and the direction of their articular surfaces is altered. The fibula may lie 
entirely behind the tibia, and the tendo Achillis, being brought close to the 
inner ankle, may lie nearer the posterior tibial artery than in the normal 
foot. In a case we dissected the flexor longus digitorum lay directly over 
the tibialis posticus. Bursas are found over the prominences of the foot, 
and may exist even in intra-uterine life. 

In early stages and slight cases it appears that the astragalus is natural 
in appearance, in more severe deformity it is wasted and the neck deviates ; 
there is not, however, any constant relation between deviation of the neck 
and deformity. In one case that we have seen the rotation of the foot in- 
wards was, we thought, at the scapho-cuneifonn, not at the transverse tarsal 
joint. The ordinary result of these changes is adduction and rotation 
inwards of the front half of the foot, with elevation of the heel (figs. 141, 142). 

In valgus the whole foot is everted at the ankle or the subastragaloid 
joint, as well as rotated outwards at the transverse tarsal joint ; 1 and, further, 
the sole is flattened, or in infants oftener convex downwards, the tibialis posti- 
cus and calcaneo-scaphoid ligaments being stretched and the peronei 
shortened. 

In equinus the tendo Achillis and posterior ligament of the ankle joint 
are shortened and the astragalus is drawn back, so that only the front of the 
trochlea is between the malleoli ; there are other less important displace- 
ments of other tendons. 2 Talipes equinus is said to be an exceedingly 
rare condition as a congenital deformity ; we have seen a very pure example, 
in which intra-uterine pressure marks upon the knees and shoulders were 
very obvious. In calcaneus the chief contracted structures are the ex- 
tensors of the great and lesser toes, the tibialis anticus, and the anterior 
ligament of the ankle joint ; thus the foot is flexed upon the leg, and the patient 
walks upon the heel ; the front of the foot may be much atrophied. The 
trochlear surface of the astragalus is prolonged forwards as far as the navicular 
facet, and the inner malleolar surface is prolonged forwards (Parker and 
Shattock). We have noticed extreme projection backwards of the os calcis 
in congenital calcaneus, as if the foot was partially dislocated backwards at 
the ankle, a deep depression existing over the front of the joint. Hollow 
club-foot (cavus) depends upon shortening of the muscles of the sole of the 
foot and the plantar ligaments, as well as the flexors of the toes, the tendo 
Achillis, and the tibialis posticus. By the arching of the foot and the drawing 
up of the heel the extensors of the toes are put upon the stretch, and hence 
the toes are drawn up in hyper-extension, so that the deformity known as 
' hollow claw-foot ' is usually produced. 

The compound forms of talipes need no special description, as they 
consist of combinations of the simple varieties. 3 

Etiology. — Many theories have been proposed to account for the occur- 

1 So that valgus is not the exact opposite of varus. 

2 Vide Mr. Parker's book. 

5 Holmes Coote, in St. Bart's Reports, vol. ii. , 1866, describes a form of talipes 



Etiology of Club- Foot 6^y 

rence of club foot, and it is probable that most of them are true in certain 
cases ; we do not think any one cause alone will explain all cases of club- 
foot. 

Little considered talipes due to ' a morbidly excitable, retractile disposi- 
tion' of muscles, comparable to the reflex torticollis of later life. 

Central and peripheral nerve lesions, causing spasm or paralysis of 
muscles, may account for some cases, where, for instance, spina bifida or 
absence of brain (anencephale) are associated with talipes ; on the other 
hand, Parker and Shattock found both cord and nerves perfect in a case 
they examined. In- opposition to them, however, we must point out that the 
nutrition of the talipedic limbs is often impaired, and they are fat, flabby, 
and toneless ; l the muscles may, however, react normally to electricity. 
I ntra-uterine pressure associated with deficient amniotic fluid (Cruveilhier) is 
no doubt the cause in some children. We have found talipes associated 
with intra-uterine constrictions and amputations from amniotic bands,' 2 and 
in another case, alluded to above, the deformity co-existed with pressure 
marks ; but the distortion is also found where the liquor amnii is abundant, 
and such explanation hardly accounts for single talipes as the only mal- 
formation. 

A persistence of the natural early foetal position (Eschricht) explains 
some cases (of equino-varus and, later, calcaneus) ; in others, again, deficient 
development of parts is the cause, as in cases where congenital absence of 
the fibula has produced valgus, and this may be compared with fig. 153, of 
absence of the radius producing club-hand. 3 Hueter supposed that obliquity 
of the neck of the astragalus was a cause, but, as shown by Parker, this may 
occur without talipes, and talipes may exist without it. Intra-uterine Joint 
disease possibly explains some cases, and adhesions are found in certain 
instances in the joints. Cruveilhier, Forster, 4 Parker and Shattock, and 
Silcock have pointed out that where the limbs are interlocked in abnormal 
positions they will exert pressure on each other quite independently of the 
amount of fluid ; we have frequently seen cases where clearly the feet had 
interlocked : the one foot, being in a position of extreme calcaneo-valgus, was 
received into the concavity of the other, which had severe equino-varus. 5 
For further discussion of the subject we must refer to the admirable works, 
so often quoted, of Messrs. Parker and Shattock, and, in acknowledging our 
indebtedness to them, we can confirm many of their observations by our 
own ; we think that nearly, but not quite, all of the cases can be explained 
mechanically by pressure or position in utero, bad packing as it were, and 

consisting in rigidity of the tendo Achillis with subsequent development of flat-foot, of 
which it appears to be an early stage ; he calls it 'rectangular talipes equinus,' the foot 
being kept at a right angle with the leg. 

1 Possibly this may be explained by the absence of natural exercise in utero, when the 
feet are interlocked or misplaced. 

2 Parker and Shattock also mention a case of theirs. 

5 Club-hand is, however, probably the result of pressure causing arrest of development 
of the pras-axial border of the limb. 

4 Missbildungen des Menschen, Taf. xxvi. , fig. i., from Cruveilhier ; the figure is copied 
in Bodenhamer, as the subject had also imperforate anus. 

5 Confirmation of this view of the causation of talipes is found in the other deformities 
similarly produced, such as ' genu recurvatum, &c.' Vide figs. 155, 156. 



638 Club-Foot, Deformities of Limbs, &c. 

so-called 'club-hand' is, we believe, due to the same cause. One of the 
strongest proofs, to our mind, is the tendency seen in children to assume, long- 
after birth, the position they occupied in utero, with the feet or hands locked 
in the talipedal attitude. The result of habitual positions in producing curved 
bones in rickety children is interesting also in this relation {vide figs. 66, 67, 72). 
It is sometimes said that talipes is merely an arrest of development, a 
'failure to unwind' the foot from its earlier or later foetal position : we 
think this hardly fully expresses the truth, there is something more ; an 
actual pressure and squeezing together of the parts in an abnormal position 
is certainly what has occurred — in most of the more severe cases at any rate. 
As to the degree of deformity, we cannot do better than quote Mr. 
Parker's words : ' When the cause begins to act very early in, and continues 
throughout, intra-uterine life, the deformity will be a very fundamental one ; 
whereas, if the cause begins to act at a later period, or if it be continued for 
a short time only, the resulting deformity will be less severe.' — ' Brit. Med. 
Jour.,' October 27, 1888. 

The treatment of all cases of club-foot in children can be successfully 
carried out without any but the most simple apparatus, except in the rare 
instances where, from neglect, old cases may require tarsectomy ; we shall, 
therefore, confine ourselves to description of the methods we have found 
most useful, and omit all reference to costly and complicated appliances. 
The general principles of management are the same for the different forms 
of club-foot ; so that we may take an ordinary case of equino-varus as a 
type. Several questions have to be considered, such as (1) When is treat- 
ment to be begun? (2) Is a cutting operation to be performed ; if so, what 
structures should be divided, and at what age ? (3) When operation is 
required should all the tense structures be divided at the same time, and 
should reduction of the deformity follow immediately on the operation or be 
delayed ? (4) What is the best apparatus to apply ? (5) How long is treat- 
ment to be continued ? 

(1) It might be thought unnecessary to insist upon the treatment of club- 
foot being begun immediately after birth, but we have more than once had 
cases, several months or more old, brought for relief, in which not only had 
nothing been attempted, but the friends had been told the child was not old 
enough for any treatment yet. Of course with a child a few days old more 
can be done in a week than is possible in a month with an older child. Treat- 
ment should be begun without a day's delay. (2) The question of tenotomy 
has been allowed to become largely one of fashion, some surgeons advising 
it in nearly every case, and others insisting not only upon its needlessness, 
but upon the harm resulting from it. The rules we follow on this point are : — ■ 
If the child is seen within the first few weeks of life, operation is very rarely, 
if ever, necessary. During the next two or three years two points have to be 
considered : first, what amount of care can be expended upon the case ; and 
secondly, how rigid are the resisting structures, i.e. can the deformity be 
reduced by moderate force ? If the child can be thoroughly well looked after, 
and its splints applied regularly and intelligently, operation is not neces- 
sary in most cases under two years old, although it undoubtedly shortens 
the time required for reduction, and is sometimes desirable — certainly so 
where there is much rigidity, and any doubt about the efficiency of the care 



Appliances for Club -Foot 639 

and management. Where the rigidity is so great in a child over three 
months old or thereabouts that the deformity cannot be completely reduced 
by reasonable force, operation should at once be performed ; such cases are 
however, comparatively rare. We see no advantage in forcible ' redresse- 
ment' over a cutting operation. (3) In equino-varus there is, we think, little 
doubt that if all the resisting structures are to be divided, those which main- 
tain the varus part of the deformity as opposed to the equinus should 
certainly be cut at the same time, and before there is any attempt to remedy 
the equinus. The plantar fascia rarely requires division except in neglected 
cases. Authorities differ as to the risks of immediate reduction after teno- 
tomy. W T e do not think the matter is one of great importance, and generally 
settle the question by the interval that is to elapse before the next visit ; if 
more than two days, we usually correct the deformity at once. (4) As to the 
question of apparatus we may say at once that we have never used, or seen 
the advantage of, the more complicated instruments — shoes modified in 
various ways from Scarpa's, taliverts, and so on ; they are too expensive for 
the hospital class, and in all classes we are quite satisfied with the results to 
be obtained by much more simple means. 

Practically we find one of three appliances will meet almost every case : 
two are of Dr. Little's invention, and the third is a slight modification of 
Barwell's artificial muscle plan. To take a case of equino-varus in which 
the varus is to be remedied first. The first appliance is adapted only to 
infants or children a few months old. It is simply a strip of thick block- 
tin long enough to reach from the knee to just beyond the end of the toes 
when the foot is pointed (fig. 143). This is bent to fit the foot along its 
outer side in its full equino-varus position. It is then bandaged on, no 
attempt being made to remedy the equinus or varus ; when it is securely 
fixed to the leg and foot, the front of the foot (i.e. the part beyond the trans- 
verse tarsal joint), together with the tin, is gently bent outwards so as to 
slightly improve the varus, leaving the equinus unaltered. The foot is left 
in this position till the next day, or longer if absolutely necessary, when the 
bandage is reapplied and a little further correction employed, and so on till 
the varus is somewhat over-reduced. The equinus is then dealt with in the 
same way, the splint being applied to the back of the limb. The second 
appliance (fig. 145) is simply Dr. Little's tin splint. It maybe used with the 
foot-piece fixed at a right angle with the leg-piece, or better movable, so as 
to remedy the varus alone first. This splint is applicable to older and more 
rigid cases, as it is a much more powerful appliance than the last. It is 
useful sometimes to have a slit cut in the metal at the angle between the 
leg and foot pieces, running a little distance along the edge of the sole ; 
through this slit the bandage is earned, and so the heel is more securely 
fixed down. The third apparatus is Barwell's artificial muscle, applied 
somewhat simply. We use it in two different forms. The first form con- 
sists of Mr. Barwell's strip of tinned iron strapped to the front of the leg ; 
on it is soldered a hook. A strip of strapping is carried round the front 
of the foot, and to its free end is fixed a loop of stout indiarubber cord or 
drainage tubing ; this is then stretched up to the hook above, so as to 
correct the deformity. The second way of applying the muscle is that 
shown in fig. 144. The object of using the straps instead of the tin 



640 



Club-Foot, Deformities of Limbs, &c. 



splint and plaster is to allow the apparatus to be taken off in order to rub 
and wash the leg, friction being a point to which Ave attach considerable 
importance, as tending to prevent, or at least remedy, the great muscular 
wasting which occurs in the course of the treatment of talipes if any rigid 
appliance is kept on constantly. The plan we adopt usually is to use one or 
other of the tin splints, generally the first, until the deformity is so far 
corrected that the muscle can be efficiently applied ; the latter is then worn 
till the cure is complete. 

As to the duration of treatment no hard-and-fast rule can be laid down ; 
it varies in each case with the rigidity of the parts, the age of the patient, 
and the care expended upon it. In one case a few weeks, in another many 
months, may be required before the artificial muscle stage is reached. As 
soon as this can be profitably applied the drudgery of the task is over, but 






Fig. 143. — Little's 
plain Tin Splint. 




Fig. 144. — The Artificial Muscle Appliance shown 
correcting the deformity in a case of Congenital 
Equino-varus (from a photograph). A, the rubber 
strap or ' muscle; ' b, strapping round the foot ; c, 
the side straps connecting the upper and lower 
straps. The apparatus is a modification of Bar- 
well's original plan. It is better to have the straps 
made to lace up than to buckle. 




Fig. 145.— Little's Tin 
Talipes Shoe, which 
may have a joint at 
the junction of the 
sole and leg pieces. 



the case cannot be considered cured ; hence the answer to the fifth point, 
that of the duration of treatment, can only be general. As Dr. Little points 
out, no case is safe from relapse until the patient is old enough to watch him- 
self and correct the earliest sign of return of the deformity, although by the 
use of the artificial muscle another dictum of his, that there must be no 
walking till the deformity is remedied, may be set aside. Great care is 
required, in applying the splints, not to be deceived by the rotation of the 
limb, and until the artificial muscle can be applied so as to slightly over- 
correct the deformity no walking is to be allowed ; after this point is reached 
it does no harm, but rather good. The essence of the matter is largely 
in the amount of trouble taken with each case by the surgeon and the 
friends. 

Some other points in management must be also considered. Manipula- 
tion, i.e. firmly holding the foot in a slightly over-corrected position, is 



Treatment of Talipes 641 

exceedingly useful, and should be daily employed each time the splints are 
removed — or, if unfortunately, from pressure sores or other causes, the 
apparatus has to be left off, frequent manipulation prevents time from being 
lost. The leg should be firmly grasped in one hand, in such position that 
the patella looks directly forwards, and then the other hand should be used 
to steadily turn the foot into position, bearing in mind, in each case, the seat 
of the deformity ; thus in varus the ankle joint must be steadied and the 
rotation made at the transverse tarsal joint. 

Pressure sores are to be avoided by regular daily renewal of apparatus, 
and avoidance of rucking up of plaster or bandages ; though, perhaps, 
strapping is more apt to cause sores than webbing, 1 it is, we think, more 
efficient in the early stages of treatment ; in the later stages thin saddler's 
felt is excellent for the foot-strap (B, fig. 144), vide fig. 147. 

Should it be decided that tenotomy is required in a given case, the rules 
for its performance are as follows. To divide the tibialis posticus the limb 
is laid upon its outer side upon a firm pillow, the posterior border of the 
tibia is felt for, and the tenotome passed in two fingers' breadths (in an infant) 
above the inner malleolus, in such position that its point just hits the edge 
of the bone ; the knife is then slipped close, to the bone, between it and the 
tendon, and its edge turned towards the tendon ; the foot is then held so as 
to correct the deformity, and by a gentle levering motion the tendon is 
divided, cutting towards the skin ; as soon as the tendon is felt to snap the 
knife is withdrawn and a collodion pad and bandage applied. Occasion- 
ally bleeding is free, but readily stops on pressure, and no bad result 
follows. If the edge of the tibia cannot be felt, a point midway between the 
front and back of the limb marks its position. The better plan is to divide 
the tibialis posticus, together with the ligaments, through one puncture 
opposite the transverse tarsal joint in the posterior crease of the sole. 

The tibialis anticus is best divided upon the dorsum of the foot, just before 
its insertion into the inner cuneiform ; it is easily felt, and the knife passed 
beneath it, and division effected as in the posterior tendon. 

The tendo Achillis is, perhaps, the simplest of all. It should be cut 
about f inch above its insertion, at its narrowest part, the knife being passed 
well beneath it (i.e. nearer the tibia), from the inner side while the limb lies 
on its anterior surface. Personally we prefer to pass in the knife while the 
tendons are held tense and can be plainly felt ; others prefer to tighten only 
after the tenotome is beneath the muscle. 

We are much in favour, in suitable cases, of Mr. Parker's plan of dividing 
all rigid structures at the transverse tarsal joint, and not limiting the section 
to the tendons or fascia. The tubercle of the scaphoid should be felt for 
and the knife passed in at the inner border of the foot, just behind the bone ; 
the edge is then turned towards the joint and made to cut well into it, 
dividing everything until the foot readily yields ; by thus severing the 
ligaments subsequent reduction is rendered much easier. Where this plan 
is adopted, the tibialis posticus is divided at the same time as the rest of the 
rigid structures ; the internal plantar artery is probably usually cut, and we 
have once seen a traumatic aneurism result, but no serious ill effect need be 

1 Vide Golding Bird, Guy's Hospital Reports, 1882. 

T T 



642 Club-Foot, Deformities of Limbs, &c. 

feared. 1 The anterior and posterior ligaments of the ankle joint require 
division in some cases of calcaneus and equinus respectively. 

It should be remembered that in second tenotomies the characteristic 
snap is often not felt. 

We are not satisfied with the results of fixing feet in plaster of Paris, 
either with or without tenotomy, but much prefer an arrangement where the 
pressure may be altered frequently. 

Where the artificial muscle plan is being employed, if tenotomy is re- 
quired at all, it is usually the tendo Achillis that needs division, since the 
plaster is apt to slip up towards the heel in such cases. Where the other 
splints are used, it is better, since the varus is corrected first, to divide the 
tibial tendons, &c, three or four weeks before the'tendo Achillis; some surgeons 
prefer always to divide the Achilles tendon first. The peronei rarely require 
division (we have never seen a case suitable for peroneal tenotomy) ; if they 
do, the section is made two fingers' breadths above the outer malleolus. 
The extensor longus digitorum and proprius hallucis are divided just below 
the annular ligament. 

Congenital valgus is best treated by a muscle applied so as to exert 
pressure in the opposite way to varus ; it is, however, not so readily corrected. 
The rare equinus requires muscles on both sides to draw up the toes, usually 
after tenotomy. Calcaneus is best treated by the tin strip (fig. 143) or jointed 
splint (fig. 145). 

Talipes cavus is often remedied by division of the tendo Achillis only ; 
in other instances the resisting structures in the sole may require section. 
Where there is much cavus with equinus it is sometimes necessary to attach 
the ' muscle ' to a thin metal plate moulded to the balls of the toes, to prevent 
the foot-strap from slipping into the hollow of the sole. 

There is no doubt that tenotomy alone is in many cases inadequate, and 
will, with the exception of division of the tendo Achillis, be largely given up 
in favour of the more complete and scientific operation of ' syndesmotomy ' 
(division of ligaments) described by Parker. Of ' open division' of all the 
resisting structures, including the skin, we have little experience ; we have, 
however, had one or two cases in which after ' syndesmotomy ' at the trans- 
verse tarsal joint the skin has given way under the strain of forcible reduction 
of the deformity. The only harm resulting has been delay in the healing of 
the wound and some little increase in difficulty in the application of the 
' muscle.' 

Excision of one or more bones of the tarsus for inveterate club-foot, as 
employed by Davies Colley, Davy, Lund, and others, is an operation to be 
reserved for severe cases in older children, and only employed when there is 
no hope of remedying the deformity by other means. 

The operation we prefer consists in making a J_-shaped or oval incision on the outer side 
of the foot, the horizontal limb running along the outer border, and the vertical part passing 
across the centre of the cuboid. The flaps are reflected, the bones exposed, the tendons 
being drawn aside, and a wedge of bone is removed entire or piecemeal from the outer 
side of the foot ; a chisel is the most convenient instrument for the purpose. Various lines 

1 Other cases of aneurism following division of the plantar fascia are on record — vide 
Walsham, Lancet, January 28, 1888. 



Acquired Talipes 643 

of section are employed, but the general rule is to remove the cuboid always, and as much 
of the adjacent bones as the individual case may require ; the cuneiforms, head of the 
astragalus, bases of the metatarsal bones, and front of the os calcis may all require to be 
taken away. 1 After the operation the foot should come readily into position ; all bleeding 
having been stopped, and the dressings applied, the limb is at first fixed lightly on a back 
splint. The wound often heals somewhat slowly, and until it is superficial we prefer not 
to use forcible corrective apparatus ; usually in about a fortnight a muscle may be applied. 
It is a good plan to take away an oval piece of the thick callous skin and the under- 
lying bursa from the dorsum of the foot. We look upon the operation as a very valuable 
one in suitable cases — for instance, where the patient walks upon the dorsum of the foot 
and pressure seres are prone to develop, while all the structures are rigid {vide fig. 142). 

Excision of the astragalus alone, we think, is best adapted for paralytic cases — in such 
instances we have removed the bone with excellent results ; it may be done without division 
of any important structure, by an incision over the ankle joint, carried from the tibialis 
posticus to the tibialis anticus, and another one at right angles to this, along the inner 
border of the latter tendon. By a little careful dissection the bone can be got out, the 
only difficulty being with the interosseous ligament. After the operation a shapely foot 
with a good arch still remains. 

The most common forms of paralytic (acquired) Talipes are equino- 
varus and valgus ; these, so far as the deformity goes, are usually readily 
treatedbythe artificial muscle method, and the effect is generally immediate and 
to a certain extent satisfactory ; it does not, of course, remove the weakness 
and nabbiness of the foot, but it prevents actual turning outwards or inwards, 
and makes walking much steadier and more sightly. In some cases light 
steel supports are of value. Where, however, from long neglect the deformity 
is irremediable by these means, the method of excising the astragalus already 
described may be required. In very severe cases of infantile paralysis, 
where the foot is perfectly powerless, and especially where the paralysis ex- 
tends above the knee, and the knee joint is flexed, the limb being flail-like, 
short, and useless, amputation may be required ; this, however, should never 
be done in childhood, since there is a possibility of improvement. The 
attempt to convert the flail-like distorted limb into a stiff stable support by 
resection of the knee and ankle joints has been tried, it is said, with satisfac- 
tory results ; in a case we operated on in 1884 there was very considerable 
improvement. Walsham 2 has practised shortening the tendons by excision 
of a part and suture of the divided ends, thus correcting the deformity and 
allowing the lax muscles to act ; we have also tried the plan, with fair results 
in two or three cases. It is sometimes of much value. 

These paralytic limbs are, of course, prone to become the seat of chil- 
blains and ulcers from defective nutrition. 

1 The principal modes of tarsectomy are : — 

1. Excision of a wedge of bone, irrespective of joint lines (Davies Colley). 

2. ,, ,, cuboid (Little). 

3. ,, ,, astragalus (Lund) (chiefly, we think, applicable to acquired talipes). 

4. ,, ,, astragalus, cuboid and scaphoid (West). 

5. ,, ,, wedge from the neck of the astragalus (Hueter). 

6. Linear osteotomy of the tarsus or of the leg above the ankle joint (Hahn). 

7. Excision of a wedge from the transverse tarsal joint, &c. (Rydygier) : vide Rydy- 
gier, Berlin. Klin, Woch., February 5, 1883; also Lorenz, Wie?ier Klinik, 1884, H. 5 
and 6 ; also Goldschmidt, Rev. Mens, de Maladies de I Enfance, from Centralb. f. Chir. t 
No. 17, April 1884. 

2 Brit. Med. Jour., June 1884. 

T T 2 



644 



Club-Foot, Deformities of Limbs, &c. 



Apart from the cases above mentioned of paralytic talipes, where the 
structures are loose and flabby, are the deformities in which contractures 
have taken place as a result of paralysis of certain groups of muscles. Of 
these the most common are talipes cavus (arcuatus or plantaris), in which 
after paralysis of the extensors of the foot the muscles and ligaments of the 
sole and calf contract, producing varying degrees of deformity and con- 
cavity of the sole of the foot, together with elevation of the heel (equinus). 
In some instances the pointing of the foot produces secondary retraction of 
the toes (hollow claw-foot) by the strain of the extensors of the toes. The 
distortion resulting from the conflicting forces occurs mainly at the ankle 




Fig. 145.— Acquired Talipes following measles, probably due to infantile paralysis. 



joint, the medio-tarsal and the metatarso-phalangeal joints. All grades of 
deformity are met with, from slight exaggeration of the arch of the foot to 
the most extreme equinus. Much more rarely the converse deformities are 
met with. 

In slight cases, manipulation or the use of artificial muscles without any 
operation will remedy the distortion, but in the severer forms of old-standing 
cavus and equinus, division of the tendo Achillis, or of more or fewer of the 
resisting structures in the sole, will be required. After operation an artificial 
muscle should be used, and kept on till all tendency to recontract has ceased. 
Some good figures of these cases are given in a recent paper by Mr. F. R. 
Fisher, ' Lancet,' January 19, 1889. 



Flat- Foot 645 

Patients, the subjects of club-foct, often suffer from complications of this 
condition. Bursae develop over the points upon which pressure is made, and 
these may become inflamed and suppurate, giving rise to obstinate sores, 
which will not heal and acquire callous edges. In some cases rest and 
ordinary treatment suffice, in others tarsectomy or even amputation may be 
called for. Pirogoff's or even Chopart's operation should usually be done 
in such cases in preference to Syme's amputation. 

The whole foot and leg in severe cases is smaller and weaker than the 
other, and often shorter. The wasting of muscles, &c, is extreme in some 
instances, even when no paralytic condition has existed. 

The movements of the ankle joint become altered, and it develops into 
a ball-and-socket rather than a ginglymoid joint (Jorg). The metatarsal 
bones are usually shorter than normal, a condition due to the contraction of 
the plantar fascia, according to Borck. 

Treatment of club-foot in all cases must be kept up constantly until all 
tendency to relapse ceases. Dr. Little remarks that such patients require 
watching until puberty, and, as already pointed out, the result depends 
entirely upon the amount of care and perseverance expended upon them. 

Relapsed club-foot after tenotomy is much more difficult to treat than it 
is in cases where nothing has been done ; tenotomy should, however, be 
repeated and the usual methods carried out. 

Plat-foot. — Apart from congenital and paralytic valgus is the common 
condition known as spurious valgus, pes pronatus acquisitus, pes planus, or 
commonly flat-foot. Though this affection is not by any means peculiar to 
childhood, it most commonly comes on in the later years of childhood or 
adolescence ; sometimes, however, it occurs earlier. 

The condition is essentially one of relaxed ligaments and muscles, and 
comes on usually in weakly, overgrown children, who have been kept too 
much on their feet — especially if they are rickety also. It is one of the 
conditions arising in so-called ' rickets of adolescence.' 

The prominent part assigned to relaxation of the inferior calcaneo- 
scaphoid ligament in the production of flat-foot is hardly deserved, since the 
tibial muscles, the flexors of the toes and pollex, the short sole muscles, the 
plantar ligaments, the plantar fascia, and the peroneus longus all take a 
share in supporting the arch, and the condition is in most cases the local 
expression of a widely spread weakness rather than the result of yielding of 
any one structure. In a few cases flat-foot is the result of injury. 

Lowering and inward projection of the head of the astragalus, with loss 
of the arch of the foot and its elongation, are the prominent features of the 
affection. The sole may be flat or even convex, and the inner border early 
becomes convex also ; there is usually pain over the head of the astragalus, 
often also across the dorsum of the foot and beneath the outer malleolus, and 
not at all uncommonly also in the first metatarso-phalangeal joint (so-called 
' metatarsalgia '). 

The prominent projecting mass on the inner aspect of the foot is not, 
however, by any means always the head of the astragalus only ; it is often 
the tubercle of the scaphoid, since this bone is frequently pressed downwards 
and inwards by the astragalus, so that yielding takes place rather at the 
scapho-cuneiform than at the astragalo-scaphoid joint. In some cases the 



646 



Club -Foot, Deformities of Limbs, &c. 



prominence is shared equally by the astragalus and scaphoid. In any case 
where the deformity is marked there is a deep depression on the dorsum of 
the foot, due to the slipping away of the head of the astragalus. 

In early stages the deformity is only seen when the patient is standing 
when the whole foot may be seen to collapse and spread out in a toneless 
fashion, the transverse arch also giving way. In later stages the foot becomes 

fixed in its distorted position, and cannot be 
replaced. In intermediate stages replace- 
ment is possible ; sometimes in manipulating 
the foot adhesions give way and the arch is 
restored for the time. These adhesions are 
the result of chronic inflammatory changes 
which are specially prone to occur in the 
metatarso-phalangeal joint of the great toe, 
but may attack several joints and the sheaths 
of the tendons. 

The treatment of this disease consists in 
preventing the child from standing long at a 
time, and improving its general condition; 
next, the deformity must be reduced ; in 
ordinary cases an artificial muscle, applied so 
as to support the head of the astragalus, is 
perfectly efficient in relieving pain and 
restoring the arch of the foot, and any 
reasonable amount of standing and walking 
can be done from the first as soon as this is 
applied. It is the only form of apparatus we 
use now, and it very seldom fails if properly 
applied. In some cases it may be necessary 
to break down-adhesions first, but in children 
this is rare. 1 (Fig. 147.) 

Standing and walking on tip-toe, dancing, 
and friction are all useful supplementary 
means, as pointed out by Ellis, 2 who is of 
opinion that the flexor longus pollicis is a 
very important factor in tying together the 
pillars of the arch of the foot (' Lancet,' 
February 9, 1884). 

No operation is ever required for acquired 
flat-foot in children. 

A form of distortion in which there is ad- 
duction of the foot, or rather rotation inwards, 
in which the deformity depends upon a rotation of the whole leg, is some- 
times met with. It gives rise to the condition popularly known as 'duck 
toes.' The unsightly gait may be due to congenital malposition or to rickets ; 

1 The best paper on the subject with which we are acquainted is that by Mr. Golding 
Bird already alluded to {Guy's Reports, 1882). From it we have learnt much. 

2 Some surgeons believe that weakness of the peroneus longus is the essential factor in 
flat-foot, and recommend faradisation and galvanism. 




[47. — Shows ai 'Artificial Muscle 
applied for Flat-foot. 



Wry-Neck 647 

it has been proposed to call the deformity ' club-leg,' and to remedy it by 
osteotomy of the femur {vide supra, chapter on Rickety Deformities ; 
also Parker, ' British Medical Journal,' Oct. 27, 1888). 

Wry-neck or Torticollis is a fairly common affection in childhood, and 
may be due to any of the following conditions : — 

1. It may be congenital, probably due to malposition hi utero— possibly 
sometimes to mal-development. 1 

2. It may result from injuries at birth, lacerations of muscles, &c. Volk- 
mann has found the sterno-mastoid represented by a band of cicatricial tissue. 2 

3. It may be spasmodic, due to central or peripheral nerve lesions or 
reflex irritation. 

4. It may result from suppuration in the neck, due to either glandular 
abscesses or cervical caries, causing matting together of the parts and con- 
tracture of the muscles. 

5. Burns or other injuries may, of course, produce cicatricial torticollis. 
In its most simple form wry-neck is due to contraction, limited to one 

sterno-mastoid, which is felt as a hard tight cord in the neck ; the head in 
such cases is drawn down towards the shoulder, and the face turned towards 
the opposite side (fig. 148). 

Golding Bird 3 is inclined to consider the condition due to a cerebral lesion 
analogous to the cord lesions in infantile paralysis. 

In other instances the sterno-mastoid is not alone affected, but the sca- 
lenes, trapezius, and cervical fascia contribute to the deformity. 

Treatment. — In slight cases in quite young children regular daily stretch- 
ing and manipulation of the rigid muscles may suffice to get rid of the de- 
formity. In the severer forms of the affection tenotomy is the only effectual 
treatment. The sterno-mastoid, and sometimes the trapezius, require divi- 
sion. For tenotomy of the sterno-mastoid the knife is passed through the 
interval between the two heads, and its edge turned forward against each in 
succession ; the child's head being held stretched by an assistant. Care 
must, of course, be taken not to wound the anterior jugular vein at the front 
edge of the muscle, nor the external jugular at the posterior border, nor to 
carry the knife so deeply as to endanger the carotid sheath. We usually 
divide the muscle through a puncture at the anterior border ; if preferred, a 
blunt-pointed tenotome may be used. Where the cervical fascia is also tightly 
contracted it may be necessary to divide it, but this step is by no means free 
from danger, and in such case it is safer to make an incision over the 
muscle and gradually dissect through the rigid parts in an open wound. 
Some surgeons prefer to divide the muscle at its middle. Two days after the 
tenotomy the apparatus (fig. 149) recommended by Mr. Southam should be 
applied. The following case is characteristic : — 

Case. — Torticollis. — John Wm. G. , age 5 years ; admitted August 5, 1885. A neu- 
rotic family history ; the child has never been strong ; the deformity is congenital, but 

1 Intercalations of more or less developed vertebral bodies may produce wry-neck of one 
kind, as it may lateral curvature. 

2 Sterno-mastoid tumour (p. 22) has been said to be followed by torticollis, the injured 
muscle subsequently becoming contracted. We have had at least four cases in which 
there was a history of sterno-mastoid tumour in infancy {vide also p. 649). Petersen, 
however, thinks the haematoma is a result of injury to the previously shortened muscle. 

5 Gu/s Reports, 1890 ; vide also Murray, Liverpool Med. Chir. Jour. , July 1892. 



648 



Club-Foot, Deformities of Limbs, &c. 



has been getting worse lately, and is increased when the child is not well ; has lately- 
had toothache on the left side. On admission the left sterno-mastoid is contracted in its- 
whole extent, forming a firm, prominent band ; the interval between the tendons is deeply 
marked, the sternal tendon being the most prominent. The chin is rotated i£ inch from 
the middle line downwards and to the right ; the platysma is also prominent. August 13, 
tenotomy of both heads through the interval ; the cervical fascia was also partially divided.' 
Antiseptic operation and wood-wool dressing. 14th, no pain ; the head was packed in 
sandbags. 17th, a plaster of Paris jacket was put on with hooks fixed in it, and a rubber 
muscle' was applied parallel to the right sterno-mastoid, attached to the head by circular 
bands of strapping. 20th, another muscle was applied in a corresponding position at the 
back. 22nd, made out-patient. He was seen subsequently, and hardly any visible deformity 
remained. November 10, 1885, quite well. 




Fig. 148. — Congenital Wry-neck. Fig. 149. — Artificial Muscle applied for Wry-neck 

after division of the Sterno-mastoid. A Sayre's 
jacket is applied to the trunk, and traction made 
from a poroplastic cap or ring of strapping. 

Spasmodic torticollis, if it does not yield to medical treatment, may re- 
quire stretching or resection of the spinal accessory nerve— all causes of 
reflex irritation, carious teeth, worms, otorrhcea, enlarged glands, &c, having 
been previously removed. 

The other forms of wry-neck require treatment on general principles, or 
are irremediable ; special care must, of course, be taken not to overlook the 
presence of cervical caries. 

In all cases of wry-neck where manipulation is admissible steady and 
regular attempts should be made to remedy the distortion ; friction and 
steady stretching of the neck with the hands should be tried, and the child 
made to practise, before a looking-glass, trying to hold the head straight. 
To supplement these means, various apparatus, collars, &c, may be used ; the 



Congenital Deficiencies of Muscles — Tenosynovitis 649 

one we have found most efficient is that figured for use after tenotomy. In 
quite young children, of course, no voluntary help from the child can be ob- 
tained, but the friends must be instructed what to do, and in older patients 
it is a good plan, as Mr. Roth has pointed out, to get the child familiar with 
the exercises before the tenotomy is performed, so that no time may be 
wasted afterwards. 

Congenital cases, where the sterno-mastoid alone is involved, are usually 
completely curable ; many of the spasmodic cases get well either sponta- 
neously or after removal of some source of irritation. In cases where the 
scaleni are involved there is more difficulty. So far as we know, these 
muscles have not been divided for such condition, but there seems no reason 
why they should not be, provided a suitable case occur. In many of these 
patients the face is undeveloped or distorted on the affected side ; secondary 
lateral curvature of the spine may also result. 

It is certain that the condition already described as sterno-mastoid 
tumour sometimes leads to subsequent development of torticollis from cica- 
tricial contraction of the muscle, and Owen has actually watched such a case 
{vide footnote, p. 647) ; in the many cases we have seen, such result has 
followed in at least four instances, but further observation is needed to settle 
whether there is any constant relation between the two. 

No treatment is required for the sterno-mastoid tumour except that watch 
should be kept for the slightest sign of onset of the torticollis, and suitable 
preventive exercises employed {vide also pp. 22, 23). 

Congenital Deficiencies and Malformations of muscles are often 
slight, and interesting from an anatomical rather than a surgical point of 
view ; in other instances, such as those where the pectoral muscles are absent, 
in association with arrest of development of the chest-wall, the malformations 
are irremediable ; in others, again, some help may be obtained by elastic cords 
(' artificial muscles '), or possibly by the transplantation of muscle flaps ; for the 
most part, however, these conditions are beyond the present reach of surgery. 

We must just mention the very rare condition known as myositis ossificans, 
of which a remarkable instance is now under our care. The patient is a child 
of six years old ; the affection began about a year ago and now is steadily pro- 
gressing; cervical, pectoral, brachial, abdominal, intercostal, and femoral mus- 
cles are many of them more or less affected, without any disturbance of health 
so far. No cause is known for the disease, and no treatment seems to be of 
any avail ; the subjects of it usually die from interference with the respiratory 
movements or some intercurrent illness, though they may live for years. 

Tenosynovitis is an affection common in, but by no means peculiar to, 
childhood. Tubercular tenosynovitis is, however, not rare, usually as a 
secondary condition to joint disease, but occasionally occurring alone ; its 
existence is to be suspected when swelling and suppuration occur in the 
course of a tendon in a tuberculous subject, and its treatment must be on 
general principles — rest and constitutional measures in early stages, and 
careful scraping out in the severer ones. We have once or twice seen sup- 
puration in the large palmar sheath, and in one instance it occurred in a pre- 
mature child only a few weeks old, coming on without assignable cause ; 
secondary pysemic abscesses elsewhere followed, but the child ultimately got 
quite we 11. 



650 Club-Foot, Deformities of Limbs, &c. 

Bursse in children are not usually very well developed. Patellar bursitis 
is, however, not very rare, and we have seen it lead to disease of the knee- 
joint ; the olecranon bursa is also occasionally enlarged, while effusion into the 
semi-membranosus bursa is not uncommon. Ganglion is most common in the 
radial extensor tendons and in those of the thumb ; in recent cases the fluid 
may be dispersed by pressure, in others it should be punctured with a grooved 
needle and the clear gelatinous contents let out ; a pad with firm pressure 
should be kept on for three weeks afterwards, or the sac is likely to refill. In 
obstinate cases the sac should be laid open and as much of it as possible dis- 
sected away. 

malformations. — Other congenital malformations may be conveniently 
considered as (1) those due to errors of growth in the embryo itself — in- 
herent errors l — and (2) those due to abnormal intra-uterine surroundings — 
acquired errors ; or they may be classified as deformities by excess, deformi- 
ties by deficiency, and deformities by distortion. In either case it is some- 
what difficult to assign to their proper place all the malformations met with, 
and fortunately it is of little practical importance, as far as treatment goes, 
that we should do so. 

Among inherent errors may be classed supernumerary fingers and toes — 
polydactylism ; some cases of web fingers and toes — syndactylism ; tri- 
podism ; congenital tumours of the dermoid class — with which might be put 
the cases of so-called fcetal inclusion. Possibly certain less-marked malfor- 
mations, such as those affecting only some of the structures of a limb, con- 
genital varices, venous and lymphatic, congenital muscular abnormalities, 
&c, should be placed here, though these, in so far as they are of surgical 
importance, are more conveniently considered under the organs to which 
they belong. Many instances of inherent errors are better seen in the head 
and trunk, such as failure of closure of the dorsal and ventral laminae and 
of the visceral arches of the head, meningocele, spina bifida, harelip, extro- 
version of the bladder, &c. 

Among acquired errors are all those due to intra-uterine pressure, either 
by the walls of the uterus itself, by amniotic bands (Gurlt), 2 by pressure or 
violence applied to the uterus from without, or by mere malposition of the 
foetus in titero, at whatever period of gestation they arise. 

In considering what malformations should be placed in this group, we 
must remember that it is probable that pressure or violence acting in a very 
early st2ge of development leaves much less obvious signs of injury than if it 
is inflicted at a later period ; thus constriction or pressure during the later 
months of pregnancy may leave distinct cicatrices, while the same forces 
applied earlier may cause deficiencies without any marks of violence or scars. 3 

In this group will be placed deficiency of limbs, fingers, &c. (intra-uterine 
amputation), as examples of the highest degree of deformity ; also congenital 
constrictions and dimples, together with congenital synostoses or deficiencies 

1 ' Vices of conformation.' 

2 Or, as Montgomery has pointed out, by bands of lymph stretching from one part of 
the foetus to another ; cf. Intra-uterine Amputation, p. 652, and vide Todd's Encyclo- 
pedia. 

3 Vide Med. Chir. Trans., 1877, for a case of complete absence of both upper limbs 
without any scar ; this was supposed not to be due to amputation. 



Intra-ulerine Amputation 651 

of parts or the whole of a limb, such as absence of one or more of the carpal 
or tarsal bones, 1 of the lower end of the radius or ulna, causing club-hand ; or 
mere faults of position such as are found in club-foot, flexed or hyper-extended 
joints, &c. 

The proof that some of these deformities are the result of errors of the 
embryo, and others of abnormalities of the environment (intra-uterine pressure, 
•&c), is in many cases easy, in others impossible. Thus polydactylism and 
congenital tumours cannot be the result of intra-uterine pressure, while 
congenital deficiency of limbs is shown to be at least sometimes due to 
constriction by the fact that the amputated limb has been found lying loose 
in utero, and in other instances the limb has been found incompletely 
severed, or even an unhealed stump has been present. On the other hand, 
the absence of the amputated limb, and the smooth, scarless appearance of 
the stump sometimes met with, may be explained by the fact that the limb 
may become disintegrated by maceration in utero, and if the separation 
took place at a very early stage the scar might disappear during growth or 
become indistinguishable from its small size. Pressure, again, might well 
produce entire arrest of growth of a limb without amputation, and thus no 
scar would be left, while in other cases pressure might produce fusion of 
parts together, as in web fingers. 2 Evidence in favour of this is afforded by 
the coexistence of amputations with webbed fingers (both, in such cases, the 
result of pressure, though even here the webbed condition may have been 
due to mere retarded development from constriction). 

Case. — Web Fingers and Toes, &c. — Albert B. , age 9 months ; admitted November 2, 
1885. No history of deformity or maternal impression. Left hand, second and third 
fingers are united as far as the first interphalangeal joint ; there is no nail on the first finger, 
a very imperfect nail on the second. Right hand, the first finger has a deep constriction 
around the last phalanx, with a bulbous enlargement of the end of the finger ; the second 
finger has a similar constriction, but the part beyond is small and almost without nail. 
There is a very deep constriction round the right leg, about one inch above the ankle, 
almost reaching to the bone. The child can stand on the leg and moves the foot freely. 
Left foot, there is only one phalanx in the great toe, and no nail ; the nail of the second 
toe is very rudimentary, and there is a small outgrowth on the fourth toe. Right foot, 
toes perfect, but the foot is hypertrophied and flat. November 5, Didot's operation on 
the hand. 7th, healing well. 12th, stitches removed ; flaps have united largely, but there 
is some granulating surface. Sent home on November 13. The flaps subsequently gave 
way partially, but were again nearly healed, when the child died at home of broncho- 
pneumonia. 

Suppression of an intermediate segment of a limb, as where fingers are 
found springing from a stump of the upper arm, is probably due to pressure. 

Again, inherent and acquired errors may co-exist, and would be likely to 
do so. A local overgrowth of the embryo might well disturb the relation 
between the uterus and its contents, and lead to deformity by pressure. 3 

Lastly, reversion, atavism, and so on, must not be left out of sight in 

1 Bryant records a case of congenital absence of the fibula, os calcis, cuboid, and three 
•outer toes. — Diseases of Children. 

2 Web fingers are, however, no doubt in most cases due to mere persistence of the 
fcetal, spade-like condition of the hands. 

5 Deficient development of one-half of the body, with facial paralysis, has been met with 
•((Barker, Clin. Soc. Trans., 1884). 



652 



Club-Foot, Deformities of Limbs, &c. 



considering these questions, which cannot, however, be further discussed 
here. 1 

Whether double monsters, dermoid cysts of the ovary and testis, and 
congenital tumours of various kinds are the result of fcetal inclusion, partheno- 
genesis, or gemmation, is a question that cannot be entered upon here ; it 
will be sufficient to say that some cases are certainly the result of 'fused' 2 
embryos — e.g. double monsters, adherent twins, and so on — while some con- 
genital tumours are equally certainly mere errors in the closing in of the. 
folds of the blastoderm or of the local involutions by which certain organs 
are formed. 3 

Supernumerary Digits are found attached in various ways ; thus, a mere 
little fleshy outgrowth with or without a nail, and with no bony support, may 
be attached to a more or less normal finger, or the end of a finger may be 
bifid, with two nails. In other instances a supernumerary thumb with two 
phalanges may spring from the joint between the 'metacarpal' bone and the 
first phalanx, a common joint existing for the two thumbs, or the extra one 






Fig. 150. — Double Thumb. 



Fig. 



-Intra-uterine Amputation of Fingers. 



may be attached to the side of the proper one. It is sometimes not easy to 
make out which is the supernumerary and which the natural digit ; in such 
cases the most useful one should, of course, be left. 

In any case of supernumerary fingers the additional one should be 
removed in infancy, so as to allow the other as far as possible to be trained 
into its proper position. Where a joint is common to the two fingers care 
must be taken not to injure the articulation nor to allow it to suppurate, for 
fear of a stiff joint resulting. Supernumerary toes should be removed if they 
cause distortion of the foot or are likely to lead to trouble in wearing 
ordinary boots. 

For figures and details of the different forms of polydactylism we must 
refer to Annandale's work on ' Diseases of the Fingers and Toes.' 

Occasionally cases are met with where more or less of a limb is deficient 

1 Vide Bland Sutton's Lectures, Lancet, 1887-8. 

2 ' If during development the medullary fold remains cleft, two complete foetuses are 
formed from a single ovum,' and every degree of combination from twins to very rudimen- 
tary ' parasitic ' foetuses may result. — Bland Sutton, Lancet, February n, 1888. 

5 Numerous figures and references will be found in Forster's Missbildimgen des 
Mcnschen. 



Club -Hand 653 

and the member ends in a pointed or truncated extremity like an amputation 
stump ; this may occur at any point in the length of a limb. Sometimes 
only parts of one or more digits are deficient, sometimes the amputation has 
been incomplete, and a deep sulcus round the finger or limb, with often a 
bulbous expansion on the distal side of it, marks the seat of pressure. This 
constriction in some cases is so tight that there appears to be little left un- 
divided except the bone, and this condition we have met with associated with 
talipes ; the movements of the limb were, however, good, and evidently the 
deeper structures, though compressed, were not divided. We have also seen 
these constrictions associated with dimpled depressions over the knees and 
shoulders, and rigidity of the joints, also the result of intra-uterine pressure ; 
in one instance there was also microcephalus. 
Most of the cases of intra-uterine amputation, and 
of these constrictions, are the result of pressure by \ 
amniotic bands orfcetal adhesions, as already pointed 1 | 

out ; but it is undoubtedly occasionally true that 
pressure by the umbilical cord, so gradually exerted 1^ 
as not to interfere with its own circulation, may l||| 
produce the same effect. 1 We have not seen a case l|j 

of constriction requiring any operation, though it 
has been suggested by Mr. Edmund Owen to pare '' • 
the adjacent surfaces and unite them so as to ob- / 
literate the groove. ' v 

Nothing, of course, can be done for congenital 
amputation except the use of prothetic appliances, 
and it is wonderful what use these patients can 
make of their stumps. As already pointed out, in 
some instances there is a distinct scar, in others 
a smooth, unbroken, cutaneous surface, and some- 
times rudimentary digits remain attached to the 
end of a stump containing only the humerus or 
femur ; this is rather an arrest of growth by pressure 
than a true amputation. So, too, sometimes the ^v- ; ^ 

femur or humerus is congenitally very short or de- 
ficient. (Fig. 152.) 

Club-band, so called, is a rare affection, result- ^^ToftntT^l 
ing from arrest of development of more or less of Limb. 
the radius or ulna, with consequent abduction or 

adduction of the hand. It is not in any sense really comparable to the 
ordinary forms of club-foot, and is little amenable to treatment. Something, 
however, may be done by manipulation to remedy the deformity and 
possibly encourage growth of the shortened bone by friction and removal of 
pressure (fig. 153)- Less °ften the hand is fixed in flexion or hyper- 
extension, and in these cases sometimes tenotomy may be required. Similar 
deformities may, of course, result from cicatricial contraction after injury. 
In one instance the radius was entirely deficient on both sides, and the ulna 
was fractured and repaired, probably in utero. At the suggestion of one of 
our Resident Medical Officers, Mr. J. H. Thompson, we transplanted some 
1 Vide Neville, Brit. Med. Jour., 1883, p. 209. 




654 



Club-Foot, Deformities of Limbs, &c. 



bone from another child into an incision between the muscles of the forearm. 
The wound healed perfectly, and the bone was growing at the time of the 
child's death from an independent cause two or three weeks later ; the 
position of the hand was much improved. Careful bandaging and the use 
of splints will do good in some cases if treatment is begun early. 



mm 






\ 



Fig. 153. — 'Club-hand,' so-called. 
There is absence of the radius and 
thumb, with abduction of the hand. 



Fig. 154. — Double Club-hand. 



Web Fingers. — Various degrees of this deformity are met with : thus 
there may be a mere extension of the normal web forwards to the first inter- 
phalangeal joint. In other instances metacarpal bones and phalanges may 
be fused together, or bound in very close contact throughout the whole 
length of the digit ; occasionally the union is only at the distal ends. 1 The 
deformity is usually more or less perfectly symmetrical, and often associated 
with a similar condition in the feet or with some other deformity. 

Where there is complete bony fusion of two adjacent digits no attempt 
should be made to separate them ; where, however, only skin and subcutaneous 
tissue unites the two fingers, they should be separated. Simple division of 
the web is of little use, since the wound granulates up from the bottom and 
more or less reunion occurs. 

Several plans have been devised to meet this difficulty , such as applying 
an elastic cord between the fingers and fastening it round the wrist after 
division of the web ; perforating the base of the web and putting a thread or 
wire through the orifice and allowing it to heal, and then dividing the web. 
Another mode consists in dividing the web and then bringing a flap of skin 
from the dorsum or palm across between the fingers so as to interpose a 
bridge of skin at the base (Norton). The best plans are the last-mentioned 
and that advocated by Didot, in which a dorsal flap from one finger and the 

1 This could hardly be the result of failure of the natural differentiation of the fingers 
in foetal life, which results from the phalanges outgrowing the webs. 



joints, chiefly the knees, elbows, and 



Congenital Rigidity of Joints 655 

web, and a palmar flap from the other finger and the palmar aspect of the 
web, are cut ; the rest of the web is then divided, and the flaps are wrapped 
round the raw surface of the finger to which they remain attached. In 
doing this operation, however, it will be found that there is not sufficient 
skin to cover both fingers, and one has to heal by granulation. Web toes do 
not require treatment. 

Congenital Rigidity of Joints and Contractions. — As already stated, 
children are sometimes born with 
shoulders, which are stiff, or, on the 
other hand, unduly lax ; and some- 
times these joints are fixed in 
flexion, sometimes hyper-extended, 
or at least hyper-extensible. In 
such cases there are not rarely 
marks of pressure about the joints 
— depressions and adhesions of 
the skin. Probably the conditions 
determining such deformities are 
like those causing talipes, viz. intra- 
uterine pressure or malposition ; 
thus the ' genu recurvatum ' some- 
times seen results from the limbs 
being packed in hyper-extension 
along the ventral surface of the body 
(figs. 155, 156). Failure of develop- 
mental rotation accounts for others. 

Diligent friction and passive 
movement, together with the appli- 
cation of splints, as the individual 
deformity may require, will some- 
times effect great improvement ; 1 in 
other instances little success attends 
treatment. 

One or more of the fingers or 
toes may be congenitally contracted 
either in flexion or extension ; the 
contraction, often slight at first, 



tends to increase as the child grows. 
Hammer-toe is a result of this con- 
dition. In most instances it has 
been shown that contraction of the 
ligaments of the inter-phalangeal joints is the cause of the deformity. 

We have met with a non-congenital form of contraction of the terminal 
joints of the index and middle fingers. The skin and fascia were the structures 
affected just as in Dupuytren : s contraction. According to Adams, the little 
finger is more often affected, and the deformity is said to be markedly 

1 Berkeley Hill records a good case in which there was so much rotation that the heels 
looked directly forwards. By the use of apparatus and tenotomy an almost perfect result 
was obtained. — Brit. Med. Jour., July 12, 1884; vide also 1883. 




,.— Genu recurvatum and talipes calcaneus 
from sketch by Mr. C. F. Sutton. 



656 



Club -Foot, Deformities of Limbs , &c. 



hereditary and to be commonly associated with a history of ' hammer- 
toe.' 1 

Stretching and simple splints, in ordinary cases, is the treatment required. 
If neglected, troublesome corns or bunions and distortion of the nails may 
result from pressure of boots. Division of the lateral ligaments, or in some 
cases resection of a joint or part of the shaft of a phalanx, or even am- 
putation may be the best treatment for hammer-toe. 

' Hallux flexus,' first described by Mr. Davies Colley, is defined as a ' pro- 
gressive diminution in the normal range of extension of the great toe.' It 
causes lameness, is pathologically closely allied to hammer-toe, and requires 




Fig. 156. — Abnormal position in utero, causing genu recurvatum and talipes 
calcaneus, &c, from sketch by Mr. C. F. Sutton. 

treatment by rest followed by manipulation and friction, and in severe cases 
by division of the lateral ligaments or osteotomy. Vide also ' Metatarsalgia,' 
pp. 645, 646. Hallux valgus and other deviations of the toes are rarely serious 
in children, and are usually amenable to treatment by splints. 

It must be remembered that some of these patients with distorted limbs 
are cases of cerebral deficiency, and for them of course little can be done. 

Congenital Dislocations, so called, of almost any joint may be met with : 
thus the temporo-maxillary, elbow, and wrist joints, the joints of the spine, toes, 
•&c, have been found displaced, though such deformities are by far most fre- 

1 Adams, Lancet, December 13, 1890, also 1891 ; and Anderson's Lectures, Lancet, 
August 1891. 



Congenital Dislocation of the Hip 



657 



quently met with in the hip. These conditions have been variously explained : 
injury i?t utero or at birth, intra-uterine inflammations, convulsions, pressure, 
nervous, bony, and muscular lesions, have all been assigned, as in club-foot, as 
causes of congenital dislocations. It is most probable that, as in club-foot, 
intra-uterine pressure from malposition is the most frequent cause, though 
not the only one. In all cases more or less deformity of the bony articular 
surfaces is found, and this is of the utmost importance, since it largely pre- 
vents the possibility of anything like complete reduction. 

In ' congenital dislocation' of the lower jaw the condyle and glenoid 
cavity, as well as much of the bony framework 
of that side of the skull, have been found 
stunted. Occipito-atlantoid dislocation, both 
backward and forward, has been described : 
in the former the head is flexed, in the latter 
hyper-extended. 

Dislocations of the clavicle in the varieties 
met with in later life are also mentioned by 
Guerin. 

The humerus may be displaced down- 
wards, forwards (subcoracoid), or backwards 
(subspinous), with arrest of growth of muscle 
and bone, and deviation from the normal 
shape of the articular surfaces. 1 Displace- 
ments of the elbow and wrist have also been 
met with.' 2 The most important of all these 
malformations is Congenital Dislocation 
of the Hip, since it is by far the most fre- 
quent, and sometimes seriously incapacitates 
the subject of it. In these cases the ace- 
tabulum is small, shallow, and may be filled 
with fat or ' webbed over ' ; the head of the 
femur maybe nearly normal or much stunted. 
A more or less perfect capsule may be 
present, and this may be thickened ; or, 
again, a sort of interosseous ligament may 
exist : the ligamentum teres is atrophied, 
the muscles around the joint are wasted. 
The affection may be unilateral or more 
often bilateral. The femur is usually freely 

movable and slides up and down upon the dorsum ilii to an extent of some- 
times two inches or more. 

The affected limb or limbs are usually imperfectly developed throughout. 
There is always a good deal of lameness in severe cases, though we have 
met with slight degrees of this deformity in which the joint was not very 




157. — 'Congenital Dislocation' of 
both Hips. Not a severe case. 



1 Dislocation of the humerus appears to be often associated with other conditions of 
malformation ; in a case shown us by our friend Mr. C. E. Richmond there was sub- 
spinous dislocation of the shoulder, and dislocation of both hips. See Chapter on Injuries. 

2 See Hamilton's work on Fractures and Dislocations. 

U U 



658 Club- Foot, 'Deformities of Limbs, &c. 

much altered. There is marked lordosis and a peculiar 'waddling' way. of 
walking which is very characteristic. Usually the displacement is upwards 
and backwards, but it may be almost in any direction ; the limbs are some- 
times adducted markedly. 

Besides the ungainliness of the„walk, it is possible that the deformity of 
the pelvis may, as Adams suggested, be important from an obstetric point of 
view. There is little to be done for these cases, though it has been recom- 
mended that the affected limb should be supported and fixed in a state of 
extension, and it is said that a certain amount of increased stability in the 
joint may result. 1 Section of the muscles surrounding the joint, and even 
excision, as well as scarification of the deeper tissues and hollowing out the 
surface of the ilium, have been practised with the object of giving increased 
stability to the joint, but it is unlikely that any of these plans will gain favour. 
Prolonged extension in bed we have found do harm rather than good, though 
some successful cases have been recorded. When the affection is unilateral 
a thick-soled boot on the short limb will improve the gait, and in some cases 
a pelvic girdle with pads to support and fix the end of the femur has been of 
service. The history of the case, the absence of pain and rigidity, and the 
peculiar gait distinguish the affection from hip disease. Rickety lordosis 
sometimes closely resembles congenital dislocation, but careful examination 
of the relative positions of the trochanters and iliac spines will prevent a 
mistake. The affection is by no means rare, and we have seen many instances 
of it. 

So-called Congenital Dislocation of the Knee has been already men- 
tioned as ' genu recurvatum' ; this joint is also occasionally found with partial 
backward or lateral displacements. If seen in quite early infancy, these de- 
formities are fairly amenable to treatment by manipulation and splints, and 
we have been able to completely remedy the deformity of ' recurved knee ' 
by these means {vide figs. 155, 156). 

Besides the deformities already described, it is necessary just to men- 
tion the occurrence of cases of Congenital Fissure of the Sternum from 
non-union of the different centres of ossification, or rather non-closure of the 
ventral laminae, sometimes associated with ectopia cordis. Cases of deficiency 
•of the ribs over a larger or smaller area, and lack of development of the 
muscles of the chest-wall and of the mammary glands, may be met with ; we 
have seen hernia of the lung through a gap of this sort. 

Congenital Deficiency of one or both Clavicles or of the Scapula 
may also be occasionally seen. A suprascapulahas been met with, attaching 
the scapula to the vertebrae, and requiring removal (Willetf and Walsham, 
i Med. Chir. Trans.,' 1883). Deficiency or imperfect development of the patella 
sometimes occurs ; it is usually absent in cases of genu recurvatum. Many 
other abnormal conditions may occur — some deficiencies, some excesses, as 
in the common cases of supernumerary mammae, which are doubtless instances 
of reversion, and so on ; but these cannot be discussed here. Many require 
no treatment ; others must be dealt with on general rules. Occasionally pro- 
tective shields may be required for such cases as thoracic hernia. 

1 Mr. Adams, Brit. Med. J our,, February 1890, relates cases illustrating the value of 
prolonged extension, and figures appliances. Vide also Lovett on Disease of the Hip, 
Boston, 1802. 



659 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

DISEASES OF THE NOSE 

The orifices of the anterior nares are a favourite seat of eczema, lupus, and 
superficial tuberculous ulceration ; other cutaneous affections and nasvi are 
also often met with upon the surface of the nose, vide Chapters XVII. and 
XXXVII. 

The nasal cavities in children are exceedingly often the seat of acute or 
chronic catarrh, the result of cold, or extension from the pharynx. Catarrh 
also commonly occurs in rickety, tuberculous, or syphilitic children. 

Acute Catarrh is generally simply mucous ; it may, however, become 
purulent, or may be so from the first, especially if it is the result of inocula- 
tion, which may occur at birth or accidentally at a later period. 

Chronic Nasal Catarrh is marked by discharge of muco-purulentmaterial 
from the nose, swelling of the mucous membrane and of the skin of the 
anterior nares, with often some thickening of the upper lip from irritation ; 
the voice is nasal, respiration is impeded, deafness is often present, the 
child snores, and in an infant suckling is often difficult, sometimes impossible, 
from obstruction to breathing through the nose. Occasionally the inflam- 
mation extends to the antrum, nasal duct, or frontal sinuses. On examin- 
ing the nose the interior is seen to be red and angry-looking, often slightly 
excoriated ; it easily bleeds, and there are frequently dried scabs on its surface, 
while stringy mucus is apt to collect upon the lips in neglected children and 
.gives rise to soreness. Where one nostril alone is affected, careful search 
must be made for one of three conditions : a foreign body, such as a button, 
a bit of slate pencil, or a date-stone, &c. ; a mucous polypus growing from the 
region of the inferior or middle turbinated bone — a somewhat rare condi- 
tion in childhood ; or, thirdly, a deviated nasal septum. 

Chronic catarrh, from whatever cause, is apt, if neglected, to give rise to 
■ozaena from decomposition of the retained secretion, or from caries or 
necrosis of the bones of the fossae ; where the bones are invo ved the fcetor 
is more intense than in other cases. 

Should the inflammation extend to the cartilaginous and bony septum, 
the nose may lose its support, by softening of these structures, and become 
flattened and depressed. Where the outer walls are more especially 
attacked, a broad thickened nose results. In most cases these deformities 
occur in connection with congenital syphilis rather than in tubercular or 
simple bone lesions. A probe will usually detect the presence of bare bone, 
and it must be remembered that in cases of apparently simple polypi a 



66 o Diseases of the Nose 

patch of exposed bone will often be felt. Bleeding from the nose in these 
affections occurs often in small amounts, but rarely to any serious extent. 

Diagnosis.— The existence of chronic nasal catarrh is obvious ; its cause 
requires looking for, and this should be done systematically. First, if 
unilateral, the causes already mentioned — foreign body, deviated septum, 
or polypus — are to be suspected. If double, the throat should be examined 
for enlarged tonsils, chronic pharyngitis, and post-nasal adenoid growths. 
Evidence of congenital syphilis or tuberculosis may be obtained, or some- 
times simply carious teeth or eczema may be the source of the trouble. 

Treatment. — If the cause is local, an anaesthetic should be given, and the 
foreign body, 1 post-nasal growths, &c, removed. In syphilitic and tuber- 
cular cases syringing out with warm alkaline lotions (sodas bicarb, gr. xx ; 
aq. ^i), or in older children the nasal douche, are the most efficient means 
of clearing away the crusts ; this should be done three or four times daily, and 
subsequently powdered boracic acid or tannic acid and iodoform in equal 
parts should be blown into the nose through a quill or insufflator, or the 
nasal cavity may be brushed over with glycerine of tannin or lead lotion. 
Sometimes a spray may be substituted for the syringing after the nose is 
once cleared. Solution of hydrochlorate of cocaine, 5 to 10 per cent., may 
be used as a spray or brushed on, either before removing a foreign body or in 
cases of acute catarrh. Cleanliness and care of the general health, with 
mercury or iodide of potassium, or both together, according to the child's 
age, are required in syphilitic cases. 2 Any sequestra should be removed as 
early as possible, and all foul crusts kept constantly cleared away. Cod- 
liver oil and iron, with the usual hygienic measures and careful cleansing of 
the nose, together with iodoform insufflation, is the best treatment for the 
tubercular cases. Nitrate of silver, gr. x-xxx to ^'1, is sometimes used with 
advantage as an occasional application. In nearly all chronic cases the 
prognosis is somewhat uncertain, and the course of the disease tedious. 
Where the above-mentioned methods fail, and especially in tuberculous 
ulceration of the nasal mucous membrane, an anaesthetic should be given 
and the affected parts well scraped with a Volkmann's spoon, or cauterised 
with the wire cautery. 

Nasal obstruction, apart from the causes just mentioned and those 
already described under Diseases of Tonsils, &c, maybe due to deviation of 
the cartilaginous septum. This is sometimes congenital — more often it is the 
result of fracture of the septum, or dislocation from either the ethmoid or 
vomer, or from the nasal spine of the upper jaw ; or, again, it may be the 
result of a chronic perichondritis, following an injury, and resulting in soften- 
ing and subsequent deviation of a local patch of the septum. If the whole 

1 To remove a foreign body from the nose, a simple loop of silver wire is useful, or a 
pair of dressing forceps or a small scoop may be employed ; sometimes a finger passed 
from the mouth into the posterior nares is of service, and occasionally the simplest plan is 
to push the foreign body backwards into the pharynx and remove it from the mouth. In 
one of our cases the body, a button, escaped into the pharynx while the child was under 
chloroform, and was found in the vomit brought up by the child on its awaking. 

2 In infants mercury alone, in children over three or four years iodide of potassium 
alone, or, failing a good result, combined with mercury, is, we find, the most successful 
plan. 



Nasal Polypi. Ulceration 66 1 

cartilage is involved, there will be some flattening of the end of the nose ; 
this, however, does not usually occur. Simple chronic perichondritis, causing 
thickening, haematoma of the septum, or abscess, or even ecchondrosis 
of the cartilage, may also be met with. The treatment of deviated septum 
consists in forcible straightening with a pair of guarded sequestrum forceps 
or with Adam's special instrument ; and the subsequent wearing of a nasal 
plug, such as Walsham's or the one devised by one of the present writers, is 
required. In some cases removal of the projecting mass is called for : in 
such circumstances the muco-perichondrium should be dissected up and 
laid down again after removal of the cartilage. Haematoma, if it does not 
subside, is best treated by incision — so also abscess ; usually in both cases 
incision on one side will empty the sac on both sides, since the cartilage is 
perforated. Dislocation is best treated by the use of plugs. Lateral deviation 
of the nose visible externally ('crooked nose') sometimes requires the use of 
special appliances to be worn to correct the deformity. For an account of 
some cases see Paper in ' Medical Chronicle,' vol. iv., 1886. 

Nasal Polypi are somewhat rarely met with in childhood ; they spring 
from the region of the middle or inferior turbinated bones as soft, grey, semi- 
transparent, rounded masses ; occasionally they take origin higher up in the 
nasal cavity. Repeated removals with the use of astringents in the intervals 
is the treatment required. 1 The polypi should be taken away with forceps ; 
in some cases the tendency to re-growth is so obstinate that it is necessary 
to take away the whole of the turbinated bone from which the growths arise. 

Where there is nasal obstruction from chronic catarrh or cicatricial con- 
traction, the use of nasal bougies or plugs smeared with any medicament 
desired, such as iodide of lead or iodoform ointment, is useful. 

Superficial Ulceration of the mucous membrane of the nose often occurs 
in cases of chronic catarrh from any cause, and occasionally the ulcers are 
deeper and lead to perforation of the septum ; this is especially likely to occur 
from pressure of foreign bodies. We have seen perforation of the septum 
occur in a child simply from picking the nose. 

Chronic Dry Catarrh of the nose, accompanied by atrophy of the turbi- 
nated bones and their coverings, may be met with ; it is often associated with 
ozaena. The treatment is similar to that of ordinary chronic catarrh, but, 
according to Sir M. Mackenzie, the use of medicated plugs of wool relieves 
some cases. The disease is a very intractable one ; painting with glycerine 
is occasionally useful. 

Congenital Malformations of the nose are rare ; closure of the anterior or 
posterior nares, adhesions between the walls of the nasal fossae, perforation 
of the septum, and cases of cleft or flattened nose, or even of entire deficiency 
of the organ, have been met with. 2 

Malignant Polypi of the nose and nasopharynx are occasionally seen in 
children ; early removal is the only treatment, but speedy recurrence is to be 
looked for. 

1 Acid, tannic, parts ii ; cupri sulphat. , part i ; pulv. plumbi nitrat., part \, will be 
found a good snuff for these cases if obstinate ; the milder applications mentioned under 
Chronic Catarrh are, however, often sufficient. The occasional application of nitrate of 
silver fused on a wire is sometimes required. 

2 For fisrs. of deformities vide Forster's Missbild. des Menschen. 



662 Diseases of the -Nose •- 

Epistaxis occurs very frequently in children, sometimes as a result 
merely of cerebral congestion, the communication between the longitudinal 
sinus and the nasal veins remaining open in early childhood ; in other cases 
congestion from catarrh, or ulceration, injury, or foreign bodies, &c, may give 
rise to bleeding. Hemophilic patients frequently bleed from the nose, and 
epistaxis is a complication often met with in some of the exanthems, &c. 

Usually the bleeding ceases spontaneously in a short time ; if this is not 
so, bathing with cold water, or a little ice applied inside and over the nose, 
will usually stop the flow. Astringent powders or lotions, tannin, alum, &c, 
may be blown into the nostrils. Sometimes pressure from outside is effectual ; 
in other cases making the child stand upright, with the arms above the head 
so as to expand the chest and relieve venous engorgement, will prove suc- 
cessful. 

Occasionally the nose may require plugging. 

Nasal Deformity. — Where there is destruction of the whole or part of 
the nose, plastic operations may be employed. These must be planned ac- 
cording to the individual requirements of the case. We are rather of 
opinion that a good artificial nose is preferable to most of those obtained by 
plastic operations. Where, however, there is loss of only a small part of the 
nose, or where there is flattening without loss of substance, attempts should 
be made to improve the appearance of the child by filling up the gap or ele- 
vating the depressed part. It will be found that there is great difficulty in 
obtaining a good prominent nose by any method, and too much should not be 
promised. For details of the methods of operating we must refer to syste- 
matic works on Operative Surgery. 



66 3 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

DISEASES OF THE EAR 

Diseases of the External Ear. — The auricle may be congenitally absent 
or crumpled and distorted : for the former condition an artificial ear may be 
fitted, for the latter usually nothing can be done. 

In cases of deficient development of the pinna the ramus of the jaw may 
also be stunted— i.e. the first post-oral arch and its appendages may be ill 
developed. 1 

For an account of supernumerary auricles and fistulas vide p. 157. 

Sometimes the ear is unduly large, and stands out prominently from the 
side of the head ; the appearance may be improved by the use of an ear truss, 
or in extreme cases by removal of a triangular portion of the ear and. careful 
closure of the gap by sutures, or excision of a portion of the skin and cartilage 
from the posterior surface of the pinna, or by suturing the ear to the skin 
covering the mastoid process. 

The pinna is often the seat of eczema and chilblains, which require the 
treatment of the same affections elsewhere ; eczema most commonly attacks 
the crease between the auricle and the side of the head, and chilblains the 
free edge of the ear. 

Simple, lupous, or other tuberculous ulceration may albo attack the ear, 
and we have seen the whole auricle rapidly slough away during an attack of 
whooping cough. 

The orifice of the external meatus is sometimes congenitally closed : in 
such cases, if the tuning-fork shows the labyrinth to be healthy, a careful 
dissection may be made at the site of the orifice, or the meatus may be 
reached by incision behind the auricle and the orifice afterwards opened 
upon a bent probe. Nothing should be attempted until the child is old 
enough to have the hearing power tested, unless there is evidence of 
retained secretion giving rise to abscess, when an opening must be at once 
made. 

The common affections of the external meatus, which in children is pro- 
portionately shallower and broader in a horizontal direction than in adults, 
are eczema, boils, accumulations of wax or epidermis, and the presence of 
foreign bodies : the first are not peculiar to children ; the last is, of course, 
commoner in them. If the foreign body has passed beyond the orifice of 
the meatus, it should be removed by gently syringing, or by means of a loop 
of silver wire, or by a probe coated with cobbler's-wax or glue. No violence 

1 As in a case of Canton's, Path. Soc. Trans., vol. xv. We have had similar cases 
•under our own care. 



664 Diseases of the Ear 

should be used, and it is better to leave a foreign body where it is than to 
push it further in or lacerate the meatus or membrana tympani in attempts 
at its removal, Insects, &c, in the meatus are readily killed by a drop or 
two of oil. 

Eczema, tuberculous sores, &c, may give rise to purulent discharge from 
the ear, but usually such discharge comes from the middle ear. In all cases 
the pus should be carefully soaked up with absorbent wool and the ear exa- 
mined ; sometimes, however, the meatus is so swollen and the child so in- 
tractable that no examination can be made : under such conditions the case 
should be treated as one of otitis media until, either with or without anaes- 
thesia, the ear can be examined. 

The imperfect development of the tympanic bone and consequent shal- 
lowness of the meatus in children must be borne in mind ; in young infants 
the membrane lies in a more horizontal plane than in adults. 

Inflammation of the middle Ear may be either acute or chronic. The 
causes of acute otitis are catarrh of the nasopharynx, usually associated with 
enlarged tonsils or post-nasal adenoid growths, cold, and the exanthems, 
especially scarlet fever ; injuries also, by picking or roughly drying out the 
ear with corners of towels and so on, may rupture the membrane and set up 
otitis media. 

Case. — Chronic Tonsillitis. Post-nasal Adenoid Growths. Deafness. — Annie C. , age 
9 years ; admitted July 1, 1884. Always healthy till scarlet fever four years ago, when 
she had sore throat, running from nose, and deafness ; worse lately. On admission, ton- 
sillar aspect ; health otherwise fair ; both tonsils bulge forwards and inwards ; nasal 
mucous membrane thickened ; upper part of pharynx stuffed full of warty adenoid growths ; 
posterior nares nearly blocked. July 24, pharynx cleared with finger, curette, and Volk- 
mann's spoon ; left tonsil removed, bled freely ; much clearer afterwards. Result, great 
improvement. February 1885, quite well. 

Sir W. Dalby x has pointed out that boxing the ears of children may 
give rise to nervous deafness without a rupture of the membrana tympani, 
such deafness being usually permanent and severe ; or the membrane may be 
ruptured : in such case the rupture may heal or be followed by inflammation 
of the middle ear ; or, lastly, acute otitis may be set up without rupture of 
the membrane. 

In otitis the result of throat affections the disease may be caused either 
by Eustachian obstruction, and consequent retention of secretion, or by actual 
extension of the inflammation along the tube. The symptoms are pain in 
the ear and head, deafness, and some constitutional disturbance. In infants, 
who cannot indicate the seat of their trouble, otitis should be suspected if 
there are fretfulness and restlessness, with tossing about of the head without 
other assignable cause. If these cases are left to themselves the membrane 
soon yields, and a purulent discharge escapes from the meatus, giving 
usually great relief; until discharge appears the condition is often overlooked 
in scarlet fever, where the attention is apt to be directed to other symptoms. 
If the membrane is examined in such cases, there will be seen all the signs 
of inflammation, redness and loss of lustre, and if pus is present it may 
perhaps be visible as a yellow discoloration of the lower part of the mem- 
brane. 

1 Brit. Med. Jour., December 23, 1882. 



Otitis Media 66$ 

Treatment. — The throat must be attended to, and antiseptic, sedative, or 
astringent applications used, according to circumstances ; next, the Eustachian 
tube must be kept open by Politzefs method : the inflation can be performed 
at the moment of the child's crying. Hot fomentations, with perhaps a leech 
behind and in front of the ear, and instillation of a drop of glycerine and 
laudanum, or glycerine and carbolic acid, into the meatus, should be employed. 
Failing relief by these means, the membrane should be carefully incised, 
either horizontally or vertically, behind the handle of the malleus, and the 
discharge allowed to escape — gentle washing out of the ear with warm 
boracic lotion, and inflation of the middle'ear, being also used. As soon as 
the acute symptoms have passed off, powdered boracic acid and iodoform 
should be blown into the ear after drying it carefully with absorbent wool 
two or three times daily, according to the amount of discharge. 

The dangers of otitis media are manifold : first, deafness ; and secondly, 
extension of inflammation, which may. reach the mastoid antrum or the 
mastoid cells, perforate the roof of the tympanum, or the sutura petro- 
mastoidea, which is still open in infancy, and so directly reach the brain. 
Cerebral abscess and meningitis are not remote dangers. Or the carotid 
artery may be opened by ulceration and fatal bleeding ensue ; or throm- 
bosis of the lateral sinus and pyaemia may result. Extension of mischief 
to the temporo-maxillary joint may occur, with stiffness of the articulation. 
The amount of deafness depends rather upon the injury done to the laby- 
rinth, upon interference with the mobility of the ossicles, or upon fixation of 
the stapes, than upon destruction of the membrana tympani. 

The dangers to life are to be met by providing free drainage for discharge 
and keeping the cavity aseptic as far as possible. If there is any pain, 
swelling, or tenderness over the mastoid process, an incision should be at 
once made down upon it ; if no pus is reached and the symptoms are urgent, 
the bone must be carefully gouged away just behind and level with the roof 
of the meatus until the cavity of the antrum is reached. It must be remem- 
bered that in children the mastoid cells are not well developed and vary 
much in size, 1 and that the lateral sinus descends less than half an inch 
behind the meatus. Even if pus is not reached at the time, relief may 
be given and an easier way for discharge made ; but the removal of bone 
should be free if the symptoms are definite, and, if possible, an opening 
should be made through which lotion can be syringed into the external 
meatus. Lane advises removal of the whole of the outer wall of the antrum. 2 
In neglected cases extensive necrosis may occur, and the walls of the meatus, 
or even the greater part of the petrous bone, may come away as sequestra. 
It is common to find the lymphatic glands just below the ear inflamed, and 
they may cause much pain, or may suppurate and discharge through the 
walls of the meatus. In the early stages of glandular inflammation hot 
belladonna fomentations will often arrest the mischief ; if suppuration occurs, 
the abscess should be early incised. Suppurative meningitis, if diffuse, is 
not amenable to treatment, but localised cerebral abscess, which may be 

1 Swelling and tenderness over the mastoid process does not always mean inflammation 
of the mastoid antrum or cells, but may be the result of extension superficially of inflam- 
mation from the meatus. 

2 Brit. Med. Jour., March 1890 and June 1890. - . -'■ 



666 Diseases of the Ear 

either in the temporo-sphenoidal lobe or cerebellum, should be treated by 
trephining the skull and opening the abscess {vide pp. 430 and 668). 

Facial paralysis, which not uncommonly results from otitis media, is 
peripheral, and the result of pressure upon the nerve in the wall of the 
tympanum ; the paralysis usually disappears on subsidence of the otitis, but 
may be permanent. Chronic otitis media may be due to the same causes as 
the above, but is often tuberculous ; it may last for years, and give rise to 
occasional attacks of acute earache. Chronic otitis is always a source of 
danger, and should never be neglected ; the tympanic cavity should be care- 
fully cleansed by gentle syringing, and then the mucous membrane got into 
a healthy state by insufflation daily of the iodoform and boracic powder, or 
by the use of slight astringents, such as alum, gr. iii to Ji, or sulphate of zinc, 
gr. i-ii to ^i ; boracic and carbolic lotions are perhaps the most generally useful. 
On examination of the ear in these cases the membrane is usually almost 
entirely gone, and the ossicles more or less completely destroyed ; the 
hearing power is impaired, but seldom entirely lost. The complications met 
with in the acute variety are also liable to occur at any time in the course of 
a chronic case. Small perforations of the membrane in children readily 
heal, but it is exceptional to meet with them. 

In very chronic otorrhcea masses of granulation tissue, springing from the 
tympanic cavity, less often from the membrane or walls of the meatus, may 
appear, and form the commonest kind of aural polypus ; fibrous, mucous, and 
adenomatous polypi are much rarer. Polypi are to be treated by removal 
with forceps or scraping away, and the application of some caustic, of which 
we prefer solid nitrate of silver fused on a loop of wire ; crystals of per- 
chloride of iron or chromic acid may be used if preferred, and the ear should 
be washed out with a solution of rectified spirit as strong as can be borne 
without pain (usually 1 in 4 to 1-2 can be employed). Boracic and tannic 
acid and iodoform insufflations should be used between times. It is often 
necessary to remove these polypi several times before they cease growing. 
All abscesses burrowing about the ear must be opened and well drained, and 
the general health, as well as the condition of the throat and nose, carefully 
looked after. Eustachian catheters require an anaesthetic in children, and 
should only be used when Politzer's method fails. 

The general routine method, then, of treating otorrhcea (' otitis media 
suppurativa') may be given thus. (1) Dry out the ear with absorbent 
wool. 1 (2) Examine with a speculum, and through this puff a powder of 
equal parts of iodoform and boracic acid once, twice, or three times daily, 
according to the amount of discharge. 2 (3) Inflate the ear by Politzer's 
method once daily. (4) Watch for, and open early, any mastoid or glan- 
dular abscess. (5) Protect from cold, and take care of the general health. 3 
(6) Never neglect the least earache. (7) See that the throat and naso-pharynx 
are healthy. 

1 Where hospital patients cannot be seen daily the friends should syringe out the ear 
with warm boracic lotion. 

2 We prefer a simple speculum and the use of an aural reflecting mirror, but Brinton's 
' otoscope ' may be used. 

5 A clean plug of absorbent wool should be put into the meatus and changed two or 
three times daily or more, according to the amount of discharge. 



Intracranial Abscess 667 

It must be remembered that pain in the ear may be a result of carious 
teeth, cervical adenitis, or any source of pressure upon the nerves supplying 
the auricle or meatus, as well as of ear disease. 1 

Affections of the Labyrinth in children may be either congenital, or the 
result of injury, or of extension from otitis media, or of congenital syphilis. 
The latter form usually comes on about the seventh to twelfth year, increases 
rapidly, affects one ear first, and leads to severe or total deafness ; it is 
rarely remediable, though mercury and iodide of potassium should be tried. 
If the case comes under treatment in an early stage there is some hope of 
recover}-. Deafness in children should be seen to at once, and care should 
be taken, in those in whom restoration of hearing cannot be complete, to 
make them read and speak aloud to prevent the tendency to become mutes. 
Deaf-mutes should be taught the 'oral method/ 

Intracranial Abscess. — Should there be evidence of intracranial abscess, 
as shown by fever,' vomiting, otorrhoea, pain in the side of the head, 3 convul- 
sions, squint, hemiplegia, more or less loss of consciousness, and perhaps optic 
neuritis, the ear should be examined and well cleaned out, so as to avoid 
any further retention of pus in the tympanum ; a flap of soft parts should then 
be turned up by a curved incision, exposing the temporal bone above and 
behind the ear ; a circle of bone should then be gouged away, having its 
centre opposite the posterior superior quadrant of the meatus, and from i in. 
to I in. from the meatus, according to the age of the patient. 4 Having removed 
the bone, if no sign of abscess appears, the dura mater should be incised and 
the brain punctured first directly inwards, then forwards and inwards, and 
finally backwards, so as to tap any abscess situated either in the cerebrum 
or cerebellum ; if pus is found, the opening should be enlarged, and the 
abscess drained and treated on general principles. The mastoid antrum 
and cells, if not previously cleaned out, should be dealt with at the same time. 
{Vide also p. 430.) 

Not very long ago we had under the care of our colleague Dr. Hutton and 
ourselves, a boy eleven years old, suffering from double otitis after small- 
pox. On admission there was discharge from both ears, with pain in the 
left, and in the left temple. Shortly after entering the hospital he had 
a succession of rigors. The ears were full of thick discharge, and each 
contained a small polypus. The ears were cleaned out, the polypoid granu- 
lations removed, and the acute symptoms disappeared. There was no 

1 Vide Hilton's Rest a?id Pain. 

2 Barker points out that a single rigor, followed by subnormal temperature, slow pulse, 
and ' sluggish, but perfect, cerebration,' may be met with in cerebral abscess. 

5 There appears to be no certain means of distinguishing temporo-sphenoidal from 
cerebellar abscess, but in the latter the pain is usually occipital, and there is retraction 
of the head ; the amount of paralysis in either case is inconstant. Temporo-sphenoidal 
abscess is about three times as common as cerebellar according to Barker, who summarises 
the whole question in a valuable paper in the Lancet Tor June n, 1887. He also believes 
that abscess in the brain is much rarer than meningeal or subdural suppuration. 

4 Barker gives A in. above and \ in. behind the centre of the bony meatus for sub- 
dural abscess over the roof of the tympanum, and h in. directly behind the meatus for sub- 
dural abscess in the groove of the lateral sinus. By enlarging the opening upwards and 
backwards, and then puncturing the dura mater, avoiding the lateral sinus, any abscess 
in the brain would probably be reached. 



66S Diseases of the Ear 

mastoid trouble. A week later the boy became drowsy, with a subnormal 
temperature ; there was no paralysis, no spasm, except possibly of the 
muscles of the left side of the face, but this was probably rather paresis of 
the right side. Slight cloudiness of the left optic disc was found ; there was 
no apparent tenderness. The next day a circle of bone was removed from 
above and behind the meatus, the dura mater opened, and the brain explored 
systematically, but no abscess was found in the temporo-sphenoidal region. 
A second flap of skin was then turned upwards from trie occiput, and a 
small aperture made in the skull ; a trocar was then passed downwards 
through the tentorium into the cerebellum, and offensive pus escaped ; the 
cannula was left in, but the boy died, apparently of shock, six hours later. 
From examination of the head we should advise in such cases the removal 
of a circle of bone immediately above the external auditory meatus, at a 
distance from it varying from | in. to i in., according to age ; the dura 
mater should then be stripped back until the roof of the tympanum is 
exposed, and any pus lying there evacuated. Next, the dura mater should 
be incised and the brain explored, first directly inwards, in the posterior 
part of the temporo-sphenoidal lobe, and, failing this, backwards, inwards, and 
downwards, and finally forwards. Either a temporo-sphenoidal or cerebellar 
abscess would probably be thus reached. If, however, the symptoms were 
fairly definite and no abscess was found in this way, the skull might be opened 
midway between the superior and inferior curved lines of the occipital bone, 
and the cerebellum explored. It is readily reached in this position. 

It should be remembered that a cerebral abscess may be latent — i.e. may 
exist and give rise to few or almost no symptoms — and yet may cause sudden 
death. 

In our case, which is, we believe, one of the first in which a cerebellar 
abscess has been opened during life, there were no definite symptoms to point 
to cerebellar rather than to temporo-sphenoidal abscess, and it was only, 
failing the latter, that, feeling strongly that an abscess existed somewhere, 
we sought it in the cerebellum. 1 {Vide also Cerebral Abscess.) 

1 Mr. Hulke opened a cerebellar abscess in 1886. Vide Jacobson, Operations of 
Surgery, 1889, p. 204. 

Note. — In examining the tympanic cavity post mortem, it should be remembered that 
the presence of a puriform fluid in the middle ear of infants is common, and apparently 
rather the result of the changes that take place after the entry of air into the tympanic 
cavity than pathological. 



669 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

TUMOUR GROWTH IN CHILDHOOD 



Tumour Growth in Childhood. — As might be expected in a rapidly 
growing organism, the connective tissue group of tumours is that almost 
exclusively met with in children. Sarcoma, myxoma, enchondroma, and 
osteoma are the common forms of new growth, and these are usually in an 
embryonic and therefore unstable 
and rapidly growing form. Soft (en- 
cephaloid) carcinoma is occasionally 
met with, it is said, especially in the 
eye, kidney, and testicle ; but it is 
probable that most of the so-called 
carcinomata are really sarcomata. 1 
Our colleague, Dr. Hutton, recently 
had under his care a child with an 
enormous tumour of the kidney, 
which proved to be a columnar epi- 
thelioma. 3 

Sarcomata are not rare in chil- 
dren ; they are commonly of the small 
round-celled or mixed varieties, are 
most often seen as periosteal growths, 
and often follow injuries. They are 
met with in connection with the jaws, 
the skull, and the long bones, most 
commonly grow rapidly, early become 
generalised, and are speedily fatal ; 
we have met with rapidly growing 
sarcoma as a sequel of acute peri- 
ostitis. 

The eye 3 and the skin are not 
rarely the seats of sarcoma ; we have 

seen a melanotic spindle-celled growth in the skin of the dorsum of the 
foot. The kidney is occasionally the subject of congenital sarcoma {vide 
chapter on Diseases of the Kidney). 

1 These are also common sites for sarcomata in childhood. 2 Vide fig. 104. 

5 As in the following case, figured above (fig. 158) : — 

Sarcoma of Eye and Jaw, &c— Walter W., age 1 year 7 months ; admitted July 28, 
1884. At birth, in the left eye it was noticed that the pupil was white ; three months ago. 




Fit 



:58.— Sarcoma of the Lower Jaw and Eye- 
ball in a child aged 19 months. 



670 



Tumour Growth in Childhood 



Where sarcomata occur in the limbs, early amputation is the only treat- 
ment ; in the case of renal growths the balance of evidence is against any 
operation. Testicular tumours should be removed as soon as they are 
recognised, and growths in other situations must be treated as the individual 
case may require. 

We have met with a SJeuroma only once in a child, and the case is of 
sufficient interest to be worth recording in detail. 

Neuroma of Posterior Tibial Nerve. — Alice M. , age 11 years ; admitted May 9, 1885. 
Healthy girl. Three years ago first complained of pain in the right ankle and walked 

with a limp. Has been getting worse 
lately, and the ankle has become more 
tender. On admission there is much 
tenderness along the inner side of the 
ankle, extending for about 4^ inches 
up the leg. There is swelling and 
some heat over the painful area, which 
seemed to correspond to the tendons 
of the tibialis posticus and flexor longus 
digitorum. The case was thought to 
be one of tenosynovitis, and the child 
was sent out in a plaster of Paris splint 
on May 20. Readmitted November 5. 
Condition unaltered ; much pain and 
tenderness. November 23, the limb 
was rendered bloodless and an incision 
made over the swelling in its whole 
extent, when a firm, pale, lobulated 
tumour was found connected with the 
posterior tibial nerve ; the growth was 
encapsuled and turned out fairly freely ; 
it reached from the middle of the leg 
to nearly the middle of the inner side 
of the foot, and was about the size of 
two average fingers. The nerve was 
inextricably involved and ran through 
it. The whole tumour and the nerve 
were removed, about 5 inches of the 
latter being taken away. No large 
vessel was injured, but there was 
troublesome bleeding from some small 
ones. She did not bear the operation 
well. For some days she had hyper- 
aesthesia of the opposite limb. The 
wound healed well, but somewhat slowly. On December 2 it was noticed that ankle- 
clonus was well marked. On the 13th the whole sole of the foot nearly to the root of the 
toes was completely anaesthetic, as well as almost the whole of the plantar surface of the 

the eye began to swell ; three weeks ago the right half of the lower jaw began to enlarge 
painlessly and to grow rapidly in size. No cause known. On admission, well nourished. 
The left eyeball was enlarged and protruded ; it was irregular in shape and reddened ; 
the cornea was vascular. The lower part of the right side of face much enlarged ; large 
veins on the surface, which was nodulated ; swelling involved whole thickness of hori- 
zontal ramus of jaw. projecting outwards and into mouth, which could not be closed. 
Teeth displaced and loose; no ulceration; no disease elsewhere. August 1, swelling 
increasing rapidly, not much pain, losing flesh. Discharged August 12, and died at home 
a few weeks later. 




159. — Enchondroma of Cervical Spine and Fingers. 



Enchondroma 6j I 

little toe. The sides of the foot, the ball of the great toe, and to a less extent the balls of 
the second, third, and fourth toes, together with the whole of their plantar surface, were 
partially anaesthetic. Sensation elsewhere normal. The calf muscles somewhat wasted. 
In January 1886 she was practically as on discharge, but could walk a little and move the 
foot freely without pain. Nutrition of foot good. Microscopically the tumour was a 
myxo-fibroma. Nerves could be traced for some distance in it and then became 
degenerated and lost. March 23, 1888, quite well ; no return of sensation ; foot warm ; 
arch good ; walks well ; no pain or tenderness. 

Of the more innocent growths the Snchondromata are the most common ; 
they are usually multiple, occur on the fingers, and may be congenital ; they 
tend to grow with more or less rapidity, and if they cause inconvenience may 
require amputation of one or more fingers. Removal of the growth alone 
is rarely satisfactory, since it has been shown that the tumour is very often 
central in origin, as in the following instance : — 




Fig. 160. — Multiple Enchondromata of the Forefinger. 

Multiple Enchondromata of the Fingers. — Samuel M. , age 7 years 9 months ; admitted 
January 28, 1885. When five months old swellings were noticed on the fore and middle 
fingers of the left hand ; these have gradually increased and give rise to much pain if 
injured ; at other times they are painless. On admission, is a thin, unhealthy boy. Several 
cartilaginous masses are growing from all the fingers of both hands ; the swellings vary 
in size from a pea to a small nut, the largest is in the flexor aspect of the left middle 
finger ; this finger cannot be flexed. The fingers are large and distorted, with some 
lateral deflection of the second and third fingers of the right hand. The worst, the left 
middle finger, was amputated at the metacarpo-phalangeal joint, and the theca was 
stitched up with catgut (Treves). A section of the finger showed a cartilaginous tumour, 
the size of a small walnut, growing from the proximal end and from the central part of the 
epiphysial line of the second phalanx. The flexor tendon was stretched over the tumour. 
A smaller mass sprang from the distal end of the same phalanx. The wound soon healed. 
The other fingers were not touched, as they gave rise to no great inconvenience. The 
cervical vertebrae were similarly affected (vide fig. 159). 



6/2 



Tumour Grozvth in Childhood 



Another case is shown in fig. 160. Osteomata are usually sessile, com- 
posed of cancellous tissue capped with soft cartilaginous or myxochondro- 
matous tissue ; they most frequently spring from the neighbourhood of an 
epiphysial line, may be multiple, and are occasionally hereditary. These 
growths may require removal on account of their interference with the 
movements of a joint or of pain ; if chiselled or sawn through at the base, 
they do not recur. We have most often seen them at the upper end of the 
humerus, as in the case quoted. 

Exostosis. — Sarah E. T., age 10 years 6 months ; admitted January 9, 1884. Tumour 
first noticed six weeks ago ; has grown slightly since ; no cause known. On admission 
an exostosis as large as a good-sized walnut was found on the posterior aspect of the 
humerus, 2 inches below the acro- 
mion ; the swelling was bilobed. 
Removed by chisel antiseptically on 
January 17 ; the surface was cartila- 
ginous, the deeper part composed of 
cancellous tissue. Wound healed 
on January 22. 





Fig. 162. — Congenital Serous Cyst of the Back. 



Fig. 161. — Hygroma of the Neck, asso- 
ciated with Macroglossia. Mr. White- 
head's case. The tongue is protruding. 
Vide also Naevus. 

Besides the growths already 
mentioned, there is the large 
group of Congenital Fibrous 
and Cystic Tumours : the 

former may occur in any part, 
the latter are said to be limi- 
ted to the trunk and head ; 
we have, however, removed a 
multilocular cystic growth from the back of the thigh in a child. 1 Cystic 
hygroma of the axilla is not very uncommon ; it usually extends up into 
the neck. The cystic tumours may be divided into several classes. A 
large proportion are really cavernous lymphangiomata (lymph nsevi) ; such 
are hygroma, hydrocele of the neck (a unilocular hygroma), the tumour 
mentioned above as removed from the thigh, and many others. In the 
second group are those cystic tumours resulting from degeneration of a blood 
naevus ; in these the fluid may be clear, or more or less stained by admixture 
of blood pigment. The third group includes cystic formations by degenera- 
1 Morgan has recorded a hygroma of the thigh in the Clin. Soc. Trans., 1884. 



Dermoid Cysts 



673 



tion in fibrous orteratomatous growths ; and the last includes dermoid cysts, 
the result of involuted or ' dissociated' blastoderm. 1 

These 'dermoid' cysts may be met with in the course of any of the lines 
of union of the embryo, e.g. along the median ventral and dorsal lines of the 
trunk, in the face, head, palate, neck, &c. These cysts are due to closing in 
of the tissues over a portion of epiblast, hence the cyst wall is composed of 
more or less perfectly formed skin, with hairs, sebaceous glands, &c. ; lying 
in the cavity of the cyst will be found sebaceous matter and hairs, and 
epidermic scales. Perhaps the commonest sites for these tumours are the 
outer angle of the orbit (orbital fissure), the inner angle (lachrymal fissure), 
and the median ventral line. In the auricle they may result from inclusion 
of skin between the tubercles by fusion of which the auricle is formed. 
Dermoid cysts differ from acquired sebaceous cysts in that they are con- 




Fig. 



-Dermoid Cyst of Orbit. 



genital, that they lie deeper than the ordinary wen, being in the subcutaneous 
or even in the submuscular tissues, and in the case of the skull they may 
cause partial or complete absorption of the underlying bone. The skin over 
a dermoid cyst is usually of natural appearance and of normal thickness, not 
thinned and showing dilated capillaries, as is often the case in sebaceous 
cysts. In sebaceous cysts the aperture of the gland is often visible as a 
black speck : no such mark is seen in a dermoid tumour. Should the 
dermoid cysts grow and become unsightly, they should be excised, but it must 

1 The relations of congenital ' displacements ' to subsequent tumour growth cannot, of 
course, be discussed here ; probably only a small number of cases are to be thus accounted 
for {vide Cohnheim ; also Eve's Lectures at the Roy. Coll. of Surgeons, 1883, and Bland 
.Sutton's Lectures on Evolution in Pathology, Brit. Med. Jou?:, 1889. 

X X 



6/4 



Tumour. Growth in CJiildJiood 



be remembered that their removal may be dangerous on account of their 
deep relations, and that, as they are lined with more or less perfect skin,, 
complete removal is required,_and it is not sufficient to lay open and scrape 
the cyst wall. 

Mr. Bland Sutton, in his lectures delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons, classifies 
dermoid tumours as (i) Sequestration dermoids ; (2) Tubular dermoids ; (3) Ovarian 
dermoids. 

The first occur usually in the lines of union of the embryo, or are a result of accident, 
a sort of subcutaneous grafting of dermal tissue. 

Tubulo-dermoids arise in connection with ' obsolete canals ' ' associated with the primi- 
tive alimentary canal.' They may exist as 'dermoid cysts,' ' dermoid tumours,' or as. 




Fig. 164. — ' Dermoid ' Cyst of the Forehead. Mr. Hardie's case. 

' thyroid dermoids,' or ' congenital adenomata.' ' The first two varieties do not differ 
from sequestiation dermoids, except that they are more complex.' Mr. Sutton calls them 
thyroid dermoids because of their histological resemblance to the thyroid body. ' They 
present easily recognisable characters : (1) they arise in obsolete sections of the gut ; 
(2) resemble structurally the thyroid body ; (3) are frequently associated with striped or 
unstriped muscle fibre; and (4) are usually congenital.' 'The most typical specimens 
occur in the neighbourhood of the coccyx, in the tongue, and in the neck.' * 

After further details, for which we must refer to the ' British Medical Journal,' March 2, 
1889, whence the above extracts are taken, Mr. Sutton concludes his most interesting 
account of these curious growths by remarking : ' It is an interesting fact that the six 
obsolete canals existing in the embryo of a mammal, namely, the infundibulum, neuren- 



1 Vide also Marshall, Jour. Anat. a?zd Phys. t vol. xxvi. 



Fatty Tumours 



6/5 



teric passage, post-anal gut, cranio-pharyngeal canal, thyreo-lingual duct, and the duct of 
the yolk sac, should all have direct relation with the alimentary canal, and each be directly 
associated with dermoids, often of considerable complexity, and with a peculiar form of 
tumour, identical in structure with the thyroid body. ' Quite recently we have met with a 
case of an infant, a twin three days old, who was the subject of a large unilocular cystic 
tumour growing from beneath the coccyx, and forming a somewhat pendulous mass 
hanging from the perinaeum. The cyst was thin-walled, and about the size of the child's 
head. A day or two after admission the cyst burst, and gave exit to about half a pint of 
clear yellow fluid— practically serum. We removed the collapsed cyst by excision, and 
found a fine channel running up into the pelvis for about ii inches. The child did well, 
and was sent out with the wound nearly healed in March 1889. Sections of the wall of 
the cyst showed a distinctly villous lining, with a single layer of somewhat indistinct 
roundish cells. 

Vide also chapter on Malformations of the Digestive Apparatus. 




Fig. 165. — Dermoid Cyst in the Lachrymal Fissure. A tooth is seen 
growing at the upper part of the tumour. Prof. Young's case. 



An important group of tumours in childhood is formed by the fatty 
growths often met with. There may be simple general obesity or hyper- 
trophy of fat, a condition often met with in our experience in association 
with malformations such as club-foot, spina bifida, giant foot, &C. 1 Jacobi, 2 
who has collected many of the cases on record of hypertrophy of the 
extremities, attributes the condition to intra-uterine venous congestion 3 in 
early fcetal life ; if, however, this occurs before the first half of intra-uterine 
life, during which no fat is said to be formed, myxomatous tissue is developed r 
if in the later stages, fatty tissue. 

1 The cervical fatty growths met with in cretins are also noteworthy in this connection, 
t. 2 Archives of Pcediatrics, February 1884. Jacobi's list contains obviously very different 
pathological conditions. Also Bland Sutton, Brit. Med. Jour., vol. i., 1890, p. 877'. 
3 Busey attributes it to lymph stagnation. 

X X 2 



676 



Tumour Growth in Childhood 



Lipoma may occur in any part of the body ; it is, however, rarely met 
with in the head. Congenital lipomata are often not encapsuled ; they are 
sometimes associated with nasvus, as in fig. 56 (nsevus lipomatodes), or, as 




Fig, 



166. - Congenital Myxolipoma of the Bieast. The tumour was removed, and the child 
did well. We have lately seen a second similar case. 



in one case of Jacobi's, with spina bifida. Congenital sacral tumours are 
sometimes mainly fatty, as in one or two of our own cases ; but these, and 
indeed congenital lipomata elsewhere, are by no means always pure fatty 
growths ; fibrous, bony, or cartilaginous material may be mixed up with the 

fat, as well as nasvus, muscular tissue, 1 
&c. ; these more complex tumours 
belong to the teratomatous class rather 
than to the ordinary lipomata. When 
occurring in the foot congenital lipoma 
forms one of the varieties of so-called 
'giant foot,' of which fig. 167 is a 
specimen ; in some of these cases the 
growth is encapsuled ; in others it is 
diffuse, and after incomplete removal 
it shows a tendency to recurrence. In 
these cases of giant limb, which are 
usually unilateral, the rate of growth 
is variable, and all the constituents of 
the limb are overgrown in some cases, 
while in others the bones are enlarged, 
the vessels, muscles, and nerves being 
normal. 2 (See also chapter on Nsevus, p. 332, for an account of the lymphatic 
form of ' giant foot.') 

1 Vide Butlin, St. Barth.'s Reports, 1877. 

2 Vide Anderson, St. Thomas's Hospital Reports, 1881 ; Barwell, Clin. Soc. Trans., 
1884; Blackader, Arch, of Pediatrics, Oct. 1884; Esmarch and Kulenkamff, Die 

■elephantiastischen Formen, Hamburg, 1885. 




Tig. 167.— Giant Foot (the Fatty Variety), the 
growth affecting mainly the toes, but also to 
some extent the sole of the foot. 



Compound Congenital Tumours 



677 



Fatty tumours of doubtful congenital origin are sometimes met with, 
and may be the seat of myxomatous change, as in the appended case. 

Case. — Congenital (?) Myxo-lipoma of Thigh. — William M., age 2 years; admitted 
November 2, 1885. Child began to walk last January, but was weak and soon tired ; 
had a severe fall at that time. Four months ago a swelling was first noticed at the back 
of the left thigh ; it has gradually increased in size, but has never been painful. Has 
been wearing splints for rickety deformity lately. No sores about the legs. On admission, 
a very rickety child. In the middle of the back of the left thigh is a soft movable swel- 
ling, not tender, not well defined, and indistinctly fluctuating (?). The swelling is about 
the size of a large walnut or larger. November 5, an incision was made over the swelling 
between the hamstrings ; it was found to project on the inner side of the great sciatic 
nerve, and was, with some dissection, shelled out from its deeper attachments to the 
superficial layer of periosteum ; it extended from the upper border of the popliteal space 
upwards for about 2b inches. The whole growth was removed ; it was fairly well en- 
capsuled, soft, and gelatinous. Microscopically it proved to be a myxo-lipoma. On 
November 16 all stitches were removed and the wound was almost healed. Sent home. 




Fig. 



Congenital Cystic Tumour of the Groin. Mr. Hnrdie' 



Compound Congenital Tumours occur most frequently about the sacral 
and lumbar regions ; their origin is obscure, and has been accounted for on 
the view of included fcetation, gemmation, or inclusion of a portion of the 
outer layer of blastoderm, at the time of closure of the dorsal laminae. 1 The 

1 Mr. Bland Sutton divides these tumours into four classes : 1. Sacral spina bifida ; 
2. Tumours originating in the post-anal gut ; 3. Cystic tumours originating in the 
neurenteric canal; j. Parasitic foetuses. — Erasmus Wilson, Lectures, Brit. Med. Jour... 
February 12, 1887. 



6/8 



Tumour Growth in Childhood 



tumours are often cystic, and may contain masses of fat, cartilage, bone, and 
skin elements. They vary in size, and may attain great dimensions ; their 
rate of growth usually corresponds with that of the child ; they may become 
ulcerated from irritation. Such tumours give rise to trouble by their weight 
and bulk, and their interference with movement. 1 ( Vide also p. 676, antea.) 

CASE. — Conge7iital Sacral Tumour. — Elizth. Ann T., age 4 years ; admitted Febru- 
ary 2, 1885. Always a delicate child ; more so since an attack of scarlet fever at two 

years. The tumour has gradually in- 
creased to twice the size it was at birth. 
She has had no fits ; vomits frequently 
after meals ; cannot retain her urine, 
but has no incontinence of faeces ; 
sleeps badly and complains of abdo- 
minal pain. On admission, a delicate 
child. Over the lower lumbar and 
upper sacral vertebrae is a soft, pulpy 
tumour about the size of a small 
orange ; the skin is natural over it ; 
there is no tenderness on pressure, and 
the swelling is not fluctuating. There 
is loss of power in both legs ; the child 
can draw them up in bed, but cannot 
support herself upon them. Feb- 
ruary 13, the tumour was explored 
with a needle, but no fluid was found ; 
a straight incision was then made over 
the swelling and the skin reflected, 
exposing a mass of fat. On dissecting 
this carefully away a small tumour the 
size of a filbert was exposed ; this 
evidently contained fluid and could 
be seen to pulsate ; it clearly was 
connected with the theca ; this was 
left uninjured and the fatty mass dis- 
sected away from it. The wound was 
drained and sutured ; operation anti- 
septic. On making a section of the 
growth a small nodule of cartilage was 
found in its centre. February 14, 
dressed; about half an ounce of 
blood-stained serum escaped; child 
vomited once, otherwise well ; no con- 
vulsions or pain ; tube removed. 15th, 
was sick twice yesterday and awoke 
several times in the night, screaming. 
16th, sick again yesterday ; no more screaming ; lies very quiet. 18th, dressed ; a quantity 
of serum collected beneath the skin, so tube was put in again"; has been very irritable 
for last two days ; sick once in the night ; slept well ; ice to head and spine ; no squint or 
convulsions ; temperature normal. 19th, is a little better. She became steadily worse, 
and died on the 21st with evidence of meningitis. The highest temperature was 99*2°. 
Post-mortem. — On removing the brain an excess of fluid escaped ; the surface of the 




Congenital Sacral Tumour with Talipes. 



1 Vide Clin. Led. by James Hardie, F. R.C.S., Lancet, May 2, 1885. Into the subject 
of teratology it is impossible to enter here, but the reader may refer, among other works, 
to Fbrster's Missbildungen des Menschen. 



Congenital Sacral Tumours 679 

"brain was congested, but otherwise natural ; there was some matting together along the 
Sylvian fissure, but no other abnormal appearance. Spinal cord, excess of fluid and much 
congestion at the seat of the tumour and for 4 inches above it. The cord ended in a 
fibrous expansion which spread out over the tumour. Small portions of the tumour ex- 
tended downwards into the sacrum. The. laminae were imperfect at the seat of the 
tumour ; the central canal of the cord was dilated below the mid-dorsal region, and the 
left cornu of grey matter had disappeared, leaving a hollow space. This was evidently a 
combination of spina bifida, syringo-myelia, and a congenital tumour of cartilage and 
fat. The operation was undertaken with the view of possibly relieving the cord of pres- 
sure and so removing the paraplegia, but there is much risk of meningitis in these cases. 

As these growths are usually median in position or nearly so, they 
simulate spina bifida : hence they have been called ' false spina bifida ' {vide 
p. 485) ; they may have attachments within the spinal canal or pelvis. 

Any congenital tumour of the vault of the skull or over the spine should 
be looked upon with suspicion, as likely to have intimate relations with the 
cranial or spinal cavities. The appearance of the 
skin, the mobility of the tumour, its reducibility, and ^, a 

the effects of pressure, &c, are the points to be looked D -<.; ;= / ^ 
to {vide Chap. XXV.). It is sometimes impossible to ,..V,-? .7^\\ 

diagnose naevus from other soft growths ; the presence K'vy''i L\ : - "X 
of cutaneous stains or of nasvi elsewhere, the effects ; % \ 

of straining or crying, the possibility of partly emptying | 
the tumour, and its peculiar spongy feel, must be taken ■-•'; f "^'J' ■' 
into account {vide Chap. XVII.). \ ■.}. ^-} <^ r 

Treatment. — Congenital lipomata, if large, rapidly ll 
growing, painful, or inconvenient, should be excised. 
The congenital sacral tumours, unless for some very 
good reason, should be left alone — there is much risk T? . 

-. . . . . Fig. 170. — Section of Con- 

of injury to the spinal contents, as seen in the case just genital Sacral Tumour, a 

-t-fAcx tt*r\ points to the spinal canal ; 

reiaieu. ^ _ . b to the body of a ver- 

Cystic growths may be treated by tapping, in- tebra -, c to a mass of 

, • ... . . - , ossifying cartilage in the 

jection, setons, incision, or excision ; none of these tumour. 
modes are free from danger, and the last is sometimes 

impossible from the extent and connections of the mass. In large unilocular 
deep-seated cysts, such as ' hydrocele of the neck,' tapping, followed by in- 
jection with Morton's solution if the cyst refills, is the best plan ; if suppuration 
occurs, free incision and drainage must be employed. The multilocular cysts 
are often best treated by setons, small threads being inserted and the process 
repeated if necessary. In the cavernous lymphatic nasvi, much lymph may 
drain away if the growth is cut into, just as bleeding occurs from a blood 
naevus, and there is much risk of septic infection or exhaustion : hence these 
growths should be removed entire, if at all. 1 

In the case of giant foot the fatty variety has a tendency to steadily 
grow, and though pressure may slightly retard it, we have not found it suc- 
ceed as a means of treatment. Ligature of the anterior and posterior tibial 
arteries in the following case gave a good result for a time, but after a year 
or two the growth continued. In such cases the choice is between leaving 

1 For further details vide T. Smith, Clin. Soc. Trans., 1880, vol. xiii. , and Birkett, 
Guys Hospital Reports, i860. 



68o Tumour Growth in Childhood 

the case alone and amputation ; the latter should only be done when the 
crippling from the presence of the growth is greater than would result from 
the mutilation. 

Case.— Pes Gigas. Lipomatosis Variety. — Emily C. , age 9 months ; admitted June 23, 
1884. Family history unimportant. At birth it was noticed that the left foot was dis- 
tinctly larger than the right ; since that time it has steadily grown ; there has been no 
pain, and the child's health has been unaffected. [Thanks to the courtesy of Mr. Withers,, 
of Sale, we were able to watch this case almost from the first.] On admission, a fat, 
healthy child ; the left foot much enlarged, chiefly the dorsum and inner side ; toes not 
affected ; skin natural, dimples on raising it ; at the outer side a few hard nodules can be 
felt. Measurements : 



At root of toes 


6^ in. 


Right foot 


41 in. 


circumference. 


At middle of foot 


7q in. 




,, 


4* 


, , 


Across heel and foot 


8 in. 




, , 


Sh 


,, 


Around ankle 


7 in. 




; ( 


5k 


, , 


Middle of calf 


7i hi. 




,, 


7k 


,, 



Elastic pressure was fairly tried for a long time prior to admission without apparently 
diminishing the rate of overgrowth. The temperature of the two limbs did not appa- 
rently differ, and the child could kick the foot about, though unwieldily. On July 2 the 
posterior tibial artery was ligatured in the middle of the leg by the usual method, a 
catgut ligature being employed ; the vessel was very small, and its pulsations feeble ; a 
drainage tube was used ; operation antiseptic ; all went on well. On the nth the 
measurements were as before, except the one at the root of the toes, which was h in. 
less ; wound almost healed. July 12, the anterior tibial artery was ligatured doubly, and 
divided between the ligatures ; the veins were included in the ligatures. 21st, first 
dressing, wound all healed ; no drainage was used ; measurements as on nth, except 
middle of foot \ in. less. 28th, Martin's bandage applied again; the warmth of the foot 
seems in no way interfered with. August 4, measurements : — Root of toes, 6J in. ; middle 
of foot, 7J in. ; across heel and foot, 8 in. ; around ankle, j\ in. ; middle of calf, 7^ in. 
February 1885, the foot is getting smaller in all dimensions. Subsequently the growth 
remained stationary for a while and then increased. 

Lymphoma (Lymphadenoma, lymphosarcoma) is sometimes met with 
in the shape of large masses of glands in the neck (fig. 171) or elsewhere, 1 
which slowly grow and give trouble from their size, unsightliness, and pressure 
effects {vide Hodgkin's Disease), as well as ultimately cause death. 

Removal of such masses of glands is usually of only temporary value ; it is 
seldom that all can be got away, and recurrence often takes place in a short 
time. Section of such a tumour shows a pinkish-grey lymphoid tissue with 
no caseous foci. 

The following was a characteristic case : — 

Case. — Lymphoma of Neck. — John T. , age 12 years 4 months ; admitted November 
10, 1882. Family history good, except that the mother had abscesses beneath the jaw whilst 
pregnant with this child ; boy himself never very hearty, but had fair health ; four years 
ago a swelling appeared beneath the lower jaw on the left side ; this grew slowly till the 
last three months — since then it has increased rapidly ; for three weeks has had pain. 
On admission, in the left posterior triangle is a large globular tumour consisting of lobu- 
lated lymphomatous masses ; the swelling extends from 1 inch below the jaw to \ inch 
below the clavicle, which it overhangs ; it is 5! inches in transverse diameter ; some of it 
projects beneath the trapezius, and outlying masses reach nearly to the middle line of the 

1 Cystic lymphqmata are sometimes met with, and these growths have been found in 
the rectum, among other places. 



Cystic Tumours of the Jaws 



6S 



neck ; the skin is movable over it, and it is not fixed to the vertebrae ; no marked glandu- 
lar enlargement elsewhere, though a few slightly enlarged glands can be felt in the left 
groin ; some dulness over apex of left lung ; left pupil slightly smaller and less sensitive 
than right. On November 16 the gland masses were removed, weighing 8 oz. ; most of 
the glands shelled out easily, some were adherent ; the external jugular vein was tied and 
divided ; at times when traction was made upon the carotid sheath during the operation 
the pulse was much accelerated ; the carotid sheath and cervical transverse processes were 
exposed. He bore the operation well and lost 
little blood. Operation antiseptic, with sponge 
pressure ; recovery uninterrupted ; antiseptics 
were left off on December 6, and he was dis- 
charged with a small superficial wound. Feb- 
ruary 1883, the boy has been better since the 
operation, but new masses of glands are already 
beginning to enlarge, though at ar.d after the 
operation none could be felt. 

Another case is shown in fig. 171. 

XVXultilocular Cystic Growths of 
the Jaws arise from epithelial [in- 
growths from the surface of the gum, 
which afterwards become shut off and 
develop cysts ; they may be congenital 
or occur in infancy. Besides these, two 
other forms of cyst are found associated 
with the teeth (dentary cysts) : (1) Cysts 
originating in connection with the tooth 
follicles — follicular, or, if they contain 
teeth, dentigerous cysts ; (2) Periosteal 
cysts, originating beneath the periosteum of the jaw. 

Dentigerous cysts arise from mal-placed or mal-developed teeth, and may 
occur at any part of the jaws ; they contain clear, serous or glairy, white or 
coloured fluid, rarely pus. Most often they are associated with the perma- 
nent, sometimes with the milk teeth. Eggshell crackling, the presence of 
fluid, and suppression of a tooth are the common indications of the nature of 
these swellings. (Eve, ' Brit. Med. Jour.,' Jan. 6, 1883 ; Heath, ' Lancet,' 
1887). 

For further details on the question of tumours we must refer to the 
general text-books. 




71. — Lymphoma of the Neck 



682 



Diseases of the Thyroid and Thymus 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

DISEASES OF THE THYROID AND THYMUS. 



Acute Enlargement of the Thyroid. — A slight enlargement with tender- 
ness of the thyroid gland is not uncommon, but any acute enlargement, the 
result of inflammation, is very rare. A typical case of this kind is recorded 
T}y Dr. T. Barlow, 1 in a boy of three years. 

Chronic Enlargement. — Goitre. — Simple or cystic enlargement of the 
thyroid is sometimes met with in children, most commonly in the inhabitants 

of certain hilly districts such as Derby- 
shire ; we have, however, met with 
cases among town-bred children, both 
with and without a family history of 
goitre. 

In the case here figured half the 
gland was removed ; it consisted of a 
mass about the size of a small orange ; 
in it were many cysts, the larger of 
which contained reddish-yellow fluid. 
The child did perfectly well, but died 
some months later of scarlet fever ; the 
other half of the gland had not appre- 
ciably altered after the operation. 

We have three times been called 
upon to perform tracheotomy in young 
people for urgent dyspnoea, the result 
of pressure of an enlarged thyroid 
gland ; in two cases the patients were 
young adults, the third was an ill-de- 
veloped, almost cretinoid child, in 
whom there was enlargement of the tonsils, with post-nasal vegetations ; 
these had been dealt with once with marked improvement, but on the 
second occasion sudden dyspnoea/ evidently due to pressure of the enlarged 
thyroid, was brought on by any attempt at examination, and on administering 

1 ' On a Case of Acute Eilargement of the Thyroid Gland in a Child,' by Dr. T. 
Barlow, Clin. Soc. Trans., vol. xxi. The symptoms at first consisted in pain in the neck 
on movement, feverishness and slight enlargement of the thyroid gland. Later the 
swelling considerably increased ; the temperature varied from ioo° to 103 F. ; there was 
some difficulty in swallowing, but no marked dyspnoea. In four or five days the swelling 
began to subside ; he finally made a good recovery. 




Fig. 172.— Cystic Bronchocele in a Child. 



Thymus Gland 683 

chloroform the breathing stopped ; tracheotomy was performed, and the 
child did fairly well for a day or two, but died of bronchitis on the 3rd or 
4th day. The operation under such circumstances may be of extreme 
difficulty, alike from the presence of the large mass of gland, from the 
engorgement of the vessels, and from the altered shape of the trachea, 
which is compressed laterally. A specially long tube is required to reach 
down below the constricted part of the windpipe. There is doubt that in 
any case where attacks of dyspnoea, 'thyroid asthma,' have recurred, either 
removal of part of the gland or division of the isthmus should be performed 
in an interval between the attacks. 1 In simple cases of goitre the treatment 
is the same as for adults. 2 

It is not very uncommon to see children in whom the thyroid is slightly 
enlarged and sometimes painful and tender, but in whom there is no very great 
deformity and no cystic development. These cases of 'simple bronchocele' 
may be met with at any age, but are perhaps most common about puberty. 
Under treatment with iodine or arsenic internally, and red iodide of 
mercury ointment, cautiously used, externally, the gland usually returns to 
its natural size. Iron is required if there is anaemia. 

The thyroid gland is usually absent in cases of myxoedema or ' sporadic 
cretinism ; ' in any case of wasting or disease of the thyroid the possibility 
■of myxoedema must be borne in mind. 

Thymus gland. — The thymus body or gland reaches its greatest size at 
two years of age, after which it dwindles, and by puberty is in most cases 
reduced to a mere vestige. At birth it measures some 2 in. in length and 
perhaps 1^ in. in breadth, and weighs about ^ oz. At two years of age it. weighs 
trom 1 ^ to two oz. It is situated behind the upper piece of the sternum, reaching 
as low down as the fourth costal space ; it lies partly on the pericardium, the 
aortic arch, and large vessels. 

But little can be said concerning the diseases of the thymus. Some 
authors have attributed laryngismus and spasm of the glottis to enlarge- 
ment of the thymus and a consequent pressure on the nerves or trachea 
itself. It is very doubtful if laryngismus is due in any way to hypertrophy of 
the thymus, but cases in which there was evident pressure on the trachea 
by an enlarged thymus have been recorded by Goodhart, Jacobi, and 
Baginsky. It is by no means uncommon to find small cysts at first sight 
looking like abscesses scattered through the substance of the thymus ; these 
have been attributed to syphilis. Jacobi has noted an excessive quantity of 
connective tissue in the thymus of syphilitic children. He has also observed 
tuberculosis of the thymus in cases of general tuberculosis. Demme has re- 
corded a case in which caseous masses were found. In some recorded 
instances it appears that sarcoma has originated in the thymus. 

1 Vide Med. Chron. , vol. xi. , 1890. 

2 We have recently divided the thyroid isthmus in a young gentleman of sixteen, in 
whom acute attacks of almost fatal dyspnoea had more than once occurred. The trachea 
was much flattened laterally (' scabbard trachea '). Three weeks after operation the gland 
had resumed nearly its normal size. In another case the operation was done during an 
attack, and the patient died a few hours later from rapid oedema of the lungs. 



684 Diseases of the Skin 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 

During intra-uterine life the foetus is surrounded by the liquor amnii, 
and the skin is in consequence in a soft and sodden condition ; at birth it 
assumes a new function. After birth it is subjected to the drying action 
of the air, it receives a larger blood supply, and the glands which it contains 
become functionally active. It is, moreover, exposed to various forms of 
irritation, such as the contact of the urine, faeces, and various excretions, and 
the irritation which results from washing. It is hardly surprising to find 
that under these new conditions the skin is easily injured, especially when 
we bear in mind the delicate nature of the horny layer of the epidermis. In 
consequence of the rapid growth which is taking place, there is necessarily 
a continual building up of the tissues of the skin to keep pace with body- 
growth, and any interference with the infant's digestion or assimilation of 
its food is exceedingly likely to interfere with the nutrition of the skin. This 
is seen in various conditions of wasting during infancy ; the skin becomes 
rough and harsh, or the slightest irritation from the urine or faeces or friction 
at the flexures of the joints gives rise to an erythema, eczema, or to excoria- 
tions. 

Reflex inflammations are more common during infancy than in later life, 
a transference of inflammation readily taking place from one part to another, 
or an irritation present in one place may give rise to an inflammatory lesion 
at a distance. In this way we find blotches or scaly spots about the mouth 
and face of children who are suffering from dyspepsia or gastric catarrh, or 
herpetic patches about the nose or mouth in those suffering from pneumonia 
or bronchial catarrh. Urticaria or erythematous blotches maybe the result 
of indigestible food in the stomach, or the pressure of a tooth upon the gum, 
or the presence of acari burrowing beneath the skin. 

Lesions of the skin are exceedingly common during infancy and child- 
hood, and we find eczema, intertrigo, urticaria, and lichen among the most 
frequent ailments at this period. 

Eczema. — Eczema during infancy, while often proving amenable to treat- 
ment, is exceedingly apt to relapse, and in aggravated cases it forms one of 
the most troublesome complaints with which the practitioner has to deal. 
Probably most can call to mind cases of eczema in infants a few months old 
which have improved for a while, then relapsed again and again, upon which 
numerous ointments, lotions, powders, and medicines have been tried in 
vain. While the majority of these cases get well as the end of the first year 



Eczema 685 

is approached, or only relapse occasionally, in many cases the eczema 
continues to give trouble for years, or even for life. 

The causes of eczema in infants are various, and, indeed, but little is 
k^own for certain about many of them. In some cases, especially in the 
local eczemas, there is an irritant at work, such as scabies, pediculi, and the 
fretting produced by napkins constantly wet with urine or faeces. It is inter- 
esting to note that if a healthy infant gets an attack of dyspepsia or diarrhoea 
its muscles become flabby, and there is some wasting ; the nutrition of the 
skin is lowered, and now the contact of urine or soiled napkins sets up an 
irritative erythema or eczema, the irritation of the soiled napkins being 
powerless to excite an excoriation, until the nutrition of the skin is lowered 
by faulty assimilation. Among other direct causes of eczema may be men- 
tioned long exposure to a hot sun or drying wind, but these causes are only 
likely to be effective in children prone to eczema. One of the commoner 
internal causes of eczema in infants and young children is a faulty condition 
of the alimentary canal ; probably, in some instances, the eczema is due to 
a mal-assimilation or insufficiency of food, and in consequence the nutrition of 
the skin suffers. In some cases eczema appears to be due to a vaso-motor 
disturbance of skin, the exciting cause being a dyspepsia or intestinal catarrh, 
or the pressure of a tooth upon the gum as it is being cut. 

In what class of children is eczema the most common? The answer 
must be that eczema may be found in children of every type and of every 
social grade. In the first place, it must be said that eczema is by no means 
uncommon in infants and children who are apparently in perfect health ; and 
breast-fed infants suffer as well as artificially fed infants. We have frequently 
noted in hospital that children admitted for some other disease, and who are 
quite .free from any skin trouble, develop eczema as they become fat and 
well. In these cases there is a strong presumption that over-feeding may 
have something to do with the eczema : it is certainly true that very fat 
children are often eczematous, and it is very possible that strong, healthy 
children with large appetites may habitually be overfed, and the system 
seek relief, as it were, in an acute or chronic discharge from the skin. 
Perhaps in some of these cases there is a history of eczema in the parents. 

On the other hand, as already remarked, dyspeptic children, and those 
who are badly or poorly fed, also suffer from eczema. 

The so-called strumous children are exceedingly likely to suffer from 
eczema, especially of the impetiginous type. The scalp, face, and backs of 
the ears are most likely to be affected : there is much oozing of a semi- 
purulent fluid, which dries and forms yellow crusts. The lymphatic glands 
are apt to become enlarged, and subcutaneous abscesses to form. 

Vaccination is frequently blamed by the parents of eczematous children ; 
it is certain that a local eczema may arise at the seat of the vesicles, and 
an impetigo be started elsewhere in consequence of scratching ; but we do 
not think that vaccination gives rise to a general eczema. 

Symptoms and Course. — The commonest places for eczema in infants and 
young children (local irritants excluded) are the forehead, cheeks, scalp, and 
backs of the ears. The limbs, especially the flexures of the joints and backs 
of the hands, are often attacked. The usual form is eczema vesiculosum ; 
in weakly and scrofulous children the pustular variety, E. pustulosum or 



686 Diseases of the Skin 

impetiginodes, is the most common. The former mostly begins with patches 
of redness, the inflamed patch quickly becoming the seat of numerous 
papules ; in less severe cases the papules may make their appearance in crops 
on apparently normal skin. In the worst cases the itching is intense and 
the skin of the forehead or cheeks is hot, red, and cedematous. The papules 
quickly become vesicular and burst, or perhaps more often the inflamed skin 
begins to ooze without distinct vesicles being formed. A free discharge 
from the skin usually gives relief. The skin continues to weep, perhaps 
for some days, and probably also the eczematous patch is extending, cover- 
ing the whole forehead and affecting the cheeks, so that at this period all 
stages of the affection may be seen. In one place there may be redness 
only, in other places excoriated and weeping skin ; at another place the dis- 
charge has dried, forming crusts with raw, tender skin beneath ; where the 
eczema is nearly well the skin is thickened and the cutis desquamating. 
The skin of the thighs, flexures of the groin and knees, the arms, and back, 
are very likely to become affected, and as the eczema heals in one place it 
is very likely to break out in another. Sooner or later the eczema passes 
into the subacute or chronic stage ; the skin is more or less infiltrated, there 
is less oozing from the surface, while there is a tendency to form crusts, and 
for free desquamation to take place from the skin. This desquamation or 
scurfiness is particularly noticed on the scalp. 

In some cases the eczema is more of the erythematous type. The child 
goes to bed at night, and when warm in bed the face and forehead flush up, 
the skin becoming red, shiny, and hot ; the itching and tingling is intense, so 
that the child scratches and almost tears itself in its restlessness and dis- 
comfort, while sleep is out of the question. In the course of an hour or two 
the congested vessels are relieved by a serous discharge through the perhaps 
already damaged skin, and the inflammatory stage is succeeded by the 
oozing and crusting stage. The raw and tender skin left after the discharge 
more or less recovers and dries up, and then there is another inflammatory 
attack and the process is repeated. 

In weakly and scrofulous children the eczema is of a less acute type ; 
there is less redness, burning, and itching, and a greater tendency to pus for- 
mation than when eczema occurs in strong and healthy children. The scalp 
and face are mostly affected : in these places much crusting takes place, the 
crusts being formed of dried pus, and on raising these more or less puriform 
fluid escapes. In the early stages pustules are usually present. In the 
worst cases the whole scalp is a mass of thick crusts, abscesses form in the 
scalp, glandular abscesses are present in the cervical glands, and perhaps 
'cold abscesses' in various places throughout the body. In dispensary 
practice an eczema pustulosum of the back part of the scalp is almost 
certainly the result of pediculi. 

All forms of eczema in infants and young children are apt to relapse,, 
fresh attacks coming on before the skin has entirely recovered from the 
effects of the last attack, and the old place is soon as bad as ever. The 
tendency is for the attacks to involve the same places time after time where 
the skin has been injured or has ' contracted a bad habit.' Often, however, 
while healing in one place it breaks out in another. The younger the infant,. 



Treatment of Eczema 6Sy 

the more troublesome is the eczema ; the older it grows, the less likely is it 
to relapse. 

The eczemas, or perhaps more properly erythemas, caused by the con- 
tact of foul napkins, or by two surfaces of skin coming in contact (intertrigo), 
are exceedingly common in dispensary practice ; with ordinary care they 
never occur in healthy children, but in infants suffering from intestinal 
catarrh or diarrhoea, where the napkins are constantly soaked with the 
excretions, a certain amount of soreness maybe difficult to avoid. The skin 
is usually first red, the erythematous eruptions spreading from the anus and 
genitals ; the horny layers of the skin become detached, leaving superficial 
excoriations, from which serum and perhaps blood may ooze. 

Eczema in older children does not differ from eczema in adults. Any 
part of the body may be affected — the face, trunk, or limbs, and especially 
the flexures of the joints. A subacute or chronic conjunctivitis is commonly 
associated with eczema of the face. The skin readily becomes red and in- 
filtrated, with a dry, rough surface, which readily cracks, making painful sores. 
The itching is usually severe, and the affected part is constantly fretted and 
irritated by the scratching which goes on. 

Children who suffer from eczema are usually constipated. 

Treatment. — The most scrupulous care must be taken to keep the healthy 
infant's skin clean, especially those parts which come in contact with the 
soiled napkins. A daily bath should be given from the first week, but a 
prolonged immersion must be avoided as likely to macerate and soften the 
cuticle too much. A good curd soap free from excess of alkali should be 
used, 1 and soft water in preference to hard. Some starch powder, such as 
finely ground rice or maize powder, with 20 per cent, of boracic acid, should 
be applied after careful drying. 

If the parts about the genitals become red or excoriated, attention must 
at once be directed to the state of the infant's digestive organs, to see if 
gastric and intestinal digestion is in a normal state, or if there is diarrhoea ; 
and it will probably be found that something is wrong here. The affected 
parts must be kept clean, as little friction as possible being used, and thin 
gruel, or rice boiled in milk, being used instead of soap ; or the parts may 
be cleansed with a piece of absorbent cotton -wool dipped in carron oil. 
(Lime water and linseed oil, equal parts.) After carefully drying, boracic 
acid powder, or oxide of zinc and starch (1-5), kaolin, or finely prepared 
fuller's earth, may be used to dust on. Where there is constant diarrhoea, 
the ordinary napkin may be dispensed with, and pads made of absorbent 
cotton or wood-wool used instead, as they more readily absorb the faeces 
and urine. Unna's ' powder-bags ' are sometimes useful ; these consist in 
bags made of soft, fine muslin, and filled with some dusting powder, as zinc 
and starch, or Taylor's cimolite, and quilted, to prevent the powder from 
gravitating to one end. These bags may be made ready and used as re- 
quired ; their value consists in keeping the parts dusted by the powder, 
which escapes through the pores of the linen or muslin. 

The dietetic treatment of general eczema is often difficult, as it may be 
by no means clear that anything is wrong with the digestive organs. If the 

1 Unna's ' over-fatty' soap or ' Vinolia' soap makes a good soap for infants. 



688 Diseases of the Skin 

infant is being nursed at the breast, great care should be exercised by the 
mother as regards her diet : beer, tea, coffee, salt meats or greasy dishes,, are 
best avoided, or taken only in moderate quantities, while milk, fish, fresh 
meat, and vegetables may be taken freely. The infant, if vigorous and full- 
blooded, is perhaps taking too much breast-milk, and the amount of milk 
taken should be lessened. Possibly the breast-milk taken may be poor 
in quality — containing an excess of sugar, while deficient in proteids and fat 
— the infant is flabby, poorly nourished, and suffers in consequence from 
impetigo or intertrigo ; in such cases some form of artificial food must be 
given in addition to the breast-milk. In artificially reared children the 
question of diet is of great importance : eczematous infants being brought up 
on cow's milk are frequently constipated and pass large quantities of un- 
digested curd in their stools. In such cases Mellin's food, Benger's, or 
Savory and Moore's, may agree better than cow's milk and water. In older 
children, especially if there is an excess of fat, starchy and saccharine foods 
should be avoided, and the diet confined as much as possible to milk, cream, 
eggs, broth, underdone minced meat, and green vegetables. 

The medicinal treatment must be directed to overcoming the constipation 
so often present, and exciting the action of the liver ; small doses of mercury, 
euonymin, or rhubarb and soda may be prescribed. (F. 30 or 31.) 

Small doses of Rubinat or Hunyadi water are often successful. 

Of other internal remedies in the acute stages, alkalis, such as the citrate 
or bicarbonate of potass, with nux vomica, are frequently useful. Effervescing 
citrate of potash and lithia is useful, both in acting on the bowels and 
kidneys. Carlsbad salts, taken before breakfast in warm water several times 
a week, may be prescribed in older children. Arsenic is rarely, if ever, of use 
in the early stages of infantile eczema ; indeed, we have seen cases which 
were made distinctly worse by it. In older children in the chronic stages, 
where there is a disposition to excessive desquamation, it is usually beneficial. 
In the chronic impetiginous eczemas of scrofulous children cod-liver oil and 
the iodides may be prescribed with great advantage. Cod-liver oil and 
arsenic may be given, or arsenic can be added to some ready-made cod-liver 
•oil emulsion. (F. 32.) 

In the management of local remedies much depends upon how the 
application is used, and much time and trouble may be well bestowed in 
snowing the friends of patients how to apply the dressings, and, what is by 
no means easy, to keep them in position. Merely smearing on an ointment 
or dabbing on a lotion may be an entirely valueless proceeding ; moreover, 
the newly formed cutis is very easily injured. The ointment or lotion re- 
quires to be kept in constant contact with the part if it is to be of much use. 
In infants and young children some method will have to be adopted to 
prevent scratching ; mittens must be placed on the hands, and in some cases 
it may be necessary to secure the arms by means of bandages. 

For application locally the range of remedies is very wide, and various 
combinations have been called into requisition in the way of lotions, 
liniments, and ointments. As a rule, in all acute eczemas, where there is 
much excoriation of the skin, or thin, newly formed skin present, much 
washing or rough handling should be avoided. On the other hand, in 
chronic cases, where the skin is thick, scaly, or infiltrated; baths are of great 



Treatment of Eczema 689 

service in removing the scales and softening the skin. In all eczemas, how- 
ever, a certain amount of cleansing is necessary to remove the remains of 
the old ointments and crusts : this can usually be done by gently applying 
some almond oil — or carron oil answers very well — ordinary soap being best 
avoided in acute cases. 

In all acute or subacute eczemas soothing remedies are required, and 
must be persevered in as long as there is an irritable condition of the skin 
and free discharge. The most troublesome eczemas in infancy are those of 
the face. In these, when the skin flushes up and is hot and angry during 
the evening exacerbation, and the infant sleepless and restless from the 
burning and itching of the skin, hot poppy-head or opium fomentations often 
give relief. Perhaps more often cooling applications are the most grateful ; 
these may consist of carron oil with 2 per cent, of ichthyol or calamine 
liniment. (F. 33, 34, 35.) 

Any of these lotions may be carefully dabbed on and allowed to dry, to be 
followed by a soothing ointment, or pieces of lint may be soaked in the 
liniment and kept continuously applied by means of a gauze bandage. The 
ointments most suitable for the face in acute or subacute conditions are 
those whose basis consists of cold cream or the ung. aquae rosse of the 
United States ' Pharmacopoeia,' such as F. 36. This ointment must be 
spread on lint and kept continuously applied, being changed twice a day and 
reapplied. 

When the eczema has passed into the scaly stage, and there is no large 
amount of discharge from the skin, more stimulating ointments may be used, 
and the face kept continuously bound up to exclude the air. There should be 
a daily cleansing with carron oil to remove the excess of ointment and the 
accumulated scabs, and zinc ointment (F. 37) may be applied on lint. 
Lassar's and Ihle's pastes are useful, and form a protective covering to the 
newly formed skin, but they are difficult to remove if allowed to cake on 
to any extent. (F. 38, 39.) 

In impetigo, where the discharge is more or less purulent and much 
scabbing takes place, the scabs should be removed by poultices or the appli- 
cation of carbolic oil, and some diluted mercurial ointment applied (F. 40, 
41) — or an ointment consisting of five or tengrs. of iodoform in simple oint- 
ment may be used. 

Eczema affecting the scalp must be treated in a similar manner to that of 
the face, except that, as a rule, more stimulating applications may be applied. 
In the weeping and irritable stage carron oil or the calamine liniment 
(F. 33) or zinc and cold cream may be applied on lint or rags, and a nightcap 
worn by the child to protect the parts and prevent the infant from scratching. 
The hair must be kept short and the scalp cleansed every morning with some 
mild soap and warm water ; or thin gruel may be used. In the more chronic 
stages, especially in neglected cases, the crusts must be removed by oiling 
and poulticing, and some diluted white precipitate ointment or other mild 
mercurial ointment applied. Lassar's or Ihle's paste (F. 38, 39) may be 
used, being put on thickly, thus dispensing with any lint ; the crusts and 
excess of ointment must be removed daily or every few days. Eczema of 
the scalp, the result of pediculi, should be treated by poulticing, cutting the 
hair, and the continuous application of white precipitate ointment. 

Y Y 






690 Diseases of the Skin 

In the chronic general eczemas of older children, especially where the 
skin is rough and coarse, and there is much infiltration, and the flexures of 
the joints are affected, baths and stimulating liniments, followed by some 
soothing protective ointment, usually answer best. Soft soap, the pure 
green variety, may be rubbed over the parts on a wetted flannel for a minute 
or two so as to soften the skin ; it is then washed off in a warm bath, the 
child dried, and some strips of lint coated with zinc and lead ointment 
applied. This plan answers well in hospital, but the application of the soft 
soap causes smarting, and in private practice the child's friends are apt to 
think it makes the eczema worse, and fail to persevere. Instead of the soft 
soap the parts may be sponged with lead and carbolic lotion (F. 42) every 
evening for a few minutes, the old ointment having been cleaned off, to be 
followed by simple zinc or lead ointment. 

In acute general eczema, where large surfaces of the body are affected, 
liniments applied on rag or lint should be used, and the parts firmly bandaged 
with gauze bandages so that the application may be kept in constant contact 
with the skin. When there is much discharge and the skin inflamed and 
tender, it is sometimes best simply to powder on some finely ground boracic 
acid and surround the limb with absorbent wool, firmly bandaged on ; or 
strips of lint may be saturated with carron oil ; calamine liniment (F. 33) or 
glycerinum plumb, subacet. (1-10) may be used. In a later stage, when the 
skin is thickened and scaly, with but little or no discharge, more stimulating 
applications are necessary ; ointments containing mercury, tar, zinc, or lead 
are usually prescribed. The ointment should be of tolerably firm consistence, 
so as not to melt too readily and run into the lint. 

For general eczemas Pick and Unna have employed glycerine jelly 
medicated with zinc and other ingredients, painted over the skin after 
melting into a liquid. The glycerine jelly is dispensed in a tin or jar, which 
can be stood in hot water till liquefied, and it is then applied to the skin by 
means of a brush. The parts are then covered by a thin layer of absorbent 
wool ; large surfaces of skin can be covered in this way. This application is 
unsuitable if there is much discharge from the skin, as the oozing quickly 
dissolves away the gelatine. We have found in cases in which we have 
used these applications that the surface of the application, unless well 
covered with cotton wool, adheres to the clothes of the patient, and is easily 
•detached. Unna's formulas are F. 44, 45. 

In local eczemas, especially those about the nose, back of the ears, and 
flexures of the joints, Unna's salve plaisters or salve muslins are very con- 
venient and efficacious. Pieces of these can be cut with the scissors to any 
shape, and when placed over the patch of eczema can be readily held in 
position by a light bandage. The zinc and red oxide of mercury salve 
muslin and tar and lead are the most useful. 

Impetigo contagiosa. — This eruption is characterised by the formation 
of crops of vesicles of various sizes, which become converted into pustules. 
The pustules dry up or become ruptured, leaving a greenish-yellow thick 
scab. The eruption is most common about the face, especially round the 
mouth ; it may also occur about the neck and hands. In some cases there 
is marked febrile disturbance before the vesicles appear. When the patient 
is seen for the first time, after having been affected for several days or a 



Erythema 69 1 

-week, but few vesicles may be present, and only scabs and crusts visible on 
the face and back of the neck. The disease, as its name implies, is con- 
tagious, being transferred by means of the nails from one part of the body 
to another, and from one child to another in a similar way. The attacks 
may be acute in character, and the constitutional disturbance severe. It 
occurs in cachectic children and is rarely seen except in dispensary practice. 
The treatment consists in removing the scabs by oiling or poulticing, and 
applying dilute white precipitate ointment on lint. Cod-liver oil should be 
given internally. 

Seborrhcea. — Seborrhcea is a 'functional disorder of the sebaceous glands, 
producing increase of the secretion, which forms an oily, waxy, or scaly 
accumulation on the surface.' (Crocker.) 

The most familiar example of this disorder is seen in dispensary practice 
in infants who are badly looked after and rarely washed ; in such there is often 
an accumulation of a dirty yellow material over the anterior fontanelle, which 
can be scraped off with a blunt instrument. A certain amount of eczema 
may be present. What has been termed dry seborrhcea is not uncommon 
in the scalp of older children ; it may occur also on the face as well as on 
the trunk and limbs ; the scalp is dry and covered with small scales or scurf, 
which fly out when the head is combed or brushed. Care must be taken 
not to mistake diffused ringworm of the scalp for simple seborrhcea. 

Treatment. — The excessive sebaceous secretion on the scalp of infants 
can usually be removed by gentle friction with a piece of flannel dipped in 
warm olive or almond oil, following this up with washing with soap and 
water ; this process may want repeating once or twice, and care must be 
taken to keep the child's head well washed. If there is a tendency to exces- 
sive secretion, a little ung. hydrarg. ox. flaw (5 per cent, in vaseline) or ung. 
boracis (5ss ad 3J benzoated lard) should be applied. For dry scaly patches 
on the face an ointment consisting of precipitated sulphur in cold cream (5ss 
ad 3J) may be used. 

Erythematous eruptions. — The term erythema is applied to those 
eruptions which consist in a redness or congestion of a more or less extended 
portion of skin, as well as to other eruptions, where there is not only a con- 
gestion, but an actual exudation from the cutaneous vessels, as in erythema 
nodosum. 

A simple erythema or congested portion of skin occurs under various 
conditions : it may be the result of some external irritation, such as the con- 
tact of fouled napkins ; the application of various irritants, such as mustard, 
chrysarobin, arsenic ; or the bites of insects. An erythema sometimes pre- 
cedes the eruptions o'f the specific fevers : this occurs at times in small-pox, 
chicken-pox, vaccinia ; and it accompanies other febrile disorders, which are 
not usually accompanied by a rash, as diphtheria, cholera, and septicaemia. 
An erythematous redness is often present when there is a high temperature, 
as in pneumonia and other febrile disorders. An idiopathic erythema 
or roseola is not uncommon in infants and young children, mostly as 
the result of some intestinal irritation, possibly also due to the irritation of 
the gum caused by dentition. It is more or less patchy in its distribution, 
occurring on the forehead, face, trunk, or limbs ; there may be no marked 
•constitutional disturbance, and the patches of redness may be the first 

y y 2 



692 Diseases of the Skin 

symptom. In other cases there may be several degrees of fever, restless- 
ness, and perhaps vomiting. The eruption is mostly fugitive, disappear- 
ing in a few hours to 24 hours. Other patches may appear as the first ones 
fade. 

Erythema scarlatiniforme. — Is a typical 'scarlet fever rash' ever 
present in any non-scarlatinal case ? It is difficult to answer this question 
dogmatically, but it may certainly be said that in any case when there is a 
diffuse, well-marked, punctiform rash, remaining visible for at least 24 hours, 
the disease is almost certainly scarlet fever. It is certain, however, some ery- 
thematous or roseolous rashes do closely resemble scarlet fever, and, as they 
are attended not infrequently with some constitutional disturbance and fever, 
the difficulty in diagnosis may be very great. 

Some children are especially liable to roseolous rashes resembling scarlet 
fever, as the result of indigestion or some other source of irritation ; a roseo- 
lous rash is also apt to occur in septic conditions, such as in an empyema, or 
wherever pus is shut up in a cavity. 

The constitutional disturbance in these cases is generally slight ; the 
temperature may reach 101 or 102 F., the tongue may be slightly coated, 
but the child feels usually quite well, and his appetite is normal. The rash 
may very closely resemble mild scarlet fever ; it is, however, as far as our 
experience goes, never so intense as it is in a typical or well-marked case of 
scarlet fever ; moreover, in some part of the body it is almost sure to be 
patchy and unlike scarlet fever. The distinction between the roseolous and a 
scarlet fever rash may be difficult or impossible if one part of the body only 
happens to be seen, but the difficulty usually disappears if a careful examina- 
tion of the whole body be made, as in some places, especially the face and 
trunk, the roseola is patchy, the patches having a sharp outline. Crocker 
speaks of a roseolous rash lasting two to six days, and followed by a more or 
less copious desquamation. We have never seen such a case, and should be 
extremely suspicious of scarlet fever in such cases. In our experience an 
erythematous or roseolous rash, while it may closely resemble a scarlet fever 
eruption, is more fugitive, and rarely lasts more than twenty-four or forty- 
eight hours, and is not followed by desquamation. In the majority of cases 
the presence or absence of a tonsillitis will decide the diagnosis. 

A roseolous rash may follow the taking of certain drugs, more especially 
belladonna, copaiba, and salicylic acid. 

Erythema pernio. Chilblains. — Children with slow circulations, espe- 
cially the so-called strumous, are very apt to suffer from chilblains. The favour- 
ite spots are the toes, heel, and fingers ; they begin with redness and intense 
itching, or aching coming on towards evening, or when the patient is warm. 
The skin is smooth, livid, and shiny, and ulceration may take place if it- 
is subjected to much friction. Children subject to chilblains should wear 
warm woollen stockings and well-fitting boots with broad toes and thick 
soles, and should take much exercise. In the early stages the affected parts 
may be painted with equal parts of tr. iodi and lin. aconiti, or lin. saponis co. 
with an equal quantity of lin. belladonnas. A mild capsicum ointment also 
answers well (capsici 5 SS > almond oil 5ii> lanoline 5 v i)? rubbed in with a 
piece of flannel. Zinc ointment with ung. hydrarg. ox. rubri, or ung. picis liq., 
in varying proportion according to the stimulating effect desired, may be 
applied. 



Urticaria 693 

Erythema multiforme is mostly seen during early life in association 
with rheumatism, or in rheumatic subjects ; whatever importance it possesses 
is derived from this association. The outbreak of this form of erythema is 
always suggestive of the rheumatic state, and an examination of the heart 
for endocarditis should always be made. The most common form consists 
in red papules surrounded by more or less congested skin. In association 
with the papules there may be flat raised patches surrounded by a zone of 
redness (erythema marginatum). Sometimes the eruption becomes purpuric, 
and bullae or vesicles may form. 

Erythema nodosum has apparently a close relationship to the erythema 
just described, though the constitutional disturbance is often much greater. 
Prior to the appearance of the nodes there may be rheumatic pains and fever, 
the temperature perhaps reaching 103 or 104 , and the child is apparently 
quite ill. The eruption appears most copiously over the shins, but the arms, 
especially on the extensor surfaces, or any part of the body, may be attacked ; 
it appears as node-like, tender, red swellings of various sizes, accompanied 
by a burning or itching sensation. The patches come out two or three at a 
time in various parts of the body. At first rose-red in colour, they then 
assume a darker-red colour, and as they disappear become of a yellow colour 
like a fading bruise. 

Not much treatment is required for erythema multiforme or nodosum. 
A light milk diet, a mild aperient with some saline, with salicylate of soda if 
rheumatism is suspected. Locally, lead lotion with some tr. opii or liq. car- 
bonis detergens may be used. 

Urticaria is characterised by the sudden appearance of elevated blotches 
or wheals, at first red in colour, afterwards becoming white and sur- 
rounded by a zone of redness. They are attended by much burning and 
itching. The blotches usually disappear in the course of a few hours, but 
most frequently there are successive crops. There is usually some gastro- 
intestinal disturbance. Urticaria is sometimes, especially in infants, a dis- 
tressing and troublesome complaint, the intense itching making the child 
restless, and entirely preventing sleep. Urticaria is the result, in the large 
majority of instances, of some irritation in the alimentary canal, less often 
upon teething ; sometimes it is due to the bites of insects or scabies. Worms 
are not an uncommon cause in young children ; fruits of various kinds, 
especially strawberries, fish, sausages, stale meat, sour milk, or any kind of 
fruit which disagrees, may act as a cause. 

The most troublesome form of urticaria is that variety known as urticaria 
papulosa or lichen urticatus. This is a very intractable affection and 
may last for many months or even years. When seen in dispensary practice 
it is very apt to be mistaken for scabies, as the rash consists of numerous 
papules, often scabbed over as the result of scratchings about the body, limbs, 
hands, and feet. In the worst cases the whole body is covered with itching 
papules, in some places, perhaps, becoming pustular, making the resemblance 
to scabies a very close one, but no ' burrows ' can be discovered. The erup- 
tion begins as small wheals, which become papules, fresh ones coming out 
every night in crops when the child goes to bed. Its rest is broken, and its 
health may be seriously interfered with. It is most common during the 
period of the first dentition, and the tendency to it mostly disappears at three 
or four years of age. 



694 Diseases of tJie Skin 

Treatment.- — An aperient should be given, calomel or rhubarb and soda 
being the best. Santonin and calomel may be given if worms are suspected.. 
A saline such as citrate of potash or bromide of potassium may be ordered. 
If due to dentition, the gum may be lanced if a tooth is stretching the mucous 
membrane. Locally, sponging the wheals with lead and tar lotion (such as 
F. 42) is perhaps the best application, or each wheal may be rubbed with 
menthol or painted with collodion. Sulphur baths (sulphuret of potassium, 
§ij to a bath) are useful in the chronic varieties. 

Xiichen scrofulosus ' is characterised by very small inflammatory 
papules of a red colour, fading to that of the normal skin, disposed in 
groups or circles, and occurring mainly in scrofulous subjects.' (Crocker.) 

This form of lichen is not common in our experience, but it is easily 
overlooked, inasmuch as it is unattended with any great inconvenience to the 
patients ; they may make no complaint, and it is only discovered accidentally. 
The important points in the diagnosis consist in the absence of irritation 
and the presence of caseous lymph glands or other well-marked evidence of 
scrofula. The papules are small, and of a bright red colour at first, gradually 
changing to dull red, desquamating, and finally leaving a brown stain. 
They may be present on the trunk or limbs. Their course is very chronic, 
fresh papules appearing as the old ones fade, so that the patient may not be 
entirely free for months or years. 

Psoriasis. — This affection is common in children over three years of 
age, but is seldom so severe or so intractable as it often is in adults. It is 
perhaps even more liable to recur in children than in adults. The symptoms 
are so similar during childhood to those seen in after-life that no detailed 
description is necessary. The treatment we usually adopt is to give arsenic,, 
beginning with two-minim doses and gradually increasing it. Warm baths 
with the moderate use of green soft soap to remove the scales, applying 
same tarry or mercurial ointment. In hospital patients we have used 
Auspitz's solution of chrysarobin with great success. The solution is applied 
to the spots twice a week, the patient wearing old linen to avoid damage. 
(F. 46, 47.) 

BEiliasia. Sudamina. — In various fevers, such as scarlet fever, enteric, 
and in other febrile disorders, as rheumatism, a number of minute vesicles 
with clear contents make their appearance on the skin. The clear fluid is 
sweat, which has been unable to escape from the orifice of the sweat gland ; 
the contents of the vesicles are absorbed or dry up in a day or two, leaving a 
tiny desquamating spot. In other cases a slight inflammation occurs at the 
blocked sweat gland, and a minute papule appears instead of the vesicle, 
though vesicles may also be present ; this condition has been called Miliaria 
rubra. The so-called lichen strophulus or 6 red gum ' is, according to 
Crocker, a sweat rash ; it consists of minute crops of red papules which 
make their appearance in infants ; they are attended often with much itching- 
and consequent restlessness of the infant. A somewhat similar rash has 
been attributed to dentition as well as to gastric irritation. They should be 
dabbed with the lotion F. 35 or F. 42, and powdered with boracic acid or 
some drying dusting-powder. 

Pempbigus is rare in infants apart from syphilis, but attacks of the 
acuter form of the disease {Pemphigus neonatorum), occurring in epidemics 



Tinea Tonsurans 695 

in lying-in hospitals or in the practice of a midwife, have been recorded by 
continental writers. In these cases the disease appears to have been dis- 
tinctly contagious : not only has it apparently passed from infant to infant, 
but also from infant to nurse. In a few cases the eruption is preceded by 
fever, restlessness, or convulsions ; the rash usually appears at the end of 
the first week. The bullae vary in size ; their contents are clean or slightly 
cloudy, rarely pustular ; they gradually dry up, forming superficial ulcers or 
crusts. All parts of the body may be attacked, and, unlike syphilitic 
pemphigus, there is no preference for the palms of the hands or soles of the 
feet. 

Chronic pemphigus is seen occasionally in older children ; in some of 
these cases the children appear to be in good health and complain of nothing 
except the eruption, for. which no cause can be assigned. In most cases 
there is marked anaemia, and more or less fever and constitutional dis- 
turbance ; the latter may be severe. The number of bullae vary from two 
or three to perhaps twenty ; they appear as vesicles on the face, trunk, and 
limbs, gradually enlarging, and finally drying up in the course of a few days. 
The treatment consists in giving arsenic in full doses, and cod-liver oil. 
Locally, boracic acid or zinc ointment may be applied. In the severer cases 
continuous baths are useful. 

Dermatitis gangrenosa infantum. — In speaking of varicella we have 
referred to a peculiar form of multiple gangrene of the skin, which is apt to 
follow varicella in anaemic or emaciated children (pp. 291, 292). There is 
reason to believe that this condition is not necessarily preceded by varicella, 
but may follow other pustular eruptions (Crocker) ; it has been known also 
to follow vaccination. It almost always occurs in infants or young children 
under three years of age, and in many of the fatal cases tuberculosis has 
been found. In these cases the varicella vesicle or pustule is succeeded by 
an ulcer, which rapidly extends in size and depth, frequently several joining 
together, so as to form large sinuous ulcers ; the floor becomes black from the 
formation of sloughs. In the worst cases the scalp, face, body, and limbs 
are covered with sloughy-looking ulcers, either separate or having joined 
together. There may be marked constitutional symptoms. In one of our 
cases there was recovery, the ulcers gradually healing up ; in the majority 
of cases a fatal result ensues. The treatment consists in giving the child 
a generous diet, including beef-tea and wine, and dressing the ulcers with 
iodoform or other antiseptic ointment. 

Tinea tonsurans. — Ringworm of the scalp is one of the most trouble- 
some local diseases with which the practitioner has to deal, and one which 
is apt to bring unmerited discredit on account of the many months or even 
years that the disease sometimes lasts. In some children there seems to be 
an especial disposition of the disease to spread, and to relapse when to all 
appearance it has been cured, or, in spite of the local treatment vigorously 
carried out for months, no marked improvement ensues and everyone con- 
cerned becomes tired of the case. 

Ringworm is exceedingly contagious, one child taking it from another in 
consequence of the spores of the tricophyton being transferred from one to 
another by direct contact, or by means of hair-brushes, combs, caps, or bed- 
linen being used both by the affected and the healthy. It rarely affects 



696 Diseases of the Skin 

infants, or children after puberty, its subjects, especially in the chronic form, 
being the weakly rather than the strong, though exceptions may be met 
with. 

The disease when recent may be recognised at a glance : the patches are 
circular, the central skin in the smaller ones being red in colour, while at 
the circumference desquamation is freely going on, the branny scurf giving 
the patch at this part a greyish or yellowish appearance ; the hairs from the 
central part may have come away, or they have broken off, leaving stumps. 
In the larger patches all traces of redness have disappeared, and they are 
simply bald or scurfy patches of varying size. Chronic diffuse ringworm of 
the scalp, especially if it has undergone a certain amount of irritation as the 
result of treatment, is more difficult to diagnose ; there may be much scurfi- 
ness, perhaps scabbing and pustulation. In the condition known as kerion 
the hair follicles suppurate, the hairs becoming loosened at their roots, and 
there is redness and puffiness of the patch. The diagnosis of ringworm is 
made from the stumps of hair left after the hair has broken off. These are 
best seen by means of a lens of two or three inches focal length : the stumps 
will then be readily seen often more or less twisted or bent, and having lost 
the gloss ordinarily seen on the hair. They are readily extracted with for- 
ceps, as they are mostly loose in their follicles ; they can then be placed upon a 
glass slide with a drop of liq. potassae and examined after soaking for half 
an hour. The broken hair will be seen to be frayed out at the end, and, 
moreover, infiltrated with conidia or spores ; the latter are readily seen with 
a power of 300 diameters if a sufficient time has been allowed for the caustic 
alkali to dissolve the fatty matters and render the hair transparent. The 
mycelium is less readily seen than the spores. It is needless to say it is 
mostly useless to examine the unbroken hairs, and in old cases, which have 
been treated no spores may be present in the scurf. The greatest caution 
must be exercised before pronouncing that a case is well, or certifying that 
it is no longer infectious, as cases relapse again and again, and may be 
the means of communicating the disease to others. Before any case can be 
said to be cured, repeated examinations must be made with the aid of a lens 
for diseased hairs, any suspicious-looking stump being extracted and 
examined microscopically ; it is well to remember also that scurfy patches, 
even when the hair is growing freely over them, are extremely suspicious. 
In every case some mild parasiticide should be continued to be applied for 
some time after the disease appears to have been eradicated. In seborrhcea 
or non-parasitic scurfiness the whole scalp is affected, and, though the hair 
may come out, there are no broken stumps and no sharply defined patches 
of scurfiness as in ringworm. 

The course of ringworm is apt to be exceedingly chronic, and when 
undertaking the treatment of a case it is well not to be too ready to name a 
definite time when it will be well. 

Tinea circinata. — Ringworm of the body is frequently associated with 
ringworm of the scalp. It is first seen as a raised red spot, which becomes 
scaly at the periphery as it enlarges, while the centre may present more 
or less healthy skin ; as the ring enlarges it becomes more or less broken 
and fainter. It may be present on all parts of the body ; it is perhaps 
commonest on the face and neck. The diagnosis is generally easy, though 



Treatment of Ringworm 697 

sometimes the patches of scurfiness on children's faces may be mistaken for 
ringworm, but do not assume the formation of a ring with a normal skin in 
the centre ; if any difficulty occurs, an examination of the scales scraped off 
the patch for spores would decide. 

Treatinent. — The treatment of tinea circinata is a comparatively simple 
affair, and is readily effected by the continuous application of some mercurial 
ointment or solution for a few days or a week. It is well to commence 
treatment by removing the scales as far as possible with soap and water, and 
then some dilute white precipitate ointment may be gently rubbed into the 
patch morning and evening. An ointment containing sulphur, 5ss, and ung. 
picis liq., 5j, to the ounce of benzoated lard also answers well. Carbolic oil 
or carbolic acid in glycerine (1-8) may be used. 

In the treatment of ringworm of the scalp the first step to be taken is to 
cut the whole hair off with a pair of scissors to at least half an inch, leaving 
a fringe if thought desirable ; the scalp can then be carefully examined, and 
it will be usually found that there is more extensive disease than was at first 
thought. Wherever there are any patches of ringworm the hair must be 
cut close to the scalp both over and aroiuid the patch. The scalp should be 
thoroughly washed with soft soap or carbolic soap, removing all or as many 
of the scales as possible. The ointment or application selected should then 
be rubbed in by means of a mop of rag for a few minutes, at least twice a 
day. Veiy many parasiticides have been recommended ; the one we have 
mostly used, and which is certainly as successful as any, is the oleate of 
mercury, and we fully endorse Dr. Alder Smith's praises of it. An oint- 
ment containing 5 per cent, is used for children under eight years of age, and 
10 per cent, for older children ; a small piece of the ointment is rubbed 
vigorously into the affected patch every morning and evening ; if there is 
much tenderness it must be omitted for a day or two. Once a week at least 
the ointment should be washed off with soft soap, and effects of treatment 
carefully noted. Oleate of mercury is especially suited for the diffuse form 
of ringworm ; it apparently penetrates better than iodine or carbolic acid, 
which tend to harden the epithelial tissues ; this power of penetration is 
obviously of great advantage when the fungus extensively affects the 
hair-roots. 

In the early stages, when there is a single circumscribed patch of ring- 
worm or only a few patches, some more powerful remedy than the 5 per 
cent, oleate of mercury may be used with advantage. The 10 per cent, 
ointment may be applied, or carbolic acid and glycerine (1-6 by measure) 
may be rubbed into the patches night and morning. Coster's paint (iodine 
5ij, oil of cade 5vi) is also useful in recent cases painted on the patch, 
removing the crust every few days and reapplying. Glacial acetic acid and 
hydrarg. perchlorid. (gr. iv ad §i) as used by Alder Smith are good appli- 
cations, as is also Auspitz's solution of chrysarobin in chloroform (F. 47). The 
last two must only be used to circumscribed small patches, and are not 
suitable for young children or those in whom inflammation is readily set up. 
It is well to keep the rest of the scalp well oiled with carbolic oil when strong 
applications are being applied to some local patch. A light skull-cap should 
be worn to prevent the ointment smearing the bed linen at night. 

While in the diffuse or chronic forms we prefer mercurial preparations, 



698 Diseases of the Skin 

yet some cases appear benefited by a change, or at any rate a change of 
ointment will sometimes work wonders in the eyes of the friends. An 
ointment containing equal quantities of carbolic acid (Calvert's No. 2), ung. 
hyd. nitr., and ung. sulphuris (Alder Smith), is a good and useful one ; or the 
formula (F. 48) recommended by Jamieson. 

Whatever form of application is adopted, it is tolerably certain that much 
patience will have to be exercised before the disease can be pronounced 
cured. Weeks and even months may elapse, and while progress has been 
made perhaps scurfiness and diseased stumps can be detected ; or, perhaps, 
while the disease appears eradicated in one place, it is spreading in another 
direction. 

Epilation is useful in all stages, but timid and young children are too 
nervous to submit to much being done in this way. In cases which have 
proved intractable and resisted all treatment for months a local patch of 
inflammation may be set up by means of croton oil. The usual method is 
to paint some croton oil on over a patch of half an inch to an inch in dia- 
meter, to repeat it the next day, and to follow it up by a poultice ; the 
patch becomes red and puffy, suppuration takes place about the hair 
follicles, and the hairs readily come out. To this boggy condition the term 
kerion is applied. It is important to apply this treatment to only small 
patches at a time. 

After the disease has been apparently cured it is well to continue for a time 
with some remedy containing a mild parasiticide. One of the formulae 49 or 
50 usually answers for this purpose. 

Alopecia areata. — Alopecia consists of smooth, shining, bald patches on 
the scalp. It occurs at all ages, both of childhood and adult life. Its cause 
is uncertain, though there is a consensus of opinion that it is not due to any 
fungus. In some cases it follows severe headaches, in others without 
any known cause, though it occurs mostly in those who are below par and 
out of health. It may occur first in patches, and perhaps after a while 
involve the whole scalp. It is extremely intractable, and little influenced by 
treatment, local or constitutional. Cod-liver oil and tonics are usually given, 
and stimulating lotions, such as F. 51. 

Favus. — Favus is not a common disease in this country, but is occasion- 
ally seen among out-patients at a children's hospital. It is known at once 
by the peculiar yellow cup-like depressions formed by the crusts, and by the 
peculiar ' mousy ' smell. These crusts can be raised from the scalp by means 
of a blunt knife, carrying the hairs with them, leaving a pitted skin, which, 
however, crusts over again in ten or twelve days. The favus crusts may be 
present on the body as well as on the scalp. The subjects of this disease are 
generally cachectic and have been ill-fed. The fungus — achorion Schonleinii 
— closely resembles the tricophyton of ringworm, but the mycelium is more 
jointed, and the gonidia are more numerous and larger, though they vary 
much in size. 

The disease is very chronic, frequently lasting for years. The treatment 
consists in removing the crusts, applying parasiticides, and administering 
cod-liver oil and iron. 

Scabies. — Scabies is very common in infants and children in dispensary 
practice, and by no means unknown among the well-to-do classes of society. 



OnycJi ia — L it pus 699 

Among the former there is rarely any difficulty in diagnosis, as they usually 
do not present themselves till the disease is well-marked and pustules have 
formed, while in private practice the diagnosis may be difficult when local, 
as, for instance, on the hands. In infants and young children scabies gives 
rise to more irritation than in adults, and in infants at the breast urticaria and 
erythema of a more or less severe nature may be frequently seen. In infants 
the hands may be quite free, while the face and legs or genitals may be 
affected. In cachectic or weakly children there is usually much crusting and 
many pustules, pus being transferred from one part to another by means of 
the finger nails. The diagnosis is not usually difficult ; urticaria, simple 
eczema, and lichenous rashes may be mistaken for it. The presence of bur- 
rows, the irregular distribution of the vesicles and papules, as well as the in- 
tense itching, are the characteristic points. We have, however, sometimes been 
in doubt regarding the nature of itching rashes present only on the backs of 
the hands. A cure is readily affected by a hot bath with the copious use of 
soft soap, followed by sulphur or storax ointment ; the bath and ointment 
should be repeated for four or five nights in succession, and the clothes should 
be stoved. (F. 52, 53, 54.) 

Simple onychia in children may be looked upon as a variety of the 
subcuticular form of whitlow, in which the nail matrix is involved instead of 
the skin of the finger. It is usually the result of some slight injury such 
as nail-biting, running a splinter beneath the nail, or too close cutting 
of the nails. Early letting out of the matter and removal of foreign material, 
with subsequent warm water or lead lotion dressing, is all that is required. 
Occasionally suppuration goes on intractably beneath the nail, or recurs 
again and again after drying up ; in such cases the nail should be cut away 
over the inflamed spot, and the surface scraped clean, and some solid nitrate 
of silver applied. 

Onychia maligna is a more formidable affection, nearly, if not quite, 
always due to injury of the finger end. The whole nail matrix becomes 
inflamed, the end of the finger is swollen, congested and bulbous, the nail 
becomes loosened, curled up, and blackened, and there is much burning pain ; 
a dirty, sero-sanguineous, often foul discharge comes away, and the mischief 
may go on for months if neglected, and even give rise to necrosis of the ter- 
minal phalanx and permanent distortion or destruction of the nail. The 
treatment we have hardly ever found to fail is dusting the raw surface over 
with powdered nitrate of lead night and morning for a few days ; the nail 
should be removed if the disease has involved anything more than the upper 
part of the matrix. We have often seen onychia of many months' standing 
get practically well in a week under this treatment. Occasionally it is neces- 
sary to scrape away the diseased tissue and remove a sequestrum, but this is 
quite exceptional. 

Lupus. — Mention has already been made of superficial tuberculous ulce- 
ration of the skin {vide p. 352), but the special form known as lupus vulgaris- 
needs a short notice here. The affection consists in the development of 
small circular deposits of inflammatory material in the thickness of the true 
skin. These deposits, known as ' lupus tubercles,' are found usually in 
patches which tend to spread by the formation of new tubercles at the 
margin of the patch. At first isolated, after a while the tubercles coalesce and 



700 Diseases of the Skin 

break down, forming a larger or smaller superficially ulcerated patch, which 
is usually coated over with thick scabs or crusts. In earlier stages there is 
no obvious ulceration, and a thin pellicle covers over each 'tubercle.' If 
allowed to spread, extensive destruction of the skin may occur, and the deeper 
structures are in certain cases attacked. It is, however, very rare for lupus 
to penetrate through the deep fascia, and it probably never attacks bone. 
The most extensive destruction is usually of the nose, where the whole of the 
lateral and alar cartilages may be eaten away, leaving a short, pinched and 
shrunken organ. Almost any part of the body may be attacked, but the face 
is the favourite seat, and especially the tip and sides of the nose. Less often 
the disease attacks the mucous membrane of the lips, cheeks, and septum nasi, 
and we have seen the tonsil and soft palate involved by extension from a patch 
of lupus at the angle of the mouth. Chronic in its course, and intractable to 
any but very thorough treatment, lupus is one of the most troublesome of 
the skin diseases met with in tuberculous subjects, especially as great de- 
formity and disfigurement are often produced by its ravages. On scraping 

out a ' lupus tubercle ' a hollow or pit is seen 
in the thickness of the dermis, while at the 
edge of the patch the superficial part of the 
skin is undermined. 

Treatment. — The general treatment is that 
of tuberculosis, cod-liver oil and arsenic being 
of especial value. Locally nothing is so effec- 
tual as thorough removal of the disease me- 
chanically. It is best to give an anaesthetic, 
and thoroughly scrape away and dig out all the 
soft tissue with a sharp spoon. All the material 
that can be scraped away should be removed ; 
F a g i ; d I7 s ; carp Ha i y ia^ e part^of Ae healthy skin will not break down under the use 
patch was removed by the use of of a Volkmann's spoon. After the scraping the 

the actual cautery and nitric acid. ^^ cautery Qr solid nitmte of silyer may 

be applied, but the mechanical removal is the most important part of the 
process. There is free bleeding at the time, but this speedily stops. The 
sore should be dressed with iodoform ointment, and a careful watch kept for 
the appearance of fresh tubercles, which should be at once attacked in the 
same way. 

Papilloma. — Warts are very commonly met with on children's hands, 
and often appear in crops. They frequently disappear spontaneously, but if 
they are troublesome may be readily cured by some caustic application, or 
better by the steady use of salicylic collodion. 

Hairy and pigmented Moles occur congenitally, and sometimes cause 
great disfigurement, as in fig. 173. If small they may be treated by excision. 
If extensive the growth may be removed in sections by the application of 
the actual cautery or strong nitric acid, but it must be remembered that any 
of these methods necessarily leave a scar. Mere overgrowth of hair may 
be removed by electrolysis and epilation. 




yoi 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

INJURIES, SHOCK, HEMORRHAGE, ETC. 

The various injuries met with in children can only be very briefly described 
here, and only those more or less peculiar to childhood will be mentioned. 

Injuries to the Head. — In young children it is not uncommon for one 
of the bones of the vault of the skull to be dinted or dinged in, and a well- 
marked but shallow saucer-like depression may be felt. Care must be taken 
to distinguish this lesion from cephalhematoma {vide p. 20). The symptoms 
of brain injury in such a case are usually those of concussion and often 
speedily pass off ; recovery usually takes place without any bad symptoms, 
and the depression in most instances gradually becomes obliterated by 
pressure from within and modelling of the bone. 

The treatment of such cases is simply rest and quiet ; no operation is 
called for. Sometimes, however, where the depression is more abrupt and 
marked symptoms of compression exist, especially if the fracture is com- 
pound, the general lines of treatment for such cases in adults must be 
followed. In children the rule, however, is not to operate. 

Traumatic Cephalhydrocele is the name applied to a condition where 
there has been a simple fracture of the skull, with probably in all cases 
laceration of brain and laying open of one or other lateral ventricle. The 
fluid contained in the ventricle escapes beneath the scalp and forms a soft,, 
fluctuating, usually pulsating swelling ; this is distinguished from hematoma 
in some cases by its later onset and steady increase. The swelling, how- 
ever, may appear immediately ; sometimes it is not found for some months 
after the injury ; in any doubtful case aspiration would settle the point. 

Cephalhydrocele is most often met with in children under two years old, 
but may occur as late as the twelfth year ; it is most common in the parietal 
region. We have seen several of these cases. There is often extensive 
absorption of bone after the injury, so that a considerable gap is left in the 
skull. Hydrocephalus not rarely ensues. 

Treatme?it, &^c. — Tapping appears to be of little use, 1 and pressure and. 
quiet are the only treatment. 

The mortality is high : some 40 per cent, of the patients die ; in some 
instances temporary recovery takes place and meningitis developes later. 

Occasionally after compound fracture of the vault a free escape of 

1 Lucas, Guy's Repts., 1879 et seq. ; T. Smith, St. Earth.' s Repts., 1884. Erichsen, 
Southam, Godlee, Howard, and Conner have recorded cases ; also Golding Bird, Guy's 
Repts., 1889. 



702 Injuries, Shock, Hemorrhage, &c. 

similar fluid occurs, as in one case of our own : there was a compound de- 
pressed fracture of the frontal bone, which required elevation ; an abundant 
flow of clear fluid took place from the wound before operation ; the boy 
recovered without any bad symptom. 

Fracture of the Base of tlie Skull in children is a much less serious 
injury than in adults, and is often completely recovered from. Traumatic 
meningitis is rare in children, and they generally recover well from con- 
cussion and brain laceration. 

Dr. Allen ('Lancet,' October 24, 1885) nas described a fracture disloca- 
tion of the atlas occurring in infants ; the lesion is marked by hyper-extension 
of the head and a liability to ' epileptic fits ' on attempts at extension or 
pressure downwards upon the head. The injury is probably inflicted during 
parturition. Vide also Guerin, ' Gaz. Medic.,' 1851. 

Injuries of the Chest. — The only fact about chest injuries that is 
peculiar to childhood is that, in consequence of the flexibility of the chest- 
wall, visceral lesions without fracture of the ribs are not uncommon. When 
rupture of the lung occurs the laceration is usually in the neighbourhood of 
the root of the lung, and the usual complications— emphysema, hemothorax, 
and haemoptysis— are often present, though the last is less often seen, since 
young children rarely expectorate, and the blood is swallowed. 

Injuries of the Abdomen have no peculiar features ; if the immediate 
shock is recovered from, subsequent complications are rarely fatal unless 
from some severe visceral laceration. 

Fracture of the pelvis in childhood is less likely to be complicated by 
visceral injuries than in adults, since sub-periosteal fractures and separation 
of epiphyses take place in children. We have met with a case of fractured 
pelvis in which the urethra was separated from its normal position beneath 
the pubic arch and displaced backwards towards the anus, the injury 
occurring in a little girl. 

Rupture of the membranous or spongy urethra is not uncommonly met 
with in boys as a result of falling astride some projecting edge, e.g. the top 
of palings or of a gate, or the bough of a tree. The symptoms are pain and 
swelling in the perineum, escape of blood from the urethra, inability to pass 
urine, and distention of the bladder unless it has been recently emptied. 
A gentle attempt should at once be made to pass a catheter ; if this succeeds, 
the instrument should be tied in for three or four days and then changed ; 
after a week or ten days it is sufficient to pass a full-sized catheter daily. 
This is the orthodox treatment, but a traumatic stricture usually results, 
requiring the passage of instruments frequently throughout life. Extravasa- 
tion of urine often occurs either immediately or within a day or two of the 
accident, and necessitates free incisions into all the infiltrated parts. To 
avoid these misfortunes probably the best plan is, immediately after the 
accident, to cut down upon and suture together the ends of the torn urethra. 
This we have done with excellent results in an adult, and, as a secondary 
operation, in a child. 

Injuries of the Limbs. — The peculiarities of injuries to the limb bones 
in children depend mainly upon two facts. 1. The bones of children are 
soft, contain relatively little earthy matter, and are therefore less brittle 
than those of adults. 2. The epiphyses are yet ununited, and the periosteum 



Greenstick Fractures — Ununited Fractures 703 

is thicker, more easily detached, and more freely supplied with blood than 
in older people. 

Greenstick Fractures. — A greenstick fracture is one where more or 
less of the thickness of a bone has bent and yielded instead of snpaping 
across ; there is probably really always a fracture. Simple bending of bone 
without fracture is of doubtful occurrence, in health at least, though it may 
occur in rickets and osteomalacia. Many fractures in children are sub- 
periosteal, and to this fact and to the incompleteness of the fracture is due the 
absence of marked symptoms in many cases, so that fractures are not rarely 
overlooked ; indeed deformity, obvious mobility, and crepitus may all be 
absent, and it is common enough to see a fractured clavicle of a week or a 
fortnight's standing, or even longer, in which the first sign that attracted 
the parent's attention was the ' lump in the neck,' consisting of callus round 
the fractured ends. Hence after any severe injury each part and limb 
should be systematically searched, especially in very young children, for all 
probable injuries. The treatment of greenstick fractures is the same as for 
ordinary fractures, any displacement being at once forcibly reduced. 

Ununited Fractures. — Fractures in children usually unite well, and even 
in rickety patients non-union is rare. We have already mentioned cases of 
non-union in fracture after necrosis of the tibia and humerus. Occasionally 
one of the long bones is fractured at or shortly after birth, or even in utero, 
and in these cases non-union is not very rarely met with. It is a curious fact 
that such fractures have almost universally resisted all attempts to procure 
union when once the ends of the bones have become atrophied, and a false 
joint has formed. Sir James Paget has pointed out this peculiarity. 1 In one 
of our patients we tried many methods before obtaining union, as will be seen 
below. 

Case. — John H. , at six weeks old, was found to have a fracture of the leg, but it was 
not known how long it had existed. The mother had a fall two months before he was 
born. On admission there was an old ununited fracture of both bones of the right leg 
\\ inches above the ankle ; the limb was loose and almost flail-like. In May 1889 the 
ends of the bones were resected, and the tibia wired ; no union followed. He was re- 
admitted in July and plaster of Paris reapplied. In October the ends, which were much 
atrophied, were again resected, and ten pieces of bone, taken from the femur of a freshly 
killed young rabbit, were grafted in. The wound healed by primary union, and the limb 
was put up in plaster. No union nor even any formation of callus followed. In January 
1890 the operation was repeated ; eight grafts being inserted, the wound was closed and 
the limb put up in plaster. Three pieces of the rabbit's bone were removed in April and 
May, and the wound healed. In June the wound was reopened, and a long piece of rabbit's 
femur wedged in between the ends. The wound healed at once and a good deal of thick- 
ening, but no real union, followed. In April 1891 the wound was reopened and the large 
piece of rabbit's bone found bare and encysted in a cavity containing clear yellow fluid ; 
smaller pieces were found embedded in fibrous tissue ; there was no sign of any septic 
condition. The rabbit's bone was removed and the ends of the tibia freshened ; an inch 
of the fibula of the same leg was then taken from just below its head and fitted in between 
the ends of the tibia. No union followed, and in September 1891 the ends were again 
resected, and stout steel pins driven cross-wise through the fragments, which, by reason of 
the shortening of the fibula, could be brought well into apposition. Round the ends of 
the pins silver wire was wrapped as in a harelip suture ; the wound was closed and the 
limb fixed in plaster. In December 1891 the plaster was removed and the bones were 

1 Studies from Old Case Books, 1891. 



704 Injuries, Shock, Hemorrhage, &c. 

found united ; one of the pins was removed and the limb fixed in plaster of Paris. The 
union was firm when the limb was examined in August 1892, and the wound was quite 
sound, but the limb was still weak and no restoration of the fibula had taken place. 

Separation of Epiphyses. — It has been well established by Holmes and 
others, especially by the French surgeons, that a pure epiphysial separation 
is very rare ; the condition is nearly always a combination of separation of 
the epiphysis with a fracture of the shaft ; that is, the line of separation runs 
partly through cartilage and partly through bone. The periosteum in many 
of these cases remains untorn, and, as Mr. Hutchinson has shown, it is in 
many instances extensively stripped up from the diaphysis, and necrosis may 
follow. Hence the symptoms of epiphysial separation or diastasis vary con- 
siderably ; thus there may be little or no displacement, crepitus may be absent, 
or very indistinct ; and undue mobility may be only recognisable on very 
careful manipulation. We have seen many cases in which there has been 
a history of previous injury, supposed to be a strain, in which the amount of 
thickening found at the time of examination makes it almost certain that a 
more or less complete separation of an epiphysis had occurred. This is espe- 
cially common about the lower end of the humerus, and our experience fully 
bears out Mr. Hutchinson's statement that these accidents are exceedingly 
common, and in any doubtful case of injury about the elbow they should 
always be suspected. 1 It is, however, possible that in some instances the 
violence may strip up muscles and the thick, loose periosteum without any 
fracture or diastasis, and this injury of the periosteum may be the cause of 
the subsequent thickening. 

In well-marked cases there are deformity, undue mobility, loss of power, 
and sometimes indistinct or so-called ' false' or 'dummy' crepitus ; the outlines 
of the fragments are more rounded than in ordinary fracture, and the line of 
separation coincides with that of an epiphysis. It must be remembered that 
an epiphysial junction is not a flat, plane surface, but there is in most of the 
bones a cup-shaped hollow in the epiphysis which receives the rounded con- 
vex end of the shaft. It is often difficult to reduce and keep in place the 
fragments, and a certain amount of deformity is often persistent, though this 
diminishes by a gradual process of modelling as time goes on. Arrest of 
growth occurs in some cases, not in others ; probably this depends upon the 
accuracy with which the lesion has followed the epiphysial line, and the 
amount of destruction of the growing bone or of premature synostosis that 
results. These injuries are most common about the two ends of the humerus, 
the lower end of the radius, and the lower end of the femur ; 2 occasionally 
they are met with at the upper end of the tibia, 3 and still more rarely else- 

1 Curiously Hamilton {Fractures and Dislocations) says he has never met with a 
case. 

2 It is sometimes said that separation of the lower end of the femur is the most fre- 
quent accident, but in our experience it is not nearly so common as the diastasis of the 
humerus. We have once met with diastasis of the upper femoral epiphysis (vide Hip 
Disease in Childhood, by one of the present writers ; see also Stimson on Fractures and 
Hutchinson, Arch, of Surgery, April 1892). 

5 Separation of the upper epiphysis of the tibia has been caused by the bad practice of 
applying extension for hip disease below the knee instead of above it. 



Separation of EpipJiyses 



70S 



where. 1 Tubby 2 has collected cases of separation of the clavicular epiphysis. 
The diagnosis depends upon the age of the patient, the fact that the pro- 
jecting edge of the bone is sharp and unlike the natural inner end of the 
clavicle as it would be in the case of a dislocation, and also in that a lamella 
of bone can be felt between the sternal notch and the end of the shaft. It 
must be remembered that the epiphysis is only an extremely thin plate. 

The treatment is that of fractured clavicle. According to Tubby separa- 
tion of the coracoid epiphysis is 
of extreme rarity, and no case of 
separation of the acromial epi- 
physis appears to be authentic. 

Diastasis of the upper end of 
the humerus is not very rarely 
met with. It results from in- 
juries such as blows or falls 
upon the arm, which, in the 
adult, would probably cause 
either fracture of the shaft or 
dislocation of the shoulder. The 
appearance of the shoulder is 
characteristic, though much like 
that of fracture of the surgical 
neck of the bone. There is no 
depression below the acromion, 
but some flattening a little lower 
down, with a marked prominence 
on the anterior and inner aspect 
of the arm, a short distance be- 
low the coracoid process. This I 
prominence is the upper end of 1 
the shaft of the humerus dis- I 
placed forwards and inwards ; 
the edges of the projecting bone 
are more rounded, and less 
sharp and irregular than in the 
case of fractured surgical neck, 
and on reduction, which is 
usually, though with difficulty, 

managed, 'dummy' crepitus instead of that of a true fracture is felt. It is 
difficult to keep the fragments in position, but, as the surfaces are^broad, there 
is very rarely or never any actual overlapping. Since the upper'epiphysis of 
the humerus includes the tuberosities, there is abundant blood supply to 
the upper fragment, and union usually speedily takes place. The treatment 
consists in applying a long inside angular splint, well padded at the top 
and fitting high up into the axilla. The fragments are brought into posi- 

1 For an account of separation of epiphyses due to congenital syphilis (syphilitic telos- 
titis) vide chapters on ' Congenital Syphilis' and on ' Bone Diseases.' Similar multiple 
separations may be the result of so-called ' scurvy rickets. ' 

2 Guy's Reports, 1889. 

Z Z 







-Separation of the upper Epiphysis of the 
Right Humerus. 



■Epiphyses B f Head &T) A e 
Tuberosities llend at\*J ' 
6 '*£ y <?und unite j 
witA Shaft qt 20 My H 



7o6 Injuries, Shock, Hemorrhage, &c. 

tion, and a felt or guttapercha shoulder cap is then moulded on. Passive 
movement should be begun in ten days. The deformity is rarely entirely 
reduced, but good union and a useful though possibly somewhat shortened 
limb results. The injury may be compound or complicated with rupture of 
the axillary artery. Instances of non-union have been met with, and 
shortening to the extent of five inches ten years after the injury. In some 
cases carrying the arm ' forwards and upwards to the perpendicular line '— 

Moore quoted by Tubby — will 
render reduction easy. 

Separation of the lower epi- 
physis of the humerus is, we think, 
far the commonest lesion of the 
kind met with in children. We 
believe the most frequent injury is 
separation of the inner condyle, 
i.e. the epiphysis of the trochlea 
together with that of the epicon- 
dyle. The line of disjunction runs 
from above the condyle into the 
joint between the trochlea and 
capitellum. It is very common to 
have children brought with an 
injury to the elbow of some days' 
duration, and a statement that the 
limb has been strained or the 
joint put out. On examination 
there is pain and restricted move- 
ment about the elbow joint, but 
the olecranon, the head of the 
radius, and the internal condyle 
occupy their normal relations to 
one another. Sometimes, how- 
ever, the disaster is accompanied 
by dislocation of the joint, and 
paralysis of the ulnar nerve may 
be met with. On grasping the 
lower end of the humerus between 
the finger and thumb, marked 
thickening as compared with the 
other side is felt usually just about 
the internal condyle. Sometimes the whole lower epiphysis is separated and 
displaced backwards ; less often the capitellum and outer condyle are detached. 
Such cases, if seen'at once, should be treated, after reduction of any obvious 
deformity, by gutta-percha or Gooch splint, on one side, and on the other an 
angular splint, reaching from the shoulder to the end of the fingers. 1 At the 
end of a week the splints should be removed, gentle passive movement em- 

1 Frere, following Berthomier, recommends treatment of separation of the inner con- 
dyle (' epitrochlea ') by fixing the limb in extension and pronation, with the object of avoid- 
ing displacement by muscular action. — Brit. Med. Jour., January 23, 1892. 




"Unites with. 
SJiaftat 






Fig. 175 



Plan of the Development of the Humerus. 
By Seven Centres. From Gray's Anatomy. 



Separation of Epiphyses 707 

ployed, and the splints readjusted. A week later all splints should be left off 
and the arm worn in a sling, but taken out night and morning for gentle exer- 
cise. Violent passive movement to keep up flexibility is not required, and 
even delays the cure, since the irritation increases the amount of callus 
thrown out. But the ultimate prognosis is good as regards mobility, though 
uncertain as to arrest of growth. Separation of the ulnar epiphysis is occa- 
sionally met with, and we have once wired a case of compound separation of 
the upper epiphysis with a good result. 

Separation of the lower epiphysis of the radius with fracture of the ulna 
is said to differ from Colles" fracture in that the palmar projection is more 
obvious, the hand is not held so obliquely, i.e. there is not so much radial ad- 
duction, and the dorsal groove is horizontal instead of oblique. There is more 
resemblance to dislocation of the carpus backwards, but this is an exceedingly 
rare injury, and in it the styloid processes do not maintain their normal re- 
lations to the carpus as they do in fracture, while the age of the patient and 
the sensation of crepitus, together with the ease of reduction, but ready re- 
newal of deformity, will point to diastasis. 1 If the ulna is not fractured the 
resemblance to Colles* fracture is very close, and the treatment is the same. 
For cases illustrating these injuries in the upper extremities we must refer 
to Mr. Tubby's paper. 

In separation of the lower epiphysis of the femur the lower fragment is 
sometimes displaced forwards, and the backward pressure of the diaphysis 
upon the vessels may cause gangrene, as in cases of "VVheelhouses, and 
"McGilFs of Leeds.- We have seen cases of compound separation of the 
lower epiphysis with similar displacement. 

We have seen a remarkable case of separation of the lower epiphysis of the tibia in a 
bov of about ten years, who was under the care of our colleague Mr. Hardie. The case 
-was complicated by the presence of a vertical fracture running upwards from the epiphy- 
sial line. The foot and lower fragment were displaced outwards, and the deformity could 
not be reduced until some weeks after the accident, when the ends of ihe bone were ex- 
posed bv operation and with some difficulty replaced. The case is still under treatment. 
We have also met with an instance of compound separation of the lower epiphysis of the 
-fibula. The lower fragment became necrosed and was removed. 

The diagnosis of epiphysial separations need not be further described 
here : the locality, age of the patient, and the symptoms mentioned usually 
make the case clear, and any injury in the neighbourhood of a joint of doubt- 
ful character should be treated as if a diastasis had occurred. After a few 
days the subsidence of the general swelling and the presence or absence of 
callus will clear up the doubt. 

The treatment of these cases is simply that of a fracture in the same 
position, though lighter appliances may of course be used in the case of 
children than in adults : thus poroplastic felt, Gooctrs splint, Hide"s felt, 
gutta-percha or light wooden splints may be employed. Most careful padding 
is necessary in all cases to protect the tender skin ; absorbent wool will be 
found the best material for this purpose. 

In separation of the lower epiphysis of the femur the limb should be put 

1 Vide R. W. Smith on Fractures and Dislocations. 
- Brit. Med. Jour. , May 24, 1884. 



708 Injuries, Shock, HcemorrJiage, &c. 

up in the flexed position, since, as Mr. Hutchinson has shown, the whole of 
the gastrocnemius remains attached to the epiphysis. 1 

In all cases a guarded opinion should be given as to the future mobility 
of the adjacent joint, and passive movement should be begun early — in the 
case of the elbow not later than the end of the first week, the splints being 
reapplied afterwards, and movement employed daily after the first fortnight ; 
a week longer may be given for other joints. Passive movement may however 
be overdone, and if it is found that the thickening does not subside it is well 
to cease movement and allow the parts to settle down, and mobility will pro- 
bably return without any special effort. Separated epiphyses unite with 
great rapidity, much more so than fractures. Even if there is considerable 
thickening and distortion for some weeks after the injury, and perhaps con- 
siderable loss of power and mobility, so much modelling of the parts takes 
place that ultimately the result is usually good. 

Implication of the musculo-spiral nerve in the callus of a separated lower 
epiphysis of the humerus is not uncommon, and there may be paralysis of 
the nerve for a time ; usually, however, this disappears, and no hasty opera- 
tion for the release of the nerve is called for. 

The following table of the dates of ossification and union of the epiphyses 
of the principal long bones is inserted from Quain's ' Anatomy : ' — 

Humerus. 

Nucleus of head appears in second year. 

„ capitellum appears in third year. 

„ internal condyle appears in fifth year. 

„ trochlea appears in eleventh to twelfth year. 

,, external condyle appears in thirteenth to fourteenth year. 

The lower epiphyses unite with shaft in sixteenth to eighteenth 

year. 
The upper epiphysis unites with shaft in twentieth year.- 

Radius. 

Nucleus of lower extremity appears at end of second year. 

„ head appears in fifth year. 

Upper epiphysis and shaft join in seventeenth to eighteenth year. 
Lower epiphysis and shaft join in twentieth year. 

Femur. 

Nucleus of lower end appears at ninth month. 

„ head appears at end of first year. 

Head joins shaft at eighteenth or nineteenth year. 
Lower epiphysis joins shaft after twentieth year. 

1 Stimson mentions that Volkmann has three times separated the lower epiphysis of 
the femur in manipulations required in cases of hip disease ; we once met with the same 
mishap in a case of acute suppurative arthritis in an infant. The ease with which diastasis 
occurred was probably due to inflammatory or atrophic softening of the epiphysial line. 
The child recovered without arrest of growth. 

2 Stimson says sometimes as late as the 25th year. 



Fractures. 709 

Tibia. 

Upper epiphysis appears about time of birth. 

Lower epiphysis appears in second year. 

Lower epiphysis joins shaft in eighteenth to nineteenth year. 

Upper epiphysis joins shaft in twenty-first or twenty-second year. 

Simple complete fractures of the long bones may be met with at any 
age, and even occur sometimes in utero ; l indeed, compound fractures may 
occur before birth. Such fractures may be found united at birth ; they are not 
very 7 rarely produced during labour by instruments or traction upon a limb. 

Fractures of the clavicle in quite young children are best treated by a 
flannel bandage to fix the arm to the side with the hand on the opposite 
shoulder, and a soft pad of absorbent wool in the axilla. The child's arm 
is, of course, kept inside its clothes, and not put through a sleeve ; as Mr. 
Owen suggests, a jersey may be usefully worn over the bandage to keep the 
limb quiet. In this, as in all fractures, it is an excellent plan to keep the 
skin well powdered with boracic acid or sanitary rose powder, so as to prevent 
irritation of the skin. 

Fractures of the arm are treated in the ordinary way : the splints should 
always be carried well up to the ends of the fingers to prevent disturbance 
of the fragments by the restless movements of children. We are well aware 
that this is not usually recommended, but we believe it to be the proper, as 
it certainly is the anatomically correct plan. Fractures of the pelvis are 
treated by bandaging the legs together firmly with a broad flannel bandage, 
which is carried upwards to above the crests of the ilia, the child being, of 
course, kept in bed. 

In fractures of the femur in babies under a year old a piece of gutta- 
percha or GoochV- splint, lined with wool, should be applied to the thigh, 
and the legs bandaged together with a flannel bandage ; this is, we think, 
the simplest, cleanest, and, on the whole, most effectual plan, though a good 
result maybe obtained by almost any method. In older children, up to the 
third or fourth year, we prefer the vertical suspension plan, as more cleanly 
and efficient, and less troublesome after it is once applied than other methods ; 
simple extension by a weight, with Gooch's splint, or an outside long splint, 
is, however, satisfactory, and a Croft's, a Bavarian, or a Thomas's hip splint 3 
should be applied at the end of a fortnight. 

After fracture of the thigh in simple cases there should not be at most 
more than half an inch shortening in young children, and this will very 
likely disappear after a time. 

Fractures of the leg should be treated by a back splint with a foot-piece 
and two side splints for the first ten days or a fortnight, or more, according 
to age, and then one of the forms of stiff apparatus applied. 

1 Intrauterine fractures may be the result of falls or of blows upon the mother's abdo- 
men, or of muscular contraction, and are sometimes associated with intrauterine rickets. 
Almost any number of fractures may thus occur ; 200 were found in one instance and 113 
in another. 

2 Commonly known as ' kettle-holder ' splint. 

5 Thomas's knee splint may also be used very successfully in fractures of the lower half 
of the femur. 



yio Injuries, Shock, Hemorrhage, &c. 

In all cases the most careful watch must be kept for tight bandages ; no 
bandage should ever be applied beneath a splint, nor should a limb be ever 
bandaged in extension and then put up in flexion. Pressure sores and 
gangrene are real dangers in children. 

As is well known, any cause, such as hip disease, infantile paralysis, old 
anchylosis with atrophied bone, rickets, and so on, may produce weakening 
of the limb and may predispose to fractures from slight violence. 1 This bony 
atrophy should always be borne in mind when dealing with such limbs. 

Mal-united fractures, if recent, and especially if greenstick, should be 
refractured at once ; if seen after three or four weeks, and union has 
occurred, gradual reduction with splints often produces good results. Failing 
this, refracture or osteotomy may be called for. 

Primary Amputations in children are very rarely required, and conser- 
vatism should be carried to extreme limits ; when amputation is necessary, 
if the immediate shock is got over, recovery is usually rapid. 2 

Primary Resections of joints are occasionally required, and in cases of 
injury to the elbow are spoken very highly of by Mr. Holmes. 

Dislocations. — Almost the only dislocation at all common in children 
is that of the elbow — both bones being displaced backwards. This is usually 
said, and we believe correctly, to be more frequently met with in childhood 
than in adult life. Dislocation of the elbow is, however, often complicated 
with separation of epiphyses or fractures, and the displacement is often not 
directly backwards, but backwards and laterally, either inwards or outwards. 
Passive movement should be begun at the end of a week at latest. 

Dr. W. T. Clegg, of Liverpool, has sent us a case of subspinous disloca- 
tion of the shoulder, probably caused at birth ; this is the only case we have 
seen. 

Subluxation of the head of the radius is often met with in children as a 
result of lifting the child by one arm, swinging it round, or dragging it along. 
The head of the radius slips partially out of the orbicular ligament, and the arm 
is found to be fixed, powerless, somewhat flexed and pronated ; there is usually 
pain both at the elbow and wrist, so that sometimes the injury has been 
thought to be situated at the wrist joint. Reduction is effected by steadying 
the upper arm, and, with the thumb over the head of the radius, supinating 
sharply, and then flexing the forearm upon the arm ; sometimes a distinct 
click is felt or heard, and the power of using the arm at once returns. 3 

We have only rarely met with a traumatic dislocation (dorsal) of the hip 
in children. Reduction is easy by manipulation. Dislocation of the patella 

1 We have had once to perform a primary amputation at the hip in a child five years 
old for a tramcar injury, and, though there was much ' prostration with excitement' for 
the first two days, he ultimately did well. 

2 When extensive necrosis has occurred a slight injury may produce a fracture in child- 
hood ; this usually unites well, but in some cases union is tedious, and in others does not 
occur : in such cases resection and wiring is a successful operation in our experience, but 
•if the fracture remains long ununited the wasting of the fragments is apt to be extreme, 
and in one instance the upper fragment of the humerus was so small that it was found im- 
possible to steady it sufficiently to obtain union. Macewen has dealt with such a case 
most successfully by transplantation of bone {vide ' Ununited Fractures '). 

5 This injury has been specially described by Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson, jun., and by 
Drs McNab and Lindeman, Brit. Med. Jour., December 5, 1885. 



Dislocations — Injuries of the Soft Parts 



711 



is occasionally met with ; there appears to be usually some congenital weak- 
ness of the part as a predisposing cause, as in the case appended. 

Case. — Dislocation of Patella.— Mary Alice N., aged 7 years 6 months; admitted 
February 7, 1883. History : Xot strong, did not walk till three years old ; seven months 
ago fell while dancing and dislocated the left patella outwards ; since then has been con- 
stantly falling on account of the displacement recurring, especially if she runs ; the injury 
caused her no great troub'e for a week, when the displacement was noticed ; was treated 
as an out-patient for some time, with pads and various appliances to keep the patella in 
place, but without success. On admission, the left patella during flexion lies quite on the 
outer side of the external condyle, coming back to its normal position on extension ; both 
femora have their external condyles very prominent ; no pain on manipulation or move- 
ment ; the patella was unnaturally small and could easily be moved about from side to 




Fig. 176. — Dislocation of the Patella. A points to the displaced bone. 



side ; when walking it sometimes maintained its proper position, and then without warn- 
ing would slip quite over the outer condyle and make the leg yield. February 17, a 
lateral incision was made over the inner side of the joint down to the capsule, the patella 
pushed stronglv inwards, and two catgut sutures, passed through the inner edge of the 
patella, were tied firmly down to the tissues on the inner side of the joint ; operation 
antiseptic ; back splint. 19th, has had a little pain ; did quite well ; antiseptics left off 
on March 3, and she was sent out in plaster of Paris splint on the 5th. Seen January 
1884, the patella keeps its place and the knee does not trouble her. In this case the 
patella was apparently congenitally small and ill-developed, and this probably accounts 
for the condition. 

Congenital Dislocations are considered under the head of Malforma- 
tions (p. 656). 

Injuries of the Soft Parts in children require no special notice ; if the 
immediate shock is got over, such wounds usually heal with great rapidity, 
even if very severe, and nothing short of actual gangrene (Holmes) should 



712 Injuries, Shock, Hemorrhage, &c. 

be considered justification for amputation. Warmth, opium in small doses, 
and free stimulation are specially required for all severe injuries in children. 

Burns and Scalds are exceedingly fatal, chiefly from shock, lung com- 
plications, and cerebral effusion. If the first few days can be tided over, 
recovery is usually satisfactory, and much more rapid than in adults. Care- 
ful watch for cicatricial contraction must be kept up, and provision made 
against it by suitable extension apparatus and manipulation, as well as by 
grafting. Plastic operations may be required at a later date. 

Shock. — The question of how children bear the shock of severe injuries 
or operations, and the effects of loss of blood and of pain, is one of much 
importance to the surgeon, and may be shortly considered here. First, then, 
as regards operations in infants and quite young children one great depressing 
element is removed. They do not anticipate and are not cast down by the 
thought of the effect upon their future usefulness of any mutilation. In some- 
what older children anticipation of pain is of course keen, but it seldom de- 
presses in the same way that it does in adults. Again, the temperament of 
children is usually mobile, and, even if mental depression occurs, it is not 
long lasting. So with shock from a severe injury or operation the symptoms 
are often severe, even more so than in adults, for a short time ; but, if by 
means of stimulants the first few hours can be got over, children very 
quickly rally. It is common to have a great amount of shock in a child 
after such an operation as an amputation or excision of one of the larger 
joints, and yet the next day the child is often as bright as if nothing had 
happened. On the other hand, occasionally we see 'prostration with excite- 
ment' in a severe form in children, and we have known a mental condition 
practically identical with acute mania coming on after amputation at the 
shoulder joint, and lasting for some weeks, followed by complete recovery. 

loss of blood is always very ill borne by children, and the more so the 
younger the child. Still, recovery is rapid if the child survives. Even the 
small quantity lost in a harelip operation sometimes seriously endangers 
the life of an infant a few weeks old, and in all cases great care should be 
taken to avoid haemorrhage as much as possible. The only instance of 
death from amputation at the hip joint that we have had in a child was in 
one where, from removal of a large part of the pelvis, free oozing took place. 

Next to loss of blood we should put cold as having the most depressing 
effect upon children, and this should always be carefully guarded against by 
exposing as little as possible of the body beyond that part actually being 
operated upon. 

Palo, if really severe, very seriously depresses a child, far more so 
than it does an adult, and many of the cases of severe burn die speedily 
from the combined effects of pain and fright. Hence, no child should be 
allowed to lie in pain after an operation, and opium should be given freely 
for a few hours till the first soreness has passed off, bearing in mind, 
of course, that opium has a disproportionately strong effect upon children, 
and that some children bear much smaller doses than others. The general 
rules, then, to be followed as to the management of surgical cases in child- 
hood are :— (i) J)o not let a child know beforehand that he is going to be 
operated upon, until the time actually comes for the operation. (2) Avoid 
with the utmos care unnecessary loss of blood. (3) Keep the child warmly 



Septic Diseases — Wounds 7 1 3 

wrapped up. (4) Never let a child suffer pain if it can be avoided ; thus, an 
anaesthetic should be given for any painful dressing or manipulation, and 
opium as soon as recovery from the anaesthetic has taken place. 

As Mr. Holmes has well pointed out, in children 'irritability is chiefly 
directed against sudden and acute pain ; but confinement to bed and 
protracted disease, which wear out the patience and exhaust the hopes of 
older persons, soon become customary in childhood, and then produce little 
impression.' As Mr. Holmes shows, freedom from mental depression and 
healthy, unimpaired excretory organs probably account for this difference. 

Children are, of course, liable to the same septic diseases as adults, and 
pyaemia is, though happily rare in both, quite as common in childhood as in 
older patients. Diphtheria, and especially scarlet fever 1 {vide Chap. XIV.), 
are very apt to attack surgical cases among children, i.e. those in whom there 
is a wound or a local inflammatory focus, while erysipelas, though not very 
rare and occasionally fatal, is mostly of a mild type in children, and in our 
experience, the so-called 'erysipelas vagans' is the variety most commonly 
met with. See, however, Vaccination Erysipelas, p. 261. 

No special remarks are required upon the subject of dressing wounds in 
children ; the same rules should be followed as in adults. We use anti- 
septics — chiefly boracic, and mercurial lotions, with iodoform and sublimate 
wood-wool wadding — and are fully satisfied of the value of these agents. 
Mercurial poisoning in children we have not certainly met with, and only 
iodoform poisoning in a few instances, and those of a very mild type. We 
have twice bad a fatal result follow within twenty-four hours of emptying 
and washing out a large abscess, but we have been unable to connect the 
death definitely with the use of any particular antiseptic agent, though we 
have suspected perchloride of mercury of being dangerous in such cases. 

In certain cases — for instance, in circumcision — it is well to avoid the 
fright of a second manipulation by the use of catgut sutures in closing the 
wound, and it may be remarked that primary union of wounds in children is 
much more easily obtained than in adults, provided the child is healthy and 
not too young ; in the very young the tissues are too soft to bear any strain, 
and in childhood the very smallest disturbance of health is sometimes 
•enough to prevent union of a wound ; hence all plastic operations should be 
performed only after careful inquiry into the child's general condition. The 
same slight causes will often produce a temperature chart that would be very 
alarming if it were not known how little is required to raise a child's tempe- 
rature. As to the dieting of children after operations, it will be found that 
children can without harm much more speedily return to their ordinary 
diet than can adults, and it is common for a child to resume its usual food 
the day after an operation. 

1 ' Surgical scarlet fever,' so called, is nothing more than ordinary scarlet fever. It is 
now well known that children who have open wounds, have been recently operated upon, 
or who have local inflammatory foci, such as abscesses, are specially susceptible to scarlet 
fever. For further details and references we must refer to papers by Dr Goodhart and 
Messrs. Howse and Paley, in the Guy's Hosp. Repts. for 1879, and to an account of an 
outbreak in our own surgical ward by R. W. Murray in the Brit. Me ' Joiir., June 18, 
1887. 



7H 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

ANAESTHETICS FOR CHILDREN. 

By Alex. Wilson, Esq. F.R.C.S. 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR OF ANESTHETICS TO THE MANCHESTER ROYAL INFIRMARY, ETC. 

As regards anaesthetics, children come under much the same rules as adults ; 
they are in general better subjects, in the sense that they are less often the 
victims of those degenerative changes which in adults complicate the ad- 
ministration of anaesthetics. On the other hand, as they respond so readily 
to the action of anaesthetic agents they always require cautious handling. In 
addition to their greater freedom from degenerative changes, children from 
the anaesthetist's point of view differ from adults in certain particulars. Chief 
amongst these is their capacity for inhaling an anaesthetic. Children possess 
highly expansile chests, with a proportionately large lung area ; in propor- 
tion to their weight they probably have greater 'vital capacities' than most 
adults, at least than those who lead sedentary lives. They have more 
available active lung space to absorb the anaesthetic. As a consequence of 
this relatively large vital capacity they can readily take in and absorb a large 
dose of any anaesthetic vapour, which explains the quickness with which they 
become insensible. We have seen a struggling child reduced to an almost 
lifeless condition by one deep inspiration of a concentrated chloroform 
vapour. Again, the crying and struggling often attending their taking of 
the anaesthetic makes the inhalation of it jerky and irregular and more diffi- 
cult to regulate. 

The highly developed condition of the reflexes of children constitutes 
another difference in their behaviour under an anaesthetic. Thus they will 
exhibit movements during an operation, while an adult under similar con- 
ditions and in the same degree of narcosis would remain quiet. A child, 
though moving immediately before the termination of an operation, will 
often be long before it regains consciousness after the operation, though 
little or no more anaesthetic has been given. In the same way, the reflex 
for the act of crying is well developed in children, so that during an opera- 
tion they will often give a cry, at a stage of narcosis in which an adult would 
either exhibit no sign of feeling at all, or merely move slightly. They do not 
necessarily perceive or remember the painful sensation. For example : 
occasionally a child will emerge shrieking from the narcosis of nitrous oxide 
and yet not have any painful impression, or the slightest idea why it is crying. 



Local Anaesthesia, Nitrous Oxide, Chloroform 715 

This readiness with which children cry has led to the belief that they ' come 
out ' of chloroform quicker than adults. 

The reflex spasm of the glottis from the irritation of an operation, often 
well seen in adults when the sphincter ani is dilated, is readily produced in 
children, even when they are well ' under.' It is most frequent in operations 
involving the urinary organs and anus, and while the bladder is being dis- 
tended, and is occasionally so great as to interfere with respiration. It is 
relieved, but not entirely removed, by extending the neck, pushing forwards 
the lower jaw, and by giving more of the anaesthetic. It is very rarely 
necessary to pull out the tongue with forceps. 

Children are very susceptible to shock, and no suddenly painful procedure 
(e.g. wrenching a joint) should be undertaken when they are in a semi- 
anaesthetic state. Though the occurrence of reflex paralysis of the heart 
has been denied by certain recent observers (Hyderabad Chloroform Com- 
mission), we have seen one case (a young girl) in which death was clearly 
due to shock produced by flexing a limb when the patient was not completely 
under the influence of the anaesthetic. 

Local Anaesthesia for exploratory punctures may be produced by holding 
a piece of ice dipped in salt against the surface until it is frozen, or by the 
ether spray or by ethyl chloride. 

Cocaine from the method of applying it, from its irregular action and 
the unpleasant symptoms it sometimes causes, cannot be much used for 
children. 

Nitrous Oxide is well borne by older children and may be always used 
in dental operations. It might be employed with advantage in many minor 
operations, as its transitory effects can be made more prolonged by repeated 
administrations, when free access to the mouth is obtainable, or the admixture 
of ether with the gas may be used. Children go quickly under the influence 
of nitrous oxide, and the period of anaesthesia is shorter than it is in adults ; 
they also exhibit a greater degree of spasm, opisthotonos often being well 
marked — a point to be remembered, as it may be a disturbing element. The 
combination of oxygen with nitrous oxide is especially useful in children ; it 
greatly diminishes the spasm and unsteadiness, and slightly prolongs the 
anaesthesia. The same effects can as conveniently be produced by giving a 
little ether with the gas. 

Chloroform, in the case of children, is not quite the safe and desirable 
anaesthetic it is often represented to be. Altogether, a fair number of deaths 
from it have been recorded, and many more unpleasant, though non-fatal, 
accidents have occurred with it. Children possess no special powers of 
resistance against the lethal action of chloroform or any other anaesthetics. 
The youth of the patient is a source of safety only, because it implies a greater 
freedom from disturbing degenerative changes in the nervous, circulatory, 
and respiratory systems. With chloroform it is very easy for the patient to 
take an over-dose ; it generally causes some cardiac depression, which may 
be of an alarming character, shown by pallor and lividity of the face, and 
feeble pulse — frequently before the operation has been commenced. The 
after-sickness sometimes continues a long time. As a rule, the sickness and 
faintness at the end of the administration is greater in children than in 
adults. Even after a trivial operation there may be to an unpleasant degree 



7 1 6 A ncEstlietics for Children 

a feeble pulse, cold clammy skin, &c, so much so that this has led certain 
surgeons to employ ether as the routine anaesthetic for children and chloro- 
form for adults. Chloroform is contra-indicated in operations for spina 
bifida and hydrocephalus (Morton). It is recommended by Horsley in 
cerebral surgery ; the administration to be preceded by a hypodermic injec- 
tion of morphia. 

Bther compared with chloroform is less depressing ; the pulse continues 
strong throughout ; the face keeps a good colour ; the tendency to syncope 
is diminished, and the after-sickness is of shorter duration ; often ceasing 
when once the stomach is emptied of mucus. It is quicker in its action 
consistent with safety, so that the distressing struggles of a child can be 
speedily ended without danger, in a way that could not be done with chloro- 
form. The risk of suddenly giving an over-dose is almost nil. Ether, 
however, has disadvantages ; it requires some apparatus for its proper 
administration, it occasionally causes considerable secretion of mucus, and 
when given alone it is unpleasant. The last of these objections can be over- 
come by giving it in combination with nitrous oxide, or by first giving a little 
chloroform. The secretion of mucus in children is no greater than it is in 
adults, and only in the minority of cases is it enough to give any trouble. 
When it is excessive it may readily block up the small trachea and bronchial 
tubes and give rise to inconvenience, especially if the patient is kept deeply 
narcotised. In these cases changing the anaesthetic to chloroform does not 
immediately improve matters, as the change does not remove the mucus. It 
is better to allow the patient to recover consciousness enough to clear the 
lungs by coughing. Ether is contra-indicated in lung disease, and is sup- 
posed to be dangerous in kidney diseases. 

The A.C.E. Mixture is a weaker anaesthetic and not as depressing as 
chloroform, and so safer ; but it is not as safe as ether. 

Bichloride of Methyl presents no special advantages over the above- 
mentioned agents. 

The Choice of an Anaesthetic. — On this point too much stress must 
not be laid upon the mere question of age ; extreme youth does not neces- 
sarily contra-indicate the exhibition of ether, nor make imperative the use of 
chloroform. Though inhalers are not made to fit infants, if considered 
necessary, ether can be given on lint or the narcosis produced by chloroform 
can be kept up by ether. Roughly speaking, chloroform is best for children 
under five years ; it is also the handiest anaesthetic for older children ; but 
ether is certainly the safer. For those who desire to employ an agent 
between the two, in lethal capacity the A.C.E. mixture presents itself as a 
convenient medium. If it is thought advisable during narcosis to change 
from ether to chloroform, care must be taken that an over- dose is not given, 
as the deep respiration and full pulse produced by ether make very easy the 
inhalation of a fatal dose of chloroform. This fact, long ago proved by 
clinical experience, has been recently well illustrated by the experiments of 
the Hyderabad Chloroform Commission. 

Preparation. — If possible, an anaesthetic should not be given within 
three or four hours of a meal. As children bear badly the deprivation of 
food, any longer interval, besides being unnecessary, is injurious, making 
the patient feel faint. A feeble child, or one kept long without food 



Ether — Chloroform 7 1 7 

should be given some liquid nourishment, some little time before opera- 
tion. 

In every case it is well to have at hand chloroform, ether, and A.C.E. 
mixture ; the administrator should also have a plentiful supply of lint, tongue 
forceps, a hypodermic syringe, nitrate of amyl capsules, sponges and an 
electric battery, and a mouth gag with a sponge holder. These latter are 
occasionally required in cases of vomiting. 

Before beginning the administration, examine the mouth for any loose 
temporary teeth which might become detached, especially if a gag is to be 
used, and also in better-class children for any dental regulating plates ; avoid, 
if possible, alarming the patient, for with a struggling, crying child the 
danger of giving an over-dose is increased. By a little tact most children 
can be anaesthetised without any crying, even when inhalers are used. If 
the child is nervous, let it sit on its mother's or nurse's knee. If it is not 
undressed, don't have it undressed until it is ' under,' then it can be done 
without alarming it. Let it see the inhaler or lint, and smell it before any 
anaesthetic is put on. During the administration, when the smell is objected 
to, incite the patient to 'blow it away.' It is not absolutely necessary that 
the child should be lying down in the early stages ; if quiet can be gained by 
letting it sit up, let it do so. These small details are of importance, as there 
is no doubt that to a highly sensitive child the struggling and shock of being 
choked off by an anaesthetic may have injurious after effects. Should the 
child cry, go on steadily with the administration, but do not give an extra 
quantity or ' push' the anaesthetic to get it 'under' the quicker. As it is 
breathing more deeply than normal, rather put less of the anaesthetic in its 
way, and so avoid all chance of the sudden inhalation of an excessive dose. 

Ether is best given with a Clover's inhaler ; it should be administered 
slowly ; if the child struggles and becomes unmanageable, it is allowable to 
turn it on to 'full' and get it under quickly. In giving gas and ether, 
Hewitt's modification of Clover's inhaler is the most convenient. Very little 
gas is required, and the ether should be turned on before any spasm sets in. 
When the patient is once ' under,' only a small amount of ether is needed to 
keep up narcosis ; a strong ether vapour causes an unpleasant amount of 
mucus to be secreted. 

Chloroform is most conveniently given on lint. First put a little vaseline 
on the face to prevent blistering ; place the fold of lint over the nose and 
mouth and then gradually drop the chloroform on it ; when the patient ob- 
jects coax him to 'blow it away.' 

It is a good plan, standing on the patient's right, to hold the lint on the 
nose with the left thumb and forefinger, pressing on the nasal bones, while 
the third and fourth fingers spread over the forehead, feel the pulse of the 
anterior temporal artery, and steady the head ; the right hand is then free 
to drop on the chloroform and control any movements. In dropping the 
chloroform hold the bottle near the lint ; if it is dropped from a distance it 
is extremely easy for a little to get into the eye. 

Hold the child as little as possible. If it seizes the lint, quickly replace it 
with a fresh piece rather than waste time struggling for the first ; never try 
with chloroform to ' send it over quickly.' Each inspiration means one dose 
of the drug, which takes effect some seconds after its inhalation, therefore 



7 1 8 A ncesthetics for Children 

remove the lint at the first sign of anaesthesia, or the patient will get several 
unnecessary doses. The quickness with which children become unconscious 
has been referred' to. Should there be coughing, in the deep inspiration 
following the cough, do not let the patient inhale too much chloroform vapour, 
and be careful not to mistake the general jerking of the limbs caused by the 
coughing for voluntary movements requiring more chloroform. It is oc- 
casionally difficult to entirely abolish reflex movements during an operation 
on the skin, and the anaesthetist must therefore not respond too readily to 
the ' More chloroform, please,' of the operator. 

Spasm of the glottis with crowing inspiration is very common, especially 
if the patient is not quite 'under,' or is beginning to have nausea; it is 
generally a sign of imperfect anaesthesia, and when accompanied by such 
signs as rigidity of the jaw muscles, contracted or slightly dilated pupils, and 
a good pulse, is an indication for more of the anaesthetic ; the spasm is partly 
relieved by pushing forwards the jaw with the neck hyper-extended ; as 
previously remarked, pulling out the tongue with forceps does not remove 
the spasm, it is rarely necessary, and should be avoided as much as possible, 
as being liable to cause unnecessary after-pain in the shape of a sore tongue. 
If it is considered advisable to keep the tongue drawn out, it should be gently 
held out with a pair of tongue forceps, or, better still, by the fingers and a 
piece of lint. The lower jaw can be conveniently held forwards by using 
the closed forceps as a lever, the upper teeth acting as the fulcrum. 

During the administration the same rules should be observed with chil- 
•dren as with adults. 

Vomiting-, if the stomach is empty, can be overcome by giving more 
chloroform, otherwise it is better to suspend the administration until the 
stomach has been emptied, and then to resume it ; turn the patient well on 
one side during vomiting, and keep the mouth and pharynx clear. A patient 
with a loaded stomach will breathe badly, have stertor, and present a more 
or less cyanotic appearance. Frequently the vomiting will be preceded for 
some time by a condition in which the patient presents a feeble pulse, ir- 
regular, stertorous, or spasmodic respirations, and more or less cyanosis, 
which is improved when once actual vomiting begins. The corneal reflex is 
an uncertain index of the state of general anaesthesia ; it may be absent from 
one eye while it is present in the other ; it will often be present throughout an 
operation while the patient presents no other indication of sensation, and it 
may be absent in both eyes and yet the patient will vigorously indicate that 
sensibility to operation is present. In the latter condition it has been sug- 
gested that the chloroform vapour exerts a local anaesthetic influence on the 
conjunctiva. A good deal depends upon the painfulness of the operation, 
therefore, as a test of the sensibility or degree of narcosis, the corneal reflex 
must be considered in conjunction with other symptoms and conditions. 
Thus, the corneal reflex being absent in both eyes, a deficient degree of 
anaesthesia (narcosis) will be indicated by some or all of the following sym- 
ptoms, which serve to check the inferences derivable from the cornea, viz., 
contracted pupils, slight movements of the lips, modification of the facial 
expression, rigidity of the masseters, alteration in the rhythm of the respira- 
tions, increased rapidity or spasm of the glottis, and movements, chiefly 



Ancesthetics in Special Operations 719 

extension of the fingers or occasionally momentary dilatation of the pupils, 
when a sudden pain is felt. 

The condition of the pupil taken by itself is also not of much help as an 
indication of the stage of anaesthesia. It generally dilates to a varying ex- 
tent during the first stage, widely if there is struggling ; it may remain widely 
dilated throughout the administration, even though the narcosis is not deep, 
and the corneal reflex may be present with a widely dilated pupil. 

Generally the dilatation gives place to moderate contraction after the 
operation has been commenced. The onset of sickness is accompanied with 
a dilated pupil, and shock causes wide dilatation of the pupils. In testing 
the corneal reflex do not hold the eyelid up in a way that prevents it closing, 
as is occasionally done. Should there be a return to consciousness during an 
operation, the administrator must be careful not to ' push ' the anaesthetic too 
freely, and must not go straight on giving the anaesthetic until the patient is 
quite quiet again, but must watch the effect of each dose (i.e. inspiration). 
The enfeebled condition of the patient at this stage and the irregularity of the 
respirations, which are generally deeper and quicker than normal, make it 
an easy matter to give an over-dose. There are several fatal cases on record 
which prove the need for caution under such circumstances. 

When once the patient is ' under ' it is very important to avoid moving it 
suddenly or roughly ; such treatment tends to cause syncope. This caution 
is especially necessary if there has been any loss of blood or there is faint- 
ness. Under these circumstances never allow a patient to be raised up into 
a sitting or semi-sitting position for the putting on of dressings. This can 
easily be avoided by drawing the patient to the end of the table and 
supporting the body so that the head and shoulders project beyond the table ; 
full access can thus be gained to any part without in the least raising the 
patient. We have seen a serious attack of faintness brought on by the 
sudden raising of the head and shoulders of a child at the end of an operation 
in which a considerable amount of blood had been lost. 

In connection with this it is important to remember that feeble respirations 
are not always associated with shock. One of the most serious symptoms 
of cardiac and general failure is deep gasping respiration accompanied with 
a quick running pulse. If in a patient undergoing a severe operation, 
ordinary quiet respiration suddenly gives place to deep inspirations, especially 
if they are of a gasping character, associated with a quick pulse and dilated 
pupil, it is a sign of serious if not fatal syncope. This is not as common in 
children as in adults, but it occurs in them under similar conditions. It is 
due to anaemia of the respiratory centre, whether caused by actual loss of 
blood or cardiac failure. 

Anaesthetics in Special Operations. — There are practically no con- 
ditions under which an anaesthetic is contra-indicated ; if an operation can 
be performed an anaesthetic can be given. A few operations require special 
notice. 

In Tracheotomy an anaesthetic, though not absolutely necessary, is a 
distinct advantage, especially where it is desired to clear membrane from 
the trachea. The danger that it might set up fatal spasm can be avoided 
by giving it gradually in a diluted state and by delaying the administration 
until the operator is quite ready. As preparation for any emergency, it is 



720 Ancesthetics for Children 

well to arrange the patient on a definite plan, e.g. on the back, with the 
shoulders and back of the neck supported by one firm pillow and a second 
smaller one under the occiput. In the event of a sudden spasm and cessation 
of respiration demanding immediate operation, by pulling away the second 
pillow, the head at once drops backwards, making prominent the trachea, 
without any lifting of the patient. This plan, though most useful in dealing 
with heavy adults, is equally valuable in children. 

Operations on the Mouth. — In all operations on the mouth or pharynx 
it adds materially to the chloroformist's comfort, and to the patient's safety, 
to have the patient's head hanging downwards ; either hanging over the end 
of the table, or with the neck so extended over pillows that the vertex of the 
head rests on the table. This position keeps the larynx quite free from blood 
which while it is fluid will escape through the nostrils. A damp towel or 
bathing cap should be fixed around the head to keep the hair from being 
soiled. 

As regards anaesthetics, the fact that the operation is one involving the 
mouth or throat does not in itself confine the anaesthetic to chloroform. Mr. 
Warrington Haward has shown that ether may be used in the operation for 
cleft palate, and we are constantly in the habit of giving ether in post nasal 
adenoid growths. 

In cleft palate, chloroform is the most convenient anaesthetic ; it should 
be given on lint until the patient is ' under,' and then the administration con- 
tinued by Junker's inhaler ; by which means the operator can work con- 
tinuously without being interrupted by the chloroformist. 

In the operation for post-nasal adenoid growths, an anaesthetic (gas and 
ether or chloroform) should always be given. The patients are longer in 
going ' under ' from the interference of the adenoids with respiration, but that 
is all. If the head is allowed to hang downwards the free haemorrhage is 
never any real trouble. In laryngoscopic examinations, chloroform is useful 
for abolishing the fear of the patient ; but it will not always cause sufficient 
anaesthesia to permit of the larynx being manipulated through the mouth. 
In one case of laryngeal polypus in a child aged six years, under the care of 
Dr. Harris, wc utterly failed to produce anaesthesia sufficiently deep to per- 
mit the polypus to be removed by the mouth even by combining the cocaine 
spray with the chloroform. 

In empyema cases chloroform is best. Care must betaken not to produce 
coughing by giving it too strongly at first, and the child must not be turned to 
the sound side. 

In cases of trephining the spine chloroform should be given. The best 
plan, especially if there is paralysis of the intercostals, is to turn the patient 
right on to the face and support the body on pillows in the following way : 
the anterior iliac spines rest on a firm sand pillow, an ordinary thin pillow 
supports the chest, and the forehead rests on a small firm sand pillow. By 
this means the operator gets free access to the spine, the abdomen is not 
pressed upon and the diaphragm has full play, while the mouth and nose 
are supported some distance from the table, and the chloroform lint can be 
slipped under the nose as required ; any secretion flows easily out of the 
mouth. 

Operations on the Bladder. — In these cases it is important to have the 



Accidents with Ancesthetics 721 

patient ' under ' before injecting the bladder is begun. If this is neglected, 
the manipulations will most likely set up spasm of the glottis and straining, 
which will impede the inhalation of the anaesthetic and delay the production 
of anaesthesia. 

Accidents are of a similar nature to those which occur in adults, and 
should be treated on similar principles. As examples of the various kinds of 
accidents, may be quoted cases in which an attempt is made to speedily 
anaesthetise a crying child, with the result that it is allowed to take several 
deep inspirations of a highly concentrated chloroform vapour, and so obtains 
a sudden over-dose ; in other cases where it is desired to produce deep anaes- 
thesia the dangerous symptoms may be initiated by some sudden movement 
of the child when it is deeply under. We have seen two cases of this class 
when the patient was deeply narcotised for the operation of cleft palate ; the 
sudden raising of the patient produced symptoms of syncope. In unprepared 
patients the embarrassment of respiration caused by a loaded stomach and 
the onset of vomiting causes much trouble. The patient breathes with 
difficulty, has spasm of the glottis, becomes pale and slightly cyanosed, has 
a feeble pulse etc. ; most of these symptoms are relieved by vomiting. 

In the treatment of accidents it is well to remember that heat is a power- 
ful cardiac stimulant, and a hot sponge placed over the heart is better than 
slapping the chest with a wet towel. When the windows are thrown open in 
a case of shock, care must be taken to keep the patient covered and warm. 
Artificial respiration must be done quietly and efficiently. Intermittent 
pressure over the heart, as recommended by Schmeidberg, is useful in cardiac 
failure, and inhalation of nitrite of amyl in cases of engorgement of the right 
side of the heart. 

The battery is useful only as an aid to artificial respiration, by faradising 
the phrenics. Unless this can be effectively done it had better be left alone 
and reliance placed upon ordinary artificial respiration. In cases of shock 
after long operations, inhalations of oxygen are highly recommended. Of 
this we have had no experience. 

Subcutaneous injections of ether, though they are strongly condemned 
by certain authorities, in some cases do seem to do good. Of course if the 
patient has been taking, and is already saturated with ether, it would be use- 
less to give more. 



3 a 



APPENDIX 



DIPHTHERIA. 

Calomel Fumigations in Croup. — For the relief of dyspnoea due to pseudo- 
membranous laryngitis this new practice has been rapidly gaining favor. 

The points to be considered are how the air of a confined space may be impreg- 
nated with the medicament, so as to be inhaled freely by the patient and not by the 
attendants, also how to safely volatilize the powder without danger of fire. 

Directions. — Place the child in a crib surmounted by an extemporized, well-ad- 
justed "tent." Upon the foot of the crib, within the tent, place firmly a wash-bowl 
within which is a small alcohol lamp. Over the top of the bowl, extending from 
side to side, lay a strip of tin, and above the point where the flame of the alcohol 
lamp strikes the tin place the requisite amount of calomel. This is the simplest 
form of easily extemporized apparatus, safe, and causing complete volatilization with- 
in a few moments. The same may be accomplished by other methods at hand, for 
instance, the heat generator of the ordinary croup-kettle apparatus, with a piece 
of tin or a shovel laid across it, care being taken to avoid overturning the lamp. 
For the space ordinarily enclosed beneath a crib tent ten grains of calomel is the 
usual quantity required and the intervals should be two hours for the first day and 
night, thereafter prolonged to three hours and more, according to indications. 
Fumigation should not be continued longer than fifteen minutes. 

Dr. J. Corbin, of Brooklyn, was the first to publicly advocate this method, which 
has now found much favor in New York and is recommended by Drs. O'Dwyer, 
Brown, Caille, and others. Numerous cases of urgent dyspnoea have yielded to this 
treatment where operative interference seemed to be required. Fumigations should 
be commenced immediately on the first symptoms of invasion of the larynx. 

Caution. — (i) The doors and windows should be freely open to avoid inhala- 
tion of the mercury vapor by attendants. To the patient the relief is sometimes 
prompt. 

(2) The "tent" should be opened cautiously to avoid too sudden chilling of 
the child after the heat of the confined space. Nurses may be salivated if unduly 
exposed to the vapor, children rarely are. 

Intubation (p. 191). — Intubation in New York has almost supplanted tracheot- 
omy for all cases of acute laryngeal obstruction. A mistake has been made in re- 



724 Diseases of Children 

garding it an easy operation. Much practice is required to perform it properly, 
and the most experienced operators will have the most successful results. There is 
also much choice in instruments. The latest approved patterns are successful in 
avoiding injury to the soft parts both in entering (bulbous extremity to avoid enter- 
ing the laryngeal ventricles) and in wearing. 

Without wishing to prefer in public the wares of one manufacturer to another, 
it is but just to say that " but one firm is making tubes exact upon the models" 
of their inventor. Some of them are like home-made imitations of amateurs. 
They would be grotesque if they were not cruel. The editor has personally in- 
spected the intubation instruments of leading firms in London, those in use in 
the hospitals and for sale, and has found them generally the embodiment of every 
vice which by careful description the inventor has sought to warn against. These 
two points may explain the difference in the esteem in which the two countries 
hold this new operation. 

Anaesthetics are never used in this country by experienced operators for intro- 
ducing or extracting the tubes. 

Feeding of Intubated Patients. — Casselbury's method: Lay the child upon its 
back, across the nurse's lap. Extend its head backward and downward and feed 
with spoon or nursing-bottle. In the act of swallowing, fluid may be forced into 
the tube. Gravity will then carry it out again, away from the larynx, the child 
being still able to swallow — upward. Semi-solids can sometimes be given with 
facility. 

Dangers. — With the latest tubes, in the hands of experts, there are practically 
no dangers connected with the operation. In wearing the tube there is but one 
danger which an experienced operator may fear, viz., obstruction of the lower end 
from loosened plaques of tenacious pseudo-membrane. Recent practice is to leave 
the silken bridle attached to the tube so long as loose membrane is suspected. Any 
obstruction which may occur at the time of operation is easily overcome by simply 
withdrawing the tube by means of the silken bridle. This is generally attended 
with free expulsion of muco-pus and pseudo-membrane, with relief to the patient. 

To lack of experience may be attributed the array of dangers usually marshalled 
against the operation, the worst of all being mutilation of the larynx. Upon this 
follows the disability in swallowing. The throat is too "sore" to be pressed by 
the grasping muscles of the pharynx. The danger of exhaustion or suffocation 
from prolonged manipulation is an avoidable danger. 

No one should attempt intubation upon the living without previous practice 
upon the cadaver. Tracheotomy is far safer in the hands of the novice than in- 
tubation. 

Cleansing the Throat. — In the condition of sloughing, foul-smelling ton- 
sillar and faucial diphtheria, peroxide of hydrogen ("fifteen volume " whole strength 
or diluted with equal quantity of water) serves a useful purpose. For moderate 
cases it is to be recommended with great caution, for too energetic treatment may 
easily cause injury to the healthy mucous membrane, as pointed out by Jacobi. 

Another very good method is the following : Syringe the throat first with pure 
water, to accustom the child to the practice, delivering a gentle douche which will 
flow readily from the mouth. Next, depress the tongue gently and syringe again 



Appendix 725 

till the child has learned its role. Gradually the force may be increased until a 
sharp jet is thrown well back into the throat, any desired medicament being added 
to the water. 

A hard-rubber piston-syringe of four drachms capacity or more, capable of be- 
ing easily managed with one hand, is best. The nozzle should be short, passing 
just within the teeth so as to avoid injury to the parts. In young infants this 
method serves well, and if carefully used allows none of the fluid to be swallowed. 
After the throat is well cleansed corrosive sublimate solution, one part to 5,000 up 
to one part to 2,000, may be used, this being the most efficient disinfectant. It is 
to be preferred to all other methods of throat cleaning and disinfection. 



PNEUMONIA. 

(Page 216.) 

Heart-stimulant.— A reliable, safe, and effective heart-stimulant, especially to 
be recommended in pneumonia and diphtheria, is the combination of strychnine, 
digitaline, and aconitine. The form of combination with which the editor is most 
familiar, and which has served him most excellently, is what is known in hospital 
circles as the "triple" heart-stimulant. Its correct name is Granules Dosimet- 
riques of Dr. Burggraeve, and it is put up by Charles Chanteaud, of Paris : (1) Ar- 
seniate de strychnine, i milligramme ; (2) Digitaline, 1 milligramme ; (3) Acon- 
itine, £ milligramme. Many practitioners make use of the (1) strychnine and (2) 
digitaline without the third (O'Dwyer), others give the three, especially if the ar- 
teries are hard and contracted (Delafield). 

This heart-stimulant is given one pill of each together (1) and (2) or (1), (2), and 
(3) every hour, or at longer intervals, as needed. The nurse should be earnestly 
cautioned to adopt some routine so that by no mischance may be given two of one 
kind. The dosing is heroic and must be continued cautiously. Watch for symp- 
toms due to strychnine (muscular twitchings). 

A most striking illustration of the efficacy of the combination is furnished by a 
case of Dr. Griffiths (N. Y.) in a child of two and a half years, suffering from pneu- 
monia following epidemic influenza. On the 6th day the pulse was rapid and feeble, 
respiration shallow and frequent. Pills (1) and (2) were given for five consecutive 
days, one of each every twenty minutes for eighteen or nineteen out of every twenty- 
four hours. When the child slept, which was only a couple of hours about mid- 
night, both pills were omitted ; if muscular twitchings appeared the strychnine was 
omitted, the digitaline continued. If the intervals were prolonged beyond thirty 
minutes the child became alarmingly depressed, but rallied on recommencing the 
remedy. The case recovered. 

Emphysema (p. 196), following whooping-cough. There is no doubt that this 
condition may occur where there is but little outward evidence of its presence, and 
the results are of course most serious. A case came under our observation which 
we do not believe is unique, nor even rare, though autopsy reports do not contain 
many. A child in " poor condition " was brought to the New York Foundling Hos- 
pital suffering from whooping-cough. The paroxysms were severe and "whoop" 
very marked. After death one lung was in a condition of extreme interlobular 



726 Diseases of Children 

emphysema, so much torn up and converted into air-bladders that not only was the 
lung useless for respiration but the thorax was rendered less mobile. The moral is 
obvious, though difficult to meet — good nutrition and control of the severe parox- 
ysms, especially in very young infants {American Journal of Med. Sciences, July, 
1883). 

SPECIFIC FEVERS. 

Enteric Fever (p. 278). — The occurrence of enteric fever in children under 
two years of age seems to be much less frequent in the United States than in Eng- 
land. In the experience of the editor it has never come to autopsy in the New 
York Foundling Hospital in the two thousand autopsies made by him in eleven 
years. Neither has he known of a case of undoubted typhoid in the clientelle in 
that time. The institution has a constant charge of 1, 800 foundlings, within the 
house and out to nurse, these constantly changing, the older being adopted out, 
new ones coming by adoption or from the maternity wards. This would show 
a wide range from which to form a conclusion, and such is given above. In a dis- 
cussion before the American Psediatric Society this experience was epitomized as fol- 
lows — "Summary — Our contribution is that typhoid fever in children under two 
years has never been observed in the New York Foundling Hospital so far as ascer- 
tained. 2d. That swollen Peyer's, mesenteric lymph nodes, and spleen in children 
cannot safely be interpreted like similar lesions in adults " (Northrup : Typhoid in 
Chil. "Transactions of the Am. Psediatric Soc," 1892). 

GENERAL DISEASES. 

Scurvy (p. 370). — The American reader will look in vain for any book on Paedi- 
atrics written in this country that contains any intimation of scurvy in the United 
States of America. However, eleven cases have recently been collected and pub- 
lished of typical scurvy in children, one, with autopsy, from the New York Found- 
ling Hospital, one from private practice (wealthy surroundings), several collected 
among friends in the dispensaries of the city. These cases, in our opinion, belong 
to a separate class, should not be grouped with acute rickets nor be relegated to 
hemorrhagic purpura. The diagnostic symptoms are extreme tenderness and pain 
in the legs on moving and handling, which is usually diagnosticated rheumatism by 
friends ; spongy gums inclined to bleeding. The child may have other signs of 
hemorrhage and purpura but the lesions of scurvy, typical, are superosteal hem- 
orrhage of the femora with spongy, bleeding gums ("Transactions of American 
Pediatric Society," Scorbutus in Infants, Northrup, 1891). 

Rickety Deformities (p. 377). — Shaffer favors supporting the kyphotic spine in 
severe cases of rickets during the progressive stage, in order to insure bone growth 
in the normal planes. 

The splint most commonly used in New York for knock-knee and bow-legs is 
shown in Fig. 177. The jointed apparatus is efficient, since leverage is applied 
whenever weight is borne. It also favors muscular development, and allows a more 
graceful gait. A pelvic band may be added to control the position of the feet if 



Appendix 



727 



required. The Knight (Fig. 178) brace for bow-legs and the Thomas knock-knee 
brace are also largely used (see Fig. 75). 

In the Children's Hospital in Boston, the apparatus in common use for bow-legs 
(Fig. 179) is a light but rigid steel upright, jointed at the ankle, attached below to 




Fig. 177.— New York Ortho- 
paedic Hospital Brace for 
Knock-knee and Bow-legs. 




Fig. 178. — Knight's Bow-leg 
Brace. 



Fig. 179. — Boston Children's 
Hospital's Brace for Bow- 
legs. 



the sole-plate of the shoe. It runs up the inside of the limb nearly to the origin of 
the adductor muscles and is then bent forward. and upward and curved to fit into 
the groin and come up as far as the posterior part of the dorsum of the ilium. 
Leather pads opposite the greatest convexity of the curve draw the limb over to the 
upright. For knock-knee a similar apparatus is used, but is applied on the outer 
side of the limb, and at the level of the trochanter the upright is bent backward 
and upward to lie against the upper part of the buttock. By fastening the upper 
ends together the position of the feet can be controlled. 

For extreme deformity powerful correcting apparatus have been devised by 
Shaffer {American Journal of Obstetrics, etc., vol. xiv., No. iii.). 

Whether a case will require operative treatment depends more upon the flexibil- 
ity of the bones and the laxity of the ligaments than upon the age of the child or 
the amount of deformity. Anterior curvatures of the tibia have seemed to the 
writer the most intractable to mechanical treatment, and generally require an oper- 
ation for their correction (see also Bradford and Lovett, " Orthopaedic Surgery," 
p. 682). 

In America Macewen's operation for genu valgum is chiefly employed. In gen- 
eral, osteoclasis is not so much in favor. Rizzoli's osteoclast, or some modification 
of it, is most used. 

Lateral Curvature of the Spine. Early Onset (p. 388). — In a study of two 
hundred and twenty-nine cases, Ketch (New York Medical Record, April 24, 1886) 
found (1) that this curvature is principally a disease of childhood, and maybe either 



728 Diseases of Children 

congenital or acquired ; (2) that puberty, except as a concomitant occurrence, which 
may by its attendant circumstances increase it or bring it into unusual prominence, 
has no direct causative influence ; (3) that lateral curvature should be looked for 
early in life, and as a factor in treatment the early inspection of children's spines 
becomes most important toward the prevention of the deformity. 

Bradford and Lovett also ("Orthopaedic Surgery," p. 106) recognize its appear- 
ance at an earlier age than is usually supposed. 

Treatment (p. 391). — Shaffer relies largely in cases of rotary lateral curvature 
on an exercise partly active partly passive. Pressure is made by the operator's 
hand just under the greatest convexity, in a direction inward, forward, and up- 
ward, the opposite shoulder being elevated at the same time. The patient bends 
over the hand exerting the pressure and untwists the spine as much as possible. 
The counter-pressure is exerted below by the weight of the pelvis and limbs, and 
by that of the upper part of the thorax and head above, increased, if necessary, 
by pressure from the operator's hand. In giving the exercise the patient swings 
obliquely forward and backward, and at every backward swing the pressure is ap- 
plied after the body passes the perpendicular. The patient is also encouraged to 
swing from rings hung at unequal heights, so as to overcorrect the drooping shoul- 
der. These exercises are given once, twice, or three times a day for from five to 
twenty minutes. Sayre {New York Medical Journal, November 17, 1888) advises 
the following movements, which are very similar to those of Bernard Roth ( ' ' Treat- 
ment of Lateral Curvature of the Spine," London, 1889) and are, with modifica- 
tions, those most generally used in the United States. The various exercises are 
repeated three times each at the commencement and later on a greater number of 
times. 

"The patient lies prone, the arms at right angles to the trunk, palms down, face 
turned to the convex side, and the back as straight as possible. The patient supi- 
nates the hands, throws the scapulse well back, raises the hands from the floor 
and lifts the trunk, while the surgeon holds the feet down. The breath should 
not be held during any of these exercises, but the patient should breathe naturally. 
If necessary to secure this, make them count out loud while exercising. 

With hands behind the head, the patient raises the elbows from the floor, and 
raises the trunk as before, the feet being held by the surgeon. 

With the hands behind the head and the elbows raised, the body is swayed to- 
ward the convex side, the patient trying to "pucker in" the bulging ribs and not 
to bend in the lumbar concavity. The feet are fixed as before. 

With the arm on the side of the convexity under the body, the other arm over 
the head, the heels fixed, the patient raises the trunk from the floor. 

Sometimes the arm on the side of the concavity is put on the opposite buttock, 
while the patient raises the trunk. Sometimes the arm on the convex side is 
put on the buttock, and in cases of marked lordosis, with great stooping of the 
shoulders, both hands are put on the buttocks while the patient raises the trunk. 

The patient now lies on the back, arms at the sides, palms up, and lifts first 
one foot in the air, while the surgeon makes resistance graduated to the patient's 
power ; repeated, say, five times. The same is done with the other foot, and then 
with both. The feet are next separated and then brought together once more while 



Appendix 729 

the surgeon resists. Each leg then describes a circle, first from within out, then 
from without in. 

If there is special weakness at the ankles, with a tendency to flat-foot, the pa- 
tient flexes the foot and extends it against resistance, and turns the sole of the foot 
toward its neighbor, the surgeon resisting, and it is then forcibly everted again by 
the surgeon, the patient resisting. 

The patient now lifts the arms from the sides, passing perpendicularly to the 
floor till they are stretched as far beyond the head as possible, and then, going at 
right angles to the trunk and parallel with the floor, returns them to the sides, 
palms up. 

While the heels are held, the patient rises to the sitting position, hands at the 
sides ; then she rises from the floor with the hands behind the head and the elbows 
at right angles to the trunk. 

The patient now stands with the heels together, toes turned slightly out, hands 
behind the head, elbows at right angles to the trunk ; then rises on tip-toe, bends 
the knees and hips, keeping the back as straight and erect as possible, and rises up 
once more. With the arm on the concave side, high above the head, the arm on 
the convex side at right angles to the body, she rises on tip-toe, bends the hips, 
knees, and ankles so as to squat, then rises and stands. All this time care must be 
taken to push the body as straight as possible, and gradually educate the patient to 
hold it so without wiggling during these movements. 

Let the patient practise walking in these positions, both on the flat foot and 
tip-toe, and also step high as if walking up-stairs. With the palm of the patient's 
hand on the convex side against the ribs, pushing them in, the hand on the con- 
cave side, she pushes a slight weight up in the air, while the body swings so as to 
straighten out the curves. 

Sit behind the patient, fix her thighs with your knees, while she holds both arms 
above the head and bows toward the floor, keeping her knees stiff while you keep 
her ribs as straight as possible with your hands. 

With the arm on the concave side across the top of the head, and the arm on 
the convex side around in front of the abdomen, the patient bends to the convex 
side through the ribs, and not through the waist. 

The patient sitting with the back toward the surgeon, the latter pushes one 
hand against the most projecting part of the convexity, and, with the other hand 
passed under the shoulder of the concave side, straightens out the curve as much 
as possible, the hand on the "bulge" acting as a fulcrum in straightening the 
curve. 

The patient sits on a stool in front of the surgeon, who fixes the pelvis with his 
knees. The patient then twists the projecting shoulder to the front while the sur- 
geon holds the elbows, which are at right angles to the trunk, the hands being be- 
hind the head, and makes resistance. In the same position the patient swings for- 
ward and back, swinging through the hips, keeping the back stiff, and not bending 
in the waist. 

The patient pushes in the ribs on the convex side with the hand, and pushes up 
with the hand on the concave side, the same as when standing. She also lifts the 
arm on the concave side up at right angles with the body while holding a weight. 



730 Diseases of Children 

In cases of round shoulders, windmill motions of both arms and to-and-fro 
movements of the head against resistance are advisable. 

The patient lies prone on the couch, all the body above the waist projecting 
from it, while the surgeon holds the heels. With the hands behind the head, the 
elbows thrown back, the body is bent toward the floor, then raised up ; later on, 
resistance is made by the surgeon. The patient lies on the concave side and 
rises up laterally. The patient lies with the convexity on the edge of the couch, and 
hangs off as far and as long as possible. 

One of the best exercises for removing the curve is for the patient to place the 
head in a collar attached to a cross-bar above the head, suspended from the ceiling 
by a compound pulley and rope. The patient now grasps the rope as high up as 
possible, and pulls up hand over hand until the toes just touch the floor. While 
hanging thus she takes three deep, full, slow inspirations and expirations. While 
she is hanging thus the surgeon corrects the rotation by pushing the ribs with one 
hand while he steadies the pelvis with the other. 

Another good thing is for the patient to have a belt passing around the pelvis, 
with a handle at each side. Holding these in the hands, she straightens the arms 
out, and the spinal column is thus stretched and straightened much in the same 
way as by self-suspension. 

The patient stands bent forward as if playing leap-frog, her hands on a chair, 
while the surgeon, with one hand under the shoulder on the convex side and one 
hand on the projecting ribs, corrects the rotation. It is advisable to steady the 
patient with the knee while doing this." 

Rachilysis and other very forcible methods of reducing rotary lateral curvature 
have not found thus far much favor in this country. 

Apparatus for Lateral Curvature. — The supports used in the United States 
for lateral curvature are employed to retain an improved position and to relieve 
pain and weakness. Muscular development is at the same time encouraged in 
every way, the idea being to lay aside the apparatus as soon as the muscles have 
been made- strong enough to retain the improved position. Some ca^es seen late 
in the disease cannot be improved in respect to deformity, and yet feel much more 
comfortable if properly supported. Others, again, from cardiac or pulmonary com- 
plications, cannot take the exercises required, and the ultimate results are better 
when mechanical treatment is carried out. In order that the appropriate exercises 
may be given all supports must be removable. Probably the plaster-of-Paris jacket 
applied with suspension is more generally used than any other method. Sayre 
moulds the patient's figure with his hands as much as possible after the jacket is 
applied and before it hardens. He uses the jacket as an adjuvant and only in 
those cases where the patient is not able to retain by voluntary effort so good a 
position of the body as can be obtained by partial self-suspension by means of a 
pulley and head-swing. Bradford uses, in cases which are markedly resistant and 
in growing patients where rigidity is not complete, permanent plaster-of-Paris jack- 
ets, exerting a correcting pressure upon the abnormally prominent ribs, while the 
jacket is still soft, from behind forward and from before backward, by means of a 
screw force extending from a circular steel ring which is placed around the patient's 
trunk. 



Appendix 731 

Steele recommends a raw-hide jacket. Phelps uses one of wood-shavings (Wal- 
tuck Method, New England Medical Monthly, February, 1892), and Vance one of 
paper. Roberts (" Transactions Ninth International Congress," vol. hi.) has de- 
vised a wire corset, designed to exert a continuous elastic pressure. Shaffer uses a 
light steel apparatus, adapted to exert pressure in the desired direction, at the same 
time allowing some antero-posterior movements of the trunk. Exercises are sys- 
tematically used in addition. 

DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 

Tubercular Meningitis (p. 408). — In a prolonged discussion upon the ques- 
tion of diagnosis, by the members of the American Pediatric Society (see " Trans- 
actions, 1890"), the following met the approval of the majority: The four most 
reliable symptoms for making an early diagnosis are (1.) Persistent vomiting. (2.) 
Irregularity of pulse. (3.) Irregularity of respiration. (4.) Apathy. 

In counting the pulse carefully it will many times be found to vary in consecutive 
quarter minutes. This is best done during sleep, and may require patience and 
painstaking, but it constitutes an excellent symptom when present and may serve for 
an early diagnosis. All stages of irregular respiration may be found among early 
signs, later developing into well-marked Cheyne-Stokes respiration. 

Chorea (p. 446). The Relation between Rheumatism and Chorea. — In studying 
the relationship existing between diseases, it is interesting to note any agreement in 
observers widely separated by country or climate. In a paper read before the New 
York Neurological Society in 1883, Dr. H. D. Chapin gave the histories of 38 
cases of chorea, of which 22 were preceded or accompanied by acute or sub-acute 
rheumatism. While it is difficult to determine exactly the relative influences these 
affections have upon one another, there is a close connection between them. Dr. 
Chapin thinks it highly probable that the same morbid condition predisposes to 
both rheumatism and chorea in children, and that they may be different manifes- 
tations of the same affection. 

DISEASES OF THE BONES. 

Ununited Fractures (p. 553). — Ridlon, in cases of delayed union in fractures 
of the leg (New York Medical Record, January 31, 1891), following Thomas, advo- 
cates the use of the latter' s caliper splint, but so modified as to permit of no motion 
at the ankle, and with a laced leather leg-sleeve added. 

The advantages claimed over plaster-of-Paris are better immobilization, and no 
constriction at the seat of fracture. The apparatus allows the patient to go about 
during treatment and permits the production of oedema by damming. 

DISEASES OF THE JOINTS. 
Origin (p. 569). — Northrup has given some instructive records of autopsies 
bearing on this point (New York Medical Joiimal, February 21, 1891). He 
found that the primary seat of tubercular infection was in the bronchial lymph- 
nodes in a great majority of cases. In 125 cases examined, 34 had too extensive 
lesions to determine which was primary ; 20 had the oldest lesion in the respiratory 



732 



Diseases of Children 



tract ; 42 had cheesy masses in bronchial lymph nodes only, more recent tubercules 
were found in lungs and elsewhere. In 9 all the tubercular process was confined to 
these nodes and the lungs. In 13 it was limited to the nodes alone. 

Mechanical Treatment. Shoulder (p. 572). — To apply extension at the 
shoulder Shaffer uses an axillary crutch to which is attached an extension-bar run- 
ning down the inner aspect of the arm and terminating in a band which half encir- 
cles the arm. Adhesive straps are applied and fastened to this band and the ex- 
tension-bar lengthened as required. 

Elbow (p. 572). — Myers uses to immobilize the elbow a splint formed by wires, 
which follow the upper and lower borders of the hand and forearm, the anterior 
and posterior borders of the arm, and then descend on the side of the body to the 
waist-line ; a laced sleeve holds the hand and forearm, and another the arm. 
Thoracic and abdominal straps hold the splint firmly against the body. 

Hip-joint. — In the United States all surgeons agree that during the acute symp- 
toms of hip- joint disease the limb must be immobilized as perfectly as possible. 
Traction is applied during this time to overcome the 
reflex muscular spasm almost as universally. After 
the pain and deformity are overcome the practice 
varies somewhat. Some few rely on immobilization 
alone, using a plaster-of-Paris spica, or a Thomas hip- 
splint, or similar device. The large majority, how- 
ever, combine traction with immobilization, more or 
less complete, until all reflex muscular spasm has dis- 
appeared. After this the joint is still protected from 
pressure for months to avoid relapse. In the United 
States, therefore, the long traction hip-splint (Davis- 
Taylor) (Fig. 180) is used almost exclusively until the 
convalescent stage. Then Sayre sometimes uses his 
short traction splint, or, like Shaffer, Taylor, and 
Bradford, a perineal crutch permitting motion at the 
knee and affording a modified protection from the 
traumatism of percussion. 

Excision (p. 581). — In general there is a strong 
conservative feeling at present among American ortho- 
pedic surgeons on the question of hip- joint excision. 
It is considered a last resort, to be applied only in ex- 
ceptional cases, where conservative treatment cannot 
be carried out, or as a means of saving life. 
Knee-joint (p. 583). — Traction is successfully used also at the knee to reduce 
the deformity and relieve the pain. It must be applied in the direction of the de- 
formity and continued as long as there is any reflex muscular spasm. Sayre' s exten- 
sion knee-brace is perhaps the one best known. Many surgeons who apply traction at 
the hip-joint, however, are content to protect this joint from motion and percussion. 
Shaffer recommends a splint for cases of subluxation (p. 587), unless there is 
ankylosis, which exerts forward pressure on the head of the tibia and longitudinal 
traction in the line of deformity {Archives of Clinical Surgery, June, 1877), 




Fig. 180.— The Davis -Taylor 
Long Traction Hip-splint. 



Appendix 733 

HIP DISEASES. 

Muscular Spasm (p. 601). — Involuntary reflex muscular spasm is generally 
considered in America the most constant symptom of this condition. It appears 
first and disappears last, and is the safest guide as to the presence or absence of 
disease. 

Phelps explains the deformities of the different stages of hip-joint disease as 
follows : The first stage is produced by voluntary effort on the part of the patient, 
aided by spasm of the muscles, in order to relieve the tension of the Y-ligament 
and capsule of the joint ; hence abduction, outward rotation, and flexion. Mus- 
cular spasm and a voluntary effort exaggerate the deformity of the first, producing 
that of the second stage. When flexion takes place beyond thirty degrees, and 
often with less flexion, the limb rapidly assumes the position of the third stage 
(with an occasional exception), adduction, inward rotation, and flexion, for the 
following reasons : when the limb is thus flexed the glutei muscles and the tensor 
vagina femoris become inward rotators. The glutei cease to be abductors, and the 
external rotators are no longer rotators but abductors, with the exception of the 
quadratus femoris and obturator externus. The adductors, now being no longer 
antagonized by the great glutei muscles, cause the adduction. 

The erratic deformities he accounted for by destruction of bone changing or 
destroying leverage, burrowing of pus, dislocation, perforation of acetabulum, and 
locking of the head of the femur in the pelvis ; possibly by the location of the lesion, 
adhesions, and irritation of special nerve-plates supplying the joint. The fluid ten- 
sion hypothesis he thought erroneous, because many cases were unattended by effu- 
sion, and many cases of all the deformities seen in hip-joint disease were extra- 
capsular. 

Results (p. 609). — Sayre (New York Medical Journal, April 30, 1892} shows 
that in 407 cases treated by him without excision, the ultimate result was : 

Cure, motion perfect 71 

" " good J42 

" " limited 83 

' ' ankylosis 5 

Unknown 78 

Under treatment, 14 ; abandoned, 3 ; discharged, 2. Total deaths, 9. 

As the Thomas Hip-splint (p. 610) does not afford traction it is not commonly 
used in the United States. 

Deformity (p. 612). — Exacerbations sometimes follow rapid reduction of the 
deformity under anaesthesia. When traction is used for this purpose it must be 
applied in the line of deformity, whatever the position of the limb may be. 

Phelps ("Transactions New York State Medical Society," February, 1889) 
strongly recommends that traction be made in the line of the axis of the neck of the 
femur, not in the axis of the shaft. 

Excision of the Hip (p. 613). — American treatment is as yet more conserva- 
tive. Bradford and Lovett express the general feeling when they say, " It must be 
borne in mind that the ultimate results after early excision are much more favorable 
than after late excision. "Where a late excision is done the surgeon will always re- 



734 



Diseases of Children 



gret that the operation had not been done before. The results of careful conserv- 
ative treatment, if carried out for a long time are superior to those after excisions 
in a majority of cases, and where conservative treatment is practicable it should be 
preferred. In large hospitals or among the poor and unintelligent class conserva- 
tive treatment is sometimes impracticable, and in such cases excision is resorted 
to earlier than would otherwise be justifiable, and the results gained are more satis- 
factory than when the operation is deferred." 

SPINAL DISEASE. 



Symptoms (p. 625). — Myers has seen in several cases of high cervical disease 
severe attacks of dyspnoea and heart-failure, probably due 
to pressure on the cord, two of them ending fatally. 

Treatment. Recumbency is strongly advocated by 
Steele (Medical Fortnightly, February I, 1891), who straps 
his patient to a canvas - covered iron frame and applies 
head traction when the disease is in the cervical and upper 
dorsal regions (see also Bradford and Lovett, " Orthopsedic 
Surgery," p. 54). 

Taylor's spinal-assistant brace (Fig. 181) is also largely 
used in America (p. 628) for disease in all regions. When 
the disease is above the seventh dorsal vertebra a chin- 
cup with occipital uprights is attached to the brace by 
means of a ball-and-socket joint, placed as near the oc- 
cipito-atloid joint as possible, and the head can then be 
held in any position desired. 

Lloyd (p. 632) (Annals of Surgery, October, 1892) has 
tabulated all published cases of laminectomy in Pott's dis- 
ease up to September, 1892, as well as several not previ- 
ously reported. He concludes that the operation is defi- 
nitely indicated in a certain limited class of cases. 

Gibney (Journal of Mental and Nervous Diseases, 
April, 1878), Taylor and Lovett (New York Medical Rec- 
ord, June 19, 1886), and Myers ("Transactions American 
Orthopedic Association," 1890), have presented statistics on a large number of 
these cases, showing the frequency of recovery from the paralysis without operation. 




Fig. 181. — Taylor's Spinal 
Brace with Chin-cup. 



CLUB-FOOT. 

Shaffer (p. 636) (New York Medical Record, May 23, 1885) described a condi- 
tion of modified flexion at the ankle and a contracted state of the plantar tissues 
which he called non-deforming club-foot. The symptoms were awkward gait asso- 
ciated with painful callosities at various parts of the foot ; or in more severe cases 
actual disability, pain in various parts of the foot, ankle, and leg, and even reflected 
to the lumbar region ; also tender and inflamed articular surfaces, especially at the 
junction of the first metatarsal bone with its phalanx. 



Appendix 735 

Wilson (p. 639) (" Transactions of the American Orthopedic Association, 1892 ") 
advocates " the complete reduction of the deformity by the end of the first month 
of life, by simpler means if possible, by tenotomy otherwise. The muscular power 
of the foot should be developed as much as possible afterward." Most surgeons 
would be willing to wait longer before resorting to operation. 

It is but just to say that the surgeon meets a large class of cases which have 
been neglected for two or three years or more. These cannot be corrected by the 
simpler forms of splints, and can be saved from operative treatment by the use of 
suitable stretching splints applied by a surgeon who knows how to use them. 

Phelps (p. 643) recommends the following order of operation, that one may fol- 
low the other at once if required : I, strong manipulation ; 2, subcutaneous tenot- 
omy ; 3, open incision ; 4, linear osteotomy of the neck of the astragalus ; 5, V- 
shaped piece removed from body of os calcis ; 6, removal of cuboid and scaphoid ; 
7, Pirogoff's amputation. Exceptionally the order may be changed, so that after 
4, excision of the astragalus may be performed. 

Bradford (" Transactions of the American Orthopedic Association, 1892 ") found 
that ' ' when the foot could not be brought straight after section of all the soft parts 
on the inner side of the foot, the resistance was generally located in the neck of the 
os calcis, and he advocated in these cases the excision of a wedge from this bone 
just posterior to the line of cartilage." He said : In a normal foot a line drawn 
through the middle of the sole is a straight one, but in cases of club-foot after the 
removal of the astragalus the median line in front of the medio-tarsal articulation 
formed an angle with the median line posterior to the articulation. This was due 
to the obliquity of the anterior facet of the os calcis. See also Phelps's article on 
this subject {University Medical Magazine, March, 1892). 

Parrish (p. 643) {Medical Journal, October 8, 1892) describes a method he has 
devised of suturing live tendons to those paralyzed, and so regaining lost function. 
He has sutured the healthy extensor pollicis tendon to the paralyzed tibialis-anticus 
tendon to remedy a case of valgus. 

Whitman (p. 646) {A r ew York Medical Journal, February 27, 1892) has de- 
vised an arched steel sole for the treatment of flat-foot which acts as a lever to 
throw the inner edge of the foot up in walking and yet is so short that it does not 
restrict normal muscular action. 

Torticollis (p. 649). — The Taylor spinal-assistant brace, with its chin-piece and 
occipital uprights, is well suited to these cases. It can be readily adjusted to any 
position of the head, and as easily re-adjusted to an improved position. 

Genu Recurvatum (p. 658). — Myers, in examining a considerable number of 
cases of genu recurvatum, found that the patellae generally develop later on, though 
they may not be found at birth. 

SEPTIC POISONING IN EARLY LIFE. 

Dr. H. D. Chapin, in a paper presented before the Medical Society of the State 
of New York {New York Medical Journal, June 8, 1889), contends that septic 
poison is very common in early life. He makes a distinction between sepsis occur- 
ring in the new-born and that which is seen in older infants and young children. 



736 Diseases of Children 

Infection may even take place before birth by the passage of septic matter from 
the mother to the fcetus through the medium of the placenta. In such a case the 
infant may be still-born, or succumb a few hours after birth, without presenting 
any marked local changes, but followed by a rapid decomposition of the body. 
When a woman is in a septic condition the virus may act to the destruction of the 
fcetus, just as in the case of a syphilitic woman. As it is not common, however, 
for septicaemia to develop in the mother before the birth of the child, the fcetus 
therefore is not so frequently disturbed by septic influences. After birth, the vul- 
nerable point for the entrance of septic poison is the umbilicus. When the cord is 
tied, the blood remaining in the umbilical veins form small thrombi, which eventu- 
ally become calcified, thus constituting part of the structure known as the round 
ligament. Owing to its exposed position, pyogenic germs may gain access to these 
thrombi, 'when suppuration and septic infection will quickly follow. 

The umbilical fossa, with its denuded epithelium, affords a convenient recepta- 
cle and favorable spot for the absorption of septic material from a diseased mother 
— from dirty hands, infected linen, sponges, or the air. 

Any abrasion or accidental wound may likewise afford an entrance to septic poi- 
son at or shortly after birth. The forceps may be responsible for the necessary 
solution of continuity. The delicate epithelium of the genital organs, without any 
apparent break, may give access to septic matter. 

As the infant grows older the upper part of the body, particularly the scalp and 
mouth, afford vulnerable areas for sepsis. The lymphatics of the head and face 
are numerous and active, and are thus ready to quickly absorb any poison that may 
present itself. The blood-supply to these parts is also abundant, which favors in- 
flammatory conditions. With reference to the action of the absorbed poison, a 
division may be made into local and general sepsis. When suppuration is started 
upon a surface by pyogenic germs — such as the Staphylococcus and Streptococcus 
pyogenes — the lymphatics beneath soon participate in the inflammation. Both the 
germs and their products of various poisonous principles are absorbed into the lym- 
phatic tracts, and, if they reach the blood in sufficient quantity, will cause a general 
poisoning. Protoplasmic cells, by their inherent vitality, can dispose of and de- 
stroy a certain number of germs. If the latter are produced quicker or in larger 
numbers than they can be taken care of by the cells of the adjacent lymphatic 
glands, the poison will soon find its way into the system. In what may be called 
local sepsis a certain number of neighboring lymphatic glands are irritated and in- 
flamed by absorption of the poison, which does not, however, find its way into the 
general circulation in sufficient quantity to produce any very marked symptoms. 

MILK. 

A superstitious belief in the superior virtues of the milk of ' one cow ' is still com- 
mon among the public, and it is often looked upon as a most important matter to se- 
cure this. As a matter of fact, a good average milk is more likely to be obtained from 
mixing the milk of a number of cows than in taking it from one, for it is well known 
that the first portion of milk obtained from the udder is poor in fat, while the last 
portions are rich, the amount varying from two to eight per cent. If the first part 



Appendix 737 



of the milk taken is reserved for the infant, it is tolerably certain to get a poor 
milk. Whenever a cow is specially reserved to supply milk for an infant, care 
should be taken to see that it is not an old one, and the last portions of milk should 
be taken for the child. 

What is of far more importance than the question of ' one cow ' is the question 
as to how the cows are fed, and the care taken to prevent the contamination of 
the milk with organic matters. In the vicinity of our large towns it is no uncom- 
mon thing to see cows out at pasture in fields watered by brooks contaminated with 
sewage, of which they freely drink ; moreover, they are extremely likely to lie 
down in the sewage water, and their udders, and consequently the milker's hands, 
become befouled with sewage. In the winter time the cows are frequently fed 
largely on turnips and brewer's grains, instead of hay, maize, or other dry fodder ; 
possibly also their sheds are infrequently cleaned out and only sparingly supplied 
with straw, so that the animals lie in faeces and their udders maybe seen caked with 
dried excrement. It is no uncommon thing to find a greenish-looking sediment in 
milk from second-rate dairies, due to contamination of fsecal matters. The storage 
of milk is an exceedingly important matter, for milk readily absorbs gases, and is 
readily contaminated when kept in cellars or kitchens pervaded with sewer-gas or 
the emanations of decomposing animal substances. The temperature at which it 
is kept is also important, as it far more quickly turns sour and decomposes when 
kept in a warm place than in a cool place. This is recognised by many milk pur- 
veyors, who at once take measures to cool the milk directly it is received from the 
cow. According to Soxhlet fresh milk turns sour and curdles at the following 
temperatures and times : 

At 32 ° C. (90 F.) in 19 hours. 
At 25 C. (77 F.) in 29 hours. 
At I7i° C. (63. 5 F.) in 63 hours. 1 
At io° C. (40 F.) in 208 hours. 
At o° C. (32 F.) in 3 weeks. 

MILK STERILISERS. 

Soxhlet has devised an apparatus for household use by means of which ' ster- 
ilising ' can be carried out efficiently ; or, in other words, milk in bottles is ex- 
posed to a temperature of 212° F. for an hour or more. This process has the great 
advantage of effectually destroying all organic matters, and the continued heating 
of the casein appears to render it less readily precipitated. The 'steriliser' con- 
sists of a sheet-tin vessel resembling a potato-steamer, into which eight or ten bot- 
tles containing the infant's food, and provided with a stopper or flat indiarubber 
disc, are fitted ; water is placed in the apparatus so as to surround the bottles, and 
the whole placed on a stove and kept boiling for three-quarters of an hour. At the 
end of this time it is allowed to cool, and the bottles kept in a cool place till 
required for use. When the infant is to be fed one of the bottles is taken, the 
stopper removed and replaced by a teat, and the infant fed from the bottle after 

* Temperature of ordinary kitchen. 



738 



Diseases of Children 



warming. In this way all organic matter is destroyed, and at the same time the 
curd is less readily precipitated. The Soxhlet apparatus and this method of ster- 
ilising milk, was first brought before the profession of New York by Dr. August 
Caille, in the Psediatric Section of the Academy of Medicine. 




Fig. 182. — Arnold's Milk Steriliser. 



The apparatus most approved by American practice is the Arnold Steam Steri- 
liser, an appliance appropriated to laboratory uses by Professor Prudden, of the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, and adapted to milk-sterilising by his assis- 
tant in bacteriology, Dr. T. M. Cheesman (New York Medical Record, July 13, 
1889). Its efficiency has now the approval of laboratory and lay practices. The 
sterilising chamber is surrounded by a jacket of steam confined beneath an invest- 
ing-hood (Fig. 182), which allows uniform temperature in every part of the cham- 



Appendix 



739 



ber. This apparatus is capable of destroying all known disease germs, rendering 
the milk sterile. 

For Pasteurising milk by this apparatus, it is the practice of certain physicians 
(Blackader, Koplik) to continue the heat under the Arnold for fifteen minutes, 
then removing the hood and setting ajar the cover for thirty minutes, thereafter 
placing the rack of bottles in a refrigerator till required for use. 

Pasteurising Milk. — This consists in heating the milk to 167 F., maintain- 
ing it at that point for half an hour, then cooling rapidly. The purpose is to de- 
stroy at low temperature the fully developed germs of fermentation, thereafter 
keeping the food sufficiently cool to prevent the development of the surviving 
spores into a new colony of germs. It is claimed that the process alters, the least 
possible, the natural characteristics of the milk, and preserves it as long as is practi- 
cally required (twenty-four hours or more). A milk Pasteuriser, known as Dr. 
Free mart ] s Apparatus, has recently been placed before the profession. 

The apparatus consists of a pail of water and a receptacle for the bottles of 
milk. A certain definite amount of milk is immersed in a properly proportioned bulk 
of boiling water, the source of heat having been removed. The contained milk is 
heated at the expense of the surrounding hot water, until gradually both milk and 
water, at the end of half an hour, become of equal temperature, i.e., 167 F. 

The milk is contained in glass bottles, stoppered with cotton, as in other appar- 
atuses, and is promptly removed to a refrigerator or to a cold-water bath. — (See 
New York Medical Record, July 2, 1892.) 

Seibert of New York has devised a simple milk steriliser, with bottles of various 



V* -5o2.fi 




Fig. 183. — Seibert Steam Steriliser. 



sizes to suit the different ages of the infant. It consists (Fig. 183) of a metal sup- 
port for six or eight bottles, the whole being placed in a steamer from thirty to 
forty-five minutes. 



740 Diseases of Children 

The following table is given by him as a guide in infant feeding : 









Amount 


Time of Feeding 


Weight 
in 


Num- 
ber of 


Size 
of 


















Pounds 


Bottle 


Bottle 


. Of Milk 


Of Gruel 


Of Sugar 


How 
often 


In 24 
Hours 


From 

6 a.m. to 

6 p.m. 


From 
6 p.m. to 

6 A.M. 


6, 7, and 8 


I. 


3 oz. 


1 oz., or 2 


2 oz., or 4 


i tea- 


1 bottle 


8 


6 


2 








table-spoon- 
fuls 


table-spoon- 
fuls 


spoonful 


full every 
2 hours 


bottles 


botdes 


bottles 


9 and io 


II. 


4 oz. 


i% oz., or 3 


2$ oz., or 5 


i tea- 


1 bottle 


8 


6 


2 








table-spoon- 
fuls 


table-spoon- 
fuls 


spoonful 


full every 
2 hours 


bottles 


bottles 


bottles 


II, 12, I 3 , 


III. 


5 oz. 


i\ oz., or 5 


25 oz., or 5 


f tea- 


1 bottle 


7 


5 
bottles 


2 


and 14 






table-spoon- 


table spoon- 


spoonful 


full every 


bottles 


bottles 








fuls 


fuls 




2% hours 








15 and 16 


IV. 


6 oz. 


2,\ oz., or 7 


2$ oz., or 5 


f tea- 


1 botde 


7 


bottles 


2 








table-spoon- 


table-spoon- 


spoonful 


full every 


bottles 


botdes 








fuls 


fuls 




2^ hours 








17 and 18 


V. 


7 oz. 


5 oz., or 10 


2 oz., or 4 


1 tea- 


1 bottle 


6 


bottles 


1 








table-spoon- 


table-spoon- 


spoonful 


full every 


bottles 


bottle 








fuls 


fuls 




3 hours 








19 and 20 


VI. 


8 oz. 


All milk and 1 tea-spoonful of sugar 


1 botde 


6 


5 


1 










full every 


bottles 


botdes 


bottle 










3 hours 






i 



The weight, not the age, of the infant determines its food properly. 
Never use a larger bottle than the one indicated by the child's weight. 
Directions :— Weigh the naked baby, and then find the amount and composition 
of its food and the manner of feeding on the table. 



MILK ANALYSIS. 

Professor Monti, of Vienna, has recently examined the milk of a large number 
of women, taking the specific gravity, reaction, and estimating the fat. The S. G. 
is obtained by taking ten to twenty cc. of the milk immediately after sucking in a 
glass tube, warming to 15 C, and then floating in the milk Quevenne's Lactodens- 
imeter. The specific gravity of good milk varies from 1030 to 1034. 

He estimates the fat by means of Marchand's Lactobutyrometer. The latter 
consists of a graduated glass tube in which 5 cc. of milk is placed and a drop of 
caustic soda solution added ; 5 cc. of ether is added, and the tube shaken till all 
the fat is extracted from the milk by the ether. Five cc. of absolute alcohol is 
added, and, on warming, the fat separates on the surface, and the amount calcu- 
lated from the depth of the layer as recorded by the scale on the tube. The ap- 
paratus can be obtained of H. Kapeller, 4 Kettenbruckengasse, Wien. 



BARLEY WATER. 

Place a table-spoonful of best pearl barley in an enamelled saucepan, add a pint 
of water, and boil for a few minutes, stirring all the time so as thoroughly to cleanse 
the grain. Pour the water off the barley, replace by a pint and a half of clean 
water, and simmer gently for an hour, and strain. Another and better method is 



Appendix 741 

to use barley meal prepared from the whole grain, inasmuch as the greater part of 
the gluten is found in the cells lining the husk (Jacobi). The grain should be well 
washed and ground in a coffee-mill kept for the purpose. The barley water used 
during the early months of infancy should be a thin mucilaginous fluid ; in the later 
months it should be thicker, or barley jelly may be used to thicken the milk 



OATMEAL WATER. 

A table-spoonful of coarsely-ground oatmeal should be placed in a pint of water ; 
simmer gently for an hour, replace the water evaporated. 



ARROWROOT WATER. 

Take two tea-spoonfuls of best arrowroot and a pint of water ; simmer for five 
minutes, stirring constantly. 

WHEY. 

Warm a pint of milk to blood-heat ; add a tea-spoonful of ' artificial rennet ;' in 
a few minutes the curd will have separated from the whey ; break up the curd with 
a fork and allow it to stand till the curd has subsided ; decant and boil the whey. 
Whey thus prepared may be given to a newly-born infant, cream or milk being 
added according to its powers of digestion. Whey with some added brandy is use- 
ful as a substitute for 'white wine whey,' and generally agrees better. 

VEAL TEA. 

Take one pound of veal free from fat and bone, cut into small pieces the size of 
dice, place in a covered jar with a pint and a half of water or barley water, cold ; 
place in an oven not too hot, and bake for three or four hours — or it may be left in 
the oven all night ; strain and remove fat. 



SCRAPED MEAT. 

Take a thick rumpsteak of the best quality ; scrape it with a knife until reduced 
to shreds. A sandwich can be made by placing a small portion between very thin 
slices of bread and butter. Some children will take the meat pulp out of a tea- 
spoon or mixed with gravy or beef-tea. Scraped meat can also be prepared from 
rumpsteak which has been frizzled for a few moments on a quick fire, the burnt 
outside being cut off before being scraped. 

RAW MEAT JUICE. 

Finely mince a pound of the best rumpsteak freed from fat. Place in an earthen 
vessel with sufficient cold water to well cover it, add some lump sugar, and let it 
stand for four hours. Strain through muslin. It can be given with port wine if 
thought desirable. 



742 Diseases of Children 



LINSEED MEAL POULTICE. 

Warm a basin, pour in boiling water ; sprinkle in the meal, stirring vigorously, 
till it becomes of the consistency of thick porridge ; spread on tow or old linen, 
turning in the edges all round ; before applying put it against one's cheek to feel 
that it is not too hot. Retain in position with a broad flannel roller, secured with 
safety-pins. Renew every four hours or oftener. The poultice should not exceed 
half an inch in thickness. Caution is necessary in poulticing the chests of infants, 
in order not to overload the chest and tire out the respiratory muscles. 

MUSTARD POULTICES. 

These may be made in a similar way to the above, the mustard being mixed 
with warm water, and stirred well into the linseed poultice. One part of mustard 
to three or four of linseed meal may be used for infants and young children, kept on 
for four hours, and repeated according to the amount of redness produced. 

BRAN POULTICES. 

Bran poultices are preferable to linseed poultices when the weight of the latter 
is an objection, as in colic. A flannel bag is filled with bran, boiling water is then 
poured over it till it is thoroughly saturated ; it is then wrung dry in a towel, placed 
against one's cheek to test the temperature, and applied. 

HOT FOMENTATIONS. 

Flannel or spongio-piline may be used, being wrung out of boiling water in a 
towel, sprinkled with laudanum or turpentine according to the effect desired, and 
applied. The fomentations should be retained in position by means of a flannel 
bandage. 

ANTIPYRETIC METHODS. 

Sponging. — The readiest means of reducing temperature when the fever is 
moderate in degree is by sponging. The child should be stripped and lie upon a 
blanket or sheet with a waterproof beneath ; a large sponge should be used, and the 
face, trunk, and extremities sponged for five or ten minutes. The water used 
should be cold, but with nervous patients it is well to begin with tepid water. If 
the child is feeble it may have a hot bottle to its feet during the sponging. Cold 
sponging is a useful and safe means of reducing temperature in all febrile conditions, 
but its action is only temporary. 

Packs. — The efficacy of a continuous pack in reducing temperature depends 
upon its action on the skin in producing sweating, the cooling effect of the applica- 
tion of the wetted sheet being temporary only, unless frequently reapplied. Packs 
are most useful in conjunction with certain drugs, as aconite and quinine. To 
apply a cold pack a sheet should be wrung out of cold water and applied to the 
patient from the neck to the feet ; a blanket is then wrapped around the sheet. It 



Appendix 743 

should be reapplied in a quarter of an hour if the temperature appears high, but 
frequently the patient goes to sleep in the pack, and it may be wise to leave him 
undisturbed, for an hour at least. Cold packs are often of great service in scarlet 
fever, measles, and other febrile conditions. In pneumonia packs are often useful, 
the wet sheet being applied only round the chest. 

Baths. — The cold or graduated bath is the most rapid means of reducing a high 
temperature, and has the advantage of being readily applied. The child may be 
placed in a bath of ioo° F. and the temperature of the bath reduced by the gradual 
addition of cold water. The cold water may be poured over the patient's head if 
the temperature is high. Cold baths may be used in enteric, pneumonia, measles, 
indeed in a high temperature from any cause excepting scarlet fever or diphtheria. 
In severe attacks of these diseases the cold bath is apt to depress too much, the 
patient becoming cold and collapsed. 

Enema. — Enemata of cold water have been successfully used in reducing tem- 
perature, but can only be of limited application. 

Ice-bags. — Ice applied to the head or chest in a rubber bag, or flannel wrung 
out of ice and water, form effectual means of reducing temperature. 

Aconite. — Given in the form of tincture, is useful as an antipyretic in conjunc- 
tion with packs. It is necessarily of limited application on account of the depres- 
sion it produces if pushed. A quarter to one minim may be given every hour in 
pneumonia, the effect being carefully watched. 

Quinine. — Quinine may be given to reduce temperature in doses of two to ten 
grains of the sulphate in syrup of orange-peel, milk, or cocoa ; it is useful for this pur- 
pose in conjunction with packs in malaria, scarlet fever, pneumonia, and measles. 
If given by the rectum, the neutral bisulphate should be used, or the sulphate 
should be dissolved with the least possible excess of acid. It is well to bear in mind 
that it is useless to expect absorption from a rectum loaded with faeces, and a 
drachm of glycerine must be administered in order to relieve the bowels before in- 
jecting the quinine. The quantity given by rectum must be double that given by 
mouth. 

The subcutaneous injection of quinine is not often resorted to in infants, inas- 
much as a neutral solution is not often at hand when wanted. In a high tempera- 
ture due to malaria it would be of service. 

Antifebrin. — This drug is much used at the present time in reducing high 
temperatures. It maybe given in the form of powder ; or in wine, as it is insolu- 
ble in water. It is better to begin with a small dose and to repeat every three or 
four hours if necessary. One-grain doses may be given under two years of age, two 
grains from two to four years of age, three to four grains for older children, and 
repeated if necessary every four hours. An overdose is apt to produce cyanosis, 
weak pulse, and profuse sweating. This drug is useful in acute pneumonia, measles, 
typhoid, and scarlet fever. The continuous use of it should be avoided if there are 
any symptoms of cardiac failure ; toxic symptoms, especially jaundice and albumi- 
nuria, may arise. 

Antipyrine. — This drug is used in a similar way to antifebrin ; the dose given 
must be twice as large to produce the same effect. 

Phenacetin is another drug of the same series, and may be given in doses of the 



744 Diseases of Children 

same size as antifebrin. This is much preferred in the United States to other 
drugs of its class, as being safe and equally effective. 

HOT PACKS. 

Hot packing is most useful in nephritis, especially when the kidneys are choked. 
A blanket is wrung out of hot water as dry as possible and quickly applied, care 
being taken that it is not too hot ; it may be renewed in half an hour. 

HOT AIR OR VAPOUR BATHS. 

These are useful under similar circumstances to the hot pack ; they are best ap- 
plied by means of a special apparatus, Allen's being the best. A hot vapor bath' 
can be improvised for a child with a 'bronchitis kettle,' or even an ordinary ket- 
tle, and spirit or paraffin lamp, a chair being used as a 'cradle.' There is, how- 
ever, some risk of accident. 

MUSTARD BATH. 

An ounce of mustard to a gallon of water (ioo° F.) is the right proportion. The 
mustard should be made into a paste in a basin, and gradually stirred into the 
water of the bath. Useful in diarrhoea, pneumonia, or collapse from any cause ; 
more especially in infants and young children. 

NARCOTICS. 

Opiates. — Infants are sensitive to the action of opium, and this drug requires 
to be administered with great caution and its effect carefully watched. At the same 
time there cannot be a doubt as to its value in many instances, particularly in reliev- 
ing pain and quieting the overaction of the bowels. In prescribing it to infants, 
not only the question of age, but also the size of the child, and the complaint from 
which it is suffering, and the degree of exhaustion present, must be borne in mind. 
It is obvious that the dose of opium suitable for a strong, well-nourished infant of 
six months of age, suffering from colic, might be unsafe if given to an infant of 
eighteen months in the last stages of gastro-intestinal atrophy. Infants in the last 
stages of diarrhoea, atrophy, and pneumonia are exceedingly sensitive to opium, 
and caution should be observed in giving it to them. Moreover, such infants pass 
sometimes into a comatose state before death, not unlike the condition produced 
by opium poisoning, and under these circumstances the immediate cause of death 
might be attributed to opium. As a general rule, and presuming the infant is a 
well -nourished one, \ grain of Dover's powder may be given to an infant of six 
months and repeated in four hours if necessary. Larger doses may be given with 
safety if the infant can be watched, and indeed, if the infant is suffering from acute 
colic or intussusception, twice or even four times the dose named may be given. 
In one case coming under our observation, -^ grain of acetate of morphia was given 
to a strong infant four months of age suffering from acute abdominal pain ; the 
infant became drowsy, the pupils were semi-contracted, it remained in a semi- 
comatose state with sighing respiration for two or three hours, when it woke up 



Appe7idix 745 

perfectly well. It was evident, however, that the limit of safety had been passed. 
Three grains of pulv. kino co. (Br.) were given to an infant of six months, who was 
much wasted and suffering from diarrhoea, at intervals of four hours, three doses 
being given in all. The second dose made it drowsy ; it died a few hours after the 
third dose, with all the symptoms of opium poisoning. It had taken in all nearly 
\ grain of opium. One grain of Dover's powder, or a minim (=to77 g ram ) °f n( l- 
morphia, is an average dose for on infant a year old, and may be repeated in two 
or four hours if necessary. Two or three grains of Dover's powder, or two or three 
minims of liq. morphinse, may be given to children between two and four years of 
age. Children over six years of age are much less sensitive to opium than younger 
children, and \ to \ grain of opium may be given if necessary to relieve pain in 
peritonitis or other diseases. It must be borne in mind that idiosyncrasies may be 
met with, and infants may be found exceedingly sensitive to opium, or, on the 
other hand, very tolerant. 

Subcutaneous injections of morphia are best avoided in infants under a year, and 
are not often required for young children ; -£§ grain would be a full dose for an 
infant of a year. 

Codeine is of some value in relieving pain in children, especially in connection 
with the alimentary system. It may be given in syrup of orange. It may be given 
in doses of iVHs g ram to infants and young children, and ^-^ grain to older chil- 
dren. It is useful in colic, diarrhoea with tenesmus, and irritative cough — in the 
latter perhaps not so good as morphia. 

Chloral hydrate. — Chloral is soluble in water, and maybe given 2 or i\ grains 
to the drachm of cinnamon water, sweetened with syrup of orange. Infants and 
children tolerate chloral well ; its principal use, combined with bromide, is in 
convulsions and to procure sleep. It is of but little use in relieving pain. 2^—5 
grains may be given to children from a year to two years old. 5-10 grains may be 
given to older children. Very much larger doses have been given to procure an- 
aesthesia (Bouchut). 

Bromide of potassium. — 2-2-| grains to the drachm of water sweetened with 
syrup of orange or lemon, and spirit of chloroform. The liquid extract of liquor- 
ice hides the taste fairly well. 3-5 grains may be given to children from a few 
weeks to two years of age, and repeated every two hours if necessary. 20-60 grains 
a day may be given to older children who are suffering from cerebral excitement or 
fits. There is little risk in an overdose ; children well under the influence of bro- 
mide are lethargic, speak with a slow drawling tone, and suffer from acne. 

Antipyrine acts as a sedative in small doses in infants and young children ; 
-£-1 grain may be given to infants suffering from colic or painful dentition. 

Belladonna and atropine are much used in whooping-cough, incontinence of 
urine, and as external applications. Children are tolerant of these drugs, and 
larger proportional doses than those given to adults may be prescribed, if they are 
carefully watched. Children of one to two years of age may be given 1-3 drops of 
the tincture every four hours. Older children, 2-7 minims or more, though it is 
wiser to begin with minimum doses and gradually increase the dose. Atropine is 
more dangerous, and is best avoided in young children. Children five years old 
and upward may be given minim doses (j-^ grain) of the liquor, cautiously in- 



746 Diseases of Children 

creased. Temporary excitement and dilated pupils are the result of an over- 
dose. 

Cannabis indica. — Children bear this drug well ; it is usefully added to bromide 
in i\ minim to 10 minim doses of the tincture in whooping-cough. 

Hyoscyamus. — Tincture of hyoscyamus is used as an anodyne in place of 
opium. Its nauseous taste is one objection to it ; it may be given in 5-minim doses 
to an infant a year old, 10-30 minims to older children. 

Hyoscyamine sulphate is frequently substituted for the tincture, but, like 
atropine, it must be used cautiously, or not given at all to infants, -g-oo" gr., cau- 
tiously increased to -£■$ gr., may be given to older children ; larger doses have been 
given. 

Hyoscine may be given with caution in the same doses as above, but is said to 
be more active. 

PURGATIVES AND LAXATIVES. 

Mercury and chalk by itself, or in combination with rhubarb and soda, is 
very frequently given as a laxative for infants a few months old, or when the stools 
indicate some irritative matters in the bowels. For this purpose \-2 grs. may be 
given twice a day for a few days, or for two or three successive nights. 

Calomel is preferable for older children on account of the smaller dose required; 
it may be given with soda, euonymin, rhubarb, scammony, or jalapine. A grain 
may be given with white sugar to a child of one to three years, half a grain to an 
infant of six months, as a purgative. Half the quantity may be given with other 
drugs ; thus — calomel, gr. -£ ; scammony resin, gr. -J ; calomel, gr. % ; pulv. rhei, gr. 
-J; sodse bicarb., gr. % ; calomel, gr. \\ euonymin, gr. \. Small pilules made of 
calomel, gr. £ ; ex. colocynth. co., gr. f ; calomel, gr. \ ; ex. rhei, gr. f, answer very 
well. Some prefer to give small doses of this drug, as gr. £, repeated every hour 
till the bowels act. 

Rhubarb forms a safe and non-irritative purgative, and is especially useful in 
combination with soda when a laxative and stomachic is required. It unfortunately 
has a nauseous taste, best covered by syrup of orange or spirits of nutmeg. Tab- 
loids of rheum c. soda are very convenient. 

The syrup is a good preparation, especially in combination with an equal quan- 
tity of syrup of senna, of which half a tea-spoonful to a spoonful is a dose. ' Mist, 
rhei co.' is much used as a laxative, given two or three times a day, especially in 
infants when the stools are ' putty-like ' and sour-smelling ; thus, syrup, rhei, T^xx ; 
sodas bicarb., gr. j; aq. menth. pip., 3 j. 

Inf. rhei with sodse carb. and sp. ammon. aromat. forms a useful carminative 
for infants — such as sp. ammon. aromat., Tfj^iii ; sodse bicarb., gr. ii ; syrup, zingib., 
Tf]_xx ; inf. rhei ad 3j; sp. ammon. aromat., TT^iiss ; syrup, zingib. TfLxx ; inf. 
rhei, TT^xv ; inf. gent. co. ad 3 j. 

Aloes. — Much used for constipation, either in the form of the aq. ext. or aloin 
in pilules. Small pilules containing \ grain of aq. ext. of aloes are readily swal- 
lowed by children, or they can be divided with a knife and given in jam. Aloin is 
useful in treating the constipation of infants and young children ; ' anticonstipa- 
tion' 'tabloids,' containing aloin, gr. \, belladonnae ext., gr. |, strychnine, gr. /j, 



Appendix 747 

ipecac, gr. -/g-, may be used, half a one being given to infants once or twice a day, 
mixed with a little white sugar. 

Senna. — Mostly given in the form of the compound liquorice powder, syrup, or 
infusion. The former is much used as a household medicine, quarter to one tea- 
spoonfuls being given mixed with a little water. The syrup is pleasanter to take, be- 
ing free from any grittiness ; a tea-spoonful is the usual dose ; it is most effective 
when given with an equal quantity of syrup of rhubarb. The infusion is given in 
constipation with some bitter, as strychnine or calumba, such as liq. strychnia?, 
TTiss ; glycerine, TT^x ; inf. sennse, TT^xx ; inf. calumbse, ad 3 j, b. or t. d. s. Old 
preparations of senna are apt to gripe. 

Cascara sagrada is of much value in habitual constipation in infants and chil- 
dren. It may be given in syrup or some of the elixirs, chocolate bonbons or loz- 
enges. Some chemists prepare an extract from which the bitter principle has been 
removed. Five to 20 minims of the liquid extract once a day is the usual dose. 

Podophyllum resin may be given in powder or ' tabloid ' form to infants and 
children suffering from constipation, beginning with ^o gr. to -f- G gr. two or three 
times a day. Liq. podophylli (gr. ^ ad 3 j), made by some chemists, is a useful 
preparation, and may be prescribed with strychnine, bitters, acids, or alkalies. 

Rubinat, Hunyadi Janos, Carlsbad mineral waters — a table-spoonful or 
more in warm water or milk, given before breakfast — are very useful purgatives for 
children over four years of age. 

EMETICS. 

Pulv. ipecac, is the best and safest emetic for children. It may be kept in 
the form of powder or the 5 grain ' tabloids.' Five grains may be given, and re- 
peated every ten minutes till vomiting is produced, to infants and young children. 
Ten grains may be given in one dose to older children, and repeated in ten minutes 
or a quarter of an hour. There is great difference in children with regard to the ease 
with which they are made to vomit. In the later stages of croup or pneumonia, 
when the face and lips are pale or bluish, it is difficult to excite vomiting ; indeed 
at this stage emetics are useless. 

Apomorphia is apt to depress too much ; it may be given 3 * - 2 *o gr. subcutane- 
ously, but not to infants. 

Alum. — Half a tea-spoonful in honey or syrup is useful in whooping cough. 

EXPECTORANTS AND DIAPHORETICS. 

Ipecacuanha is usually given in the form of vinum ipecac, in doses of 711 iiss— 
Tfl_v to infants up to a year old, Tf^v-TT^xv to older children, repeated every two to 
four hours. It may be given with Tf^v-x of aq. laurocerasi and v\x of glycerine to 
the drachm of water ; or syrup pruni virgin, may be added. Vin ipecac, is apt to 
lose its strength by keeping. 

Pulv. ipecac, co. is a useful expectorant (see Opium). 

Antimony. — Mostly given as vinum, in the same doses as vin. ipecac; often 
prescribed with mist, amygdalge. Both ipecac, and antimony are better given in 
small doses, frequently repeated, than in increasing doses. In acute bronchitis or 
laryngitis it is often useful to push either ipecac, or antimony freely till sickness is 



748 Diseases of Children 

produced, then to lessen the dose. Both these drugs are given in the early stage 
of bronchitis when rhonchi and sibilus are heard. 

Emetine. — Dose too— At g r «; not often prescribed. 

Liq. ammon. citratis or liq. ammon. acet. is of ten combined withvin. ipecac, 
or vin. antimon. in doses of TTlxv-in^xx for infants up to a year, 3 ss to 3 j for 
older children, well diluted, with syrup tolu, aurant., or pruni virgin, to cover 
the taste. 

Sp. ammon. aromat. — Dose Tf^ii-T^iii in a drachm of syrup or glycerine and 
water for infants ; TT^iv-TTtx, well diluted, for older children. 

Ammon. carbonat. or chloride. Dose : gr. iss-gr. v, well diluted, and dis- 
guised as far as possible by syrup aurant., tolu, or scillae. 

Squills. — Useful as a stimulating expectorant in bronchitis, when the secretion 
is free, fluid rales being heard in the chest, and but little being coughed up. Tinc- 
ture : doses TT^ii — TT^iii for an infant up to a year old ; TT^iii-Ti^v for older children, 
repeated every four hours. Syrup or oxy-mel : IT^x- 3 ss. The syrup is often com- 
bined with ipecac, or ammonia, according to the stage of the bronchial affection. 

Terebene. — Often useful as a stimulating expectorant ; not often given inter- 
nally to infants. TT[ii to TT^v may be given on sugar to older children, or suspended 
in mucilage and syrup of lemon. 

ANTACIDS AND CARMINATIVES. 

Alkalies and aromatics are frequently required in the dyspepsias of infancy. Of 
the former, sodse bicarb, gr. iiss, magnesias carb. gr. hi, combined with syrup 
zingib. and aq. anisi ad 3 j, is useful ; or sodse bicarb, gr. iiss, tr. nucis vomicae, 
1TL-£, tr. cardamom, co. TT^v, sp. chloroformi, Tf(_iiss, aq. anethi, ad 3 j, given occa- 
sionally. 

TONICS. 

Cod-liver oil takes the first place. It is best given after meals and in the form 
of an emulsion ; some of the latter are to be obtained combined with lime salts. 
Tf^x to KT^xx of the oil twice or three times a day is the dose for infants ; 3 ss to 
3 j may be given to older children. Dyspepsia, catarrh of intestines, and diarrhoea 
should be treated before cod-liver is given. Inunctions of warm cod-liver are often 
useful ; the oil is applied on a sponge and the child clothed in a flannel nightdress. 

Acids. — Dilute nitric acid (Tf[iss to TT^ii, aq. ad 3 j) is often of much service dur- 
ing convalescence. It may be combined with tr. cinchonae co., or decoc. cinchonae 
and syrup limonis. 

Iron. — Often given as vinum ferri, KT^x to 3 j, syrup ferri phos. co. Tf[x to 3 j, or 
tr. ferri perchlorid. TT^i to Tl^ii, in a wineglass of water at meal times. Ferri et 
ammon. cit. may be combined with alkalies and nux vomica. 

STIMULANTS. 

Alcohol necessarily takes the first place in the list, and is beyond all question 
of value in treating acute disease when there is evidence of a nagging heart. It is 
not a matter of much importance what form of alcohol is selected, presuming it is 



Appendix 749 

of good quality. Brandy, in the form of mist. sp. vini gallici, *is the one perhaps 
most generally useful. In hospital whiskey frequently takes the place of brandy 
for the sake of economy. Curacoa, champagne, port wine, more or less diluted 
according to circumstances, may be used. Alcoholic stimulants are called for in 
the adynamic forms of scarlet fever, diphtheria, broncho-pneumonia, acute diar- 
rhoea, and other allied conditions. The pulse is the best guide : a feeble, irregular, 
intermittent pulse calls for alcohol, mere rapidity of pulse does not. Drowsiness, if 
it does not contra-indicate alcohol at least calls for caution in its administration, 
as overdosing with alcohol is apt to make the drowsiness more pronounced, espe- 
cially that form due to a hypervenous condition of blood. Delirium is often made 
worse by alcohol, especially if there is evidence of cerebral congestion, the con- 
junctival vessels being injected as in the early days of scarlet fever. In such cases 
opium or bromide answers better. Vomiting is a signal for discontinuing alcohol, 
for a while at least. Unfortunately champagne, so useful as a rapidly diffusable 
stimulant, is apt to produce sickness. The amount of alcohol given necessarily 
depends upon circumstances : drachm doses of brandy, or even more, every hour, 
may be given in some cases of scarlet fever or broncho-pneumonia, with advantage 
even to young children. In infants alcohol is principally of value in colic and acute 
diarrhoea, and may be given well diluted with barley water, arrowroot, or milk. 
Port wine sometimes seems to agree better than spirit. In chronic disease alcohol 
is of less value than in acute, as the long-continued administration of it certainly 
has its evils, and is apt to produce dyspepsia and sluggish liver. In anaemia, scro- 
fulosis, and tuberculosis the wine of St. Raphael, port wine, or porter may some- 
times be given with advantage. [Also see Heart-stimulant, under Pneumonia, p. 

725-] 

FORCED FEEDING. GAVAGE. 

Difficulties sometimes arise in feeding immature infants and those with cleft 
palates, the infant being too weak to suck ; or the conformation of the mouth may 
render this impossible. In diphtheria, when the tonsils are enlarged and painful, 
or in paralysis of the pharynx, ' forced feeding ' may have to be resorted to. For 
weakly infants the ' fountain ' feeding bottles have been devised, and the ' bibe- 
rons pompes ' of the French ; there is, however, no difficulty in feeding a weakly 
infant by means of the ordinary boat-shaped feeder if held slightly inclined. In- 
fants with cleft palates have to be fed by spoon or by means of the ' Scott-Battams 
method,' namely, a piece of india-tubing attached to a glass syringe. In difficulty 
of swallowing from any cause this last method is the most generally useful. An 
ordinary glass syringe is taken and filled with milk, beef-tea, or other liquid nour- 
ishment, a piece of india-rubber tubing a few inches long is attached, the latter is 
passed into the mouth to the back of the tongue, and the piston of the syringe slowly 
pressed from time to time, so that small quantities of fluid are swallowed from time 
to time. The tube need not be passed between the teeth ; if the latter are clenched 
the tube may be passed between the cheek and the jaws. In cases where the pha- 
rynx is completely paralysed a medium-sized india-rubber catheter must be passed 
through the nose into the pharynx and oesophagus, and food introduced into the 
stomach. 



750 Diseases of Children 

Forced feeding has also been used by Dr. Kerley, of New York, in cases of per- 
sistent vomiting in young infants, his experience being that food introduced 
directly into the stomach by a tube and funnel is less readily rejected than if 
swallowed in the ordinary way. His method is as follows : The infant is held in a 
half reclining posture on the nurse's right arm ; a soft india-rubber catheter, at- 
tached to a funnel of three or four ounces capacity by a rubber tube two and a half 
feet long, is rapidly introduced into the stomach, a half to two and a half ounces 
of liquid food introduced into the funnel ; the latter is then raised and when empty 
rapidly withdrawn. This method of forced feeding appears to be more successful 
in infants than in older children. A preliminary stomach washing should precede 
the first forced feeding. 

STOMACH WASHING. 

Washing out the stomach is often a highly beneficial proceeding in the dyspep- 
sias of infants, especially when vomiting of decomposing curd is a prominent symp- 
tom. The removal of curd which may have remained in the stomach for some days, 
as well as the acid mucus, is certain to be beneficial. The method of carrying it is 
the same in infants as in adults. An india-rubber catheter as large as possible is 
passed down the pharynx into the stomach, and connected by means of an india- 
rubber tube, two or three feet in length, with a funnel. One or two ounces of 
warm two per cent, solution of borax is introduced into the tunnel ; the latter is 
raised so that the fluid flows into the stomach, and then lowered and inverted so as 
to allow of the return of the fluid contents of the stomach. This proceeding is 
repeated till the returning fluid is clean and sweet. Curdy material often escapes 
by the side of the tube. 

Stomach washing is useful not only in the chronic dyspepsias of infancy, but 
also in the vomiting of acute gastric catarrh and other forms of vomiting. 



ENEMATA. 

Enemata are required for various purposes during infancy and childhood. A 
simple enema may be required to unload the bowels and clear away scybala which 
have collected in the large bowel ; or they may be given for other purposes, such 
as that of applying local treatment to the mucous membrane of the colon, to re- 
place an invagination, or to destroy oxyurides which are present there. Rectal in- 
jections are also resorted to as a means of administering drugs or nutriment. 

Purgative enemata are generally given with a fountain syringe, and at a temper- 
ature of about loo°. They may consist of soap and water with the addition of 
olive oil, castor oil, or turpentine. When the latter is used a teaspoonful of ol. 
terebinth., two teaspoonfuls of olive oil, and the yolk of an egg may be shaken up 
with four or five ounces of water for a child of two or three years. A large quan- 
tity of fluid may be injected if the fluid is required to reach the upper part of the 
large bowel. Some care is required, in giving an injection, to do it slowly, avoid- 
ing all force. If it is required simply to unload the lower bowel, an injection of a 
teaspoonful of glycerine is all that is required. Enemata for the destruction of the 
oxyurides are best given after a sharp purgative has been administered, in order to 



Appendix 75 1 

drive the parasites as much as possible into the lower part of the intestines. For 
this purpose the turpentine injection referred to above answers very well, or half a 
pint to a pint of corrosive chloride of mercury (i to 2,000) may be used. Re- 
peated ' irrigation ' of the large bowel has been much practised on the Continent 
(Monti, Baginsky) in various diseased conditions, such as constipation, dysenteric 
diarrhoea, catarrh of the large bowel, &c. Large quantities of water or various 
solutions are injected by means of an india-rubber tube with a nozzle to fit in the 
rectum, and a funnel. The forcing of a large quantity of fluid into the colon, es- 
pecially in young children, is not always easy, on account of the straining and 
struggling which it is apt to produce, and forcible injection of fluid by means of 
raising the funnel with tube attached is not free from danger. In irritable condi- 
tions of the colon warm mucilaginous fluids, such as decoction of arrowroot, two 
to four ounces, with two to five minims of laudanum, is soothing, and relieves tenes- 
mus. The subnitrate of oxide of bismuth, suspended in mucilage, and three or 
four ounces injected, is also useful. In more chronic cases, alum, zinc, sulphate, or 
nitrate of silver may be used. On the whole, opiates are the most comforting to 
the patient. 

Nutrient enemata may be given of peptonised beef-tea, or milk with brandy, or 
some other form of alcohol. 

DIRECTIONS FOR USE OF DISINFECTANTS. 

Solution A. — Chloride of lime, eight ounces ; soft water, one gallon. 

Solution B. — Liq. sodas chlorinatae, one part ; soft water, five parts. 

Solution C. — Corrosive chloride of mercury, four ounces ; permanganate of 
potash, one dram; soft water, one gallon. 

Stock bottles to be kept locked up, and labelled ' POISON.' 

For use : — one fluid ounce to be mixed with one gallon of water. 

Use of A. — For the disinfection of excreta : Mix well with each stool half a 
pint of solution A, and allow it to stand for ten minutes before emptying it into the 
closet. Treat the vomit of fever patients similarly, and keep the sputa-cups of 
phthisical patients half full of the same solution. 

Use of B. — (1) For the washing of hands and the cleansing of spatulas, ther- 
mometers, and other infected instruments ; (2) for the thermometers to be kept in ; 
(3) for the sponging of those dying of fever, previous to their removal to the mor- 
tuary ; (4) diluted with four times its bulk of water, for the daily sponging of fever 
patients. 

Use of C. — For the disinfection of clothes : The clothes to be soaked in the 
solution for two hours, in an earthenware vessel, before being sent to the wash. 

To Disinfect a Room. — Tightly close all windows, fire-places, and ventila- 
tors. Moisten powdered sulphur with spirit, place it in a shallow iron pan sup- 
ported on a couple of bricks in a bowl of water ; light it, and keep the room closed 
for ten hours. Three pounds of sulphur must be used for each 1,000 cubic feet of 
air space. N.B. — 5 lbs. is necessary for each special ward. Then open all win- 
dows, &c, and wash the floors, walls, furniture, &c, with the following solution : 
Solution C, four fluid ounces ; water one gallon, taking especial care to thoroughly 



752 Diseases of Children 

wash out all dust from window-ledges, corners, &c. Allow free ventilation for 
twenty-four hours. 

LOEFFLER'S D-BACILLUS. 

A small piece of membrane, exudation, or mucus is broken up or smeared over 
a covered glass, and the latter dried by passing it several times through the flame of 
a spirit lamp, taking care not to overheat. A few drops of a solution of Loeffler's 
potash -methylene blue are placed on the dried exudation for five minutes ; the 
cover glass is then again dried, a drop of balsam placed on it ; it is then placed on 
a glass slide and examined with a -^ oil immersion. The D-bacilli may usually be 
recognised by the characters already given (p. 266). It must be admitted, however, 
their morphological characters are often not decisive. 

Cultivations on blood-serum and injections of the medium used for cultivations 
into guinea-pigs may be necessary in some cases of a doubtful nature. 



Appendix 



753 



FORMULA 

( The doses given are suitable for an infant of a year old, unless other- 
wise stated.) 

3 (i) 

Potass, bromid gr. ij | Ext. glycyrrhizae fl. . . . tt^v 

Tinct. hyoscyami . . . TT^v | Aquam . . . . . ad 3 j 

M. S. : Every two to four hours for a child of two years and upwards. 



Hydrarg. chlorid. mit. 

Sod. borat. 
Tinct. myrrhae . 



Potass, chlorat. 
Syrup, aurantii . 



(2) 

. gr. ss-j | Sacchari 
M. S. : At night. 

(3) 

3 ss I Glycerini 
3 ss I Aquae rosae . 
M. S. : As directed. 



gr. J 



3j 
3j 



(4) 
gr. j | Aquam . . . . . ad 3 j 
TTlxv 



M. S. : One leaspoonfd t.i.d. for infant of six months. 



E 



(5) 
Glycerini 
Aquam carui (Br.) 



Liq. bismuthi et ammoniae Citratis 

(Br.) TTiv 

Tinct. nucis vomicae . . . u\ss 

M. S. : One teaspoonful t.i.d. before meals. 

B (6) 

Olei ricini ..... TT[xv I Syrup, zingiberis . 
Acaciae . . . . . gr. v I Aq. menth. pip. . 

M. S. : One teaspoonful every four hours. 



(7) 



Sod. bicarb 

Bismuth, subcarbonatis 

Tragacanth.se . 



• g r - ij 

. gr. jss 

• g r - j 
M. S. : Every four hours, 



Spiriti chloroformi 
Aquam cinnamomi 



fllx 

ad 3j 



Tt|v 

ad 3j 



. TT[ij 
ad 3j 



(8) 



Zinci oxidi 
Tragacanthae . 
Spiriti myristicae 



. gr. jss 

• gr- j 
. TTUj 

M. S. : Every four hours. 



Glycerini TT[xv 

Aq, cinnamomi . . . ad 3 j 



754 



Diseases of Children 



Acid, nitric, dil. 
Syrup, aurantii 



(9) 
Tlij I Decocti granati rad. 

TT[x I 

M. S. : After each meal. 



ad 3j 



B (10) 

Acid, nitro-hydrochlorici dil. . TT|j i Syrupi 

Liq. pepticus (Benger) . . Tr[xx | Aq. aurantii flor. 

M. S. : After meals. 



7T[x 
3j 



B 



(") 



Sod. salicylate . . . gr. j Syr. zingiberis .... IT^vij 

Ol. ricini Tf[_xv Aq. menth. pip. . . ad 3 j 

Acacise ..... gr. vij 
M. S. : Every two hours for an infant of six months to a child of five years. 

R, (12) 

Moschi gr. ss | Sacchari 

Acaciae .... 



Tinct. catechu 
Tinct. kino 



Argenti nitratis 



gr. v j Aq. rosae . 
M. S. : Every second hour. 

(I2A) 

1T\v 1 Syrupi 
. %y I Aq. cinnamomi 
M, S. : Every four hours. 

(13) 



ad 3j 



. TTtx 
ad 3j 



. gr. v | Aquam ad Oss 

M. S. : Enema. 



Ext. hsematoxyli 
Tinct. krameriae 



5 

Sod. bicarb. 
Pepsini saccharati 



Sod. bicarb. 



(14) 

. gr. ijss I Glycerini 
. 1T(_v I Aq. cinnamomi . 
M. S. : Every four hours. 

(15) 



. nix 

ad 3j 



. gr. ij I Sacchari . . . , . gr. j 
. gr. j I 
M. S. : To be given before food. 



(16) 



. gr. v I Infusi gentianse co. (Br.) 

Syr. rhei 3 ss I 

M. S. : Three times a day. 



Potass, iodidi 
Sod. bicarb. 



(17) 
. gr. ij | Syr. sennae 
. gr. v I Infus. calumbse (Br.) 
M. S. : Three times a day. 



3 iij 



3 ss 
q. s. ad 3 iij 



Appendix 



755 



5 (18) 

Acid, nitric, dil. . . . ITLij-v I Syrupi . 

Tinct. cinchon. co. . . . Tf^xv | 

M. S.: In wine-glass of water, t.i.d. 

5 (19) 

Hydrarg. cum creta . . . gr. j j Pulv. ipecacuanhas et opii 

M. S. : Every night for a child three to five years. 
Or, 

U (20) 

Pulv. kino. comp. (Br. ) . . gr. ij-iv [ Sacchari 



3 

Ol. morrhuse . 
Ext. malti 

Calcii hypophosphitis 
Sodoe hypophosphitis 



R 



(21) 

§ ij I Potass, hypophosphitis 
§ ss I Glycerini 
. gr. xvj Acaciae . 
. gr. xvj I Aquam 
M. S. : One teaspoon] ~ul t.i.d. 



Vin. antimonii 

Liq. amnion, acetatis 



(22) 
Tf^v.-xx. I Syrupi .... 
HLxv.-xxx. I Aquam .... 
M. S. : Every second honr for a child of one to five years. 

P, (22A) 

Vin. antimonii . . . TT^v I Syrupi limonis . 

Potass, et sodii tartrat. . . gr. v I Aquam .... 

M. S. : Every two or three hours for a child one year old. 



Ammonii carb. 
Tinct. digitalis 



01. sinapis volatilis 

Tinct. capsici 

B 

Capsici 

R 

Linimenti iod. (Br.) 
Glycerini . 

Tinct. belladonnse 
Ext. cannabis indicas. 
Glycerini . 



(23) 
£?' J | Syr. scillse 
TT^ss I Aq. anethi (Br.) . 
M. S. : Every four hours, or t.i.d. 

(24) 
7T|^v-x | Linimenti camphorae 

(25) 
"t, j | Linimenti saponis 

(26) 
3 j | Lanoline 

(27) 
§ ss I Aquam . 
. • ■ 3 ij 1 



(28) 



TTLij-vij 



gr- 



J*-4 



3 ss 



Tinct. aurantii amari 
Aquam . 



ad 3j 



gr- J-»J 



g r - ij 



gr. vnj 
3 ij 
3 ij 
id §iv 



TT[xv. 
ad 3 j-ii 



3 ss 
. ad3j 



IT^x-xx 
ad 3 j 



• I] 

• 5j 

ad § jss 



TT c x 
ad 3 ij 



M. S. : Every four hours for children three to seven years. 



756 



Diseases of Children 



$ (30) 

Hydrarg. chloridi mitis . . gr. \ I Sacchari 
Euonymin . . . . gr. \ I 

M. S. : Every other night for an infant six months old. 

3 (31) 

Hydrarg. cum creta . . . " gr. ss I Sod. bicarb. - . 

Rhei . . . gr. ss I Sacchari 

M. S : Every other night for an infant six months old. 



Ol. morrhuae 

Vitelli ovi unius . 
Liq. potass, arseniti 
M. 

Calaminae preparatse 
Zinci oxidi 



Ichthyol . 

Liq. plumbi subacetatis 
Tinct. opii 

Acidi borici 

Zinci oxidi 
Acid, carbolic. . 



Acid, salicylic. 
Zinci oxidi 



Sulphur, praecipitat. . 
Lanoline .... 
Petrolati .... 

P> 

Ungt. hydrarg. oxidi rubri . 

Ungt. hydrarg. oxidi flavi 



Glycerin, plumb, acet. 
Liq. carbonis deterg. 



(32) 



Sij 



Syr. aurantii 
Aquam 
3 ss-j 
One teaspoonful after meals ( Wilson). 

(33) 
3 ij I 01. olivae 
3 ss I Liq. calcis 
S.: {Crocker). 



M. 



(34) 
3 j I Aquse 

(35) 
3 ss I Aquas 

3 ij I 

(36) 
3 j I Ungt. aq. rosae 

(37) 
gr. xx I Lanoline 
gr. x I 01. rosae 

(38) 
gr. x I Amyli 
3 ij I Petrolati 



(39) 



gr. xx 
3 ij 
3 ij 



Zinci oxidi 
Amyli 



(4o) 
3 ij I Ungt. plumbi oleatis (1-7) . 

(41) 
3 ij I Ungt. zinci oxidi . 

(42) 
3 ij I Aquae rosae 
3 ij I 



gr. J 



g r - J 
g r - j 



I] 
ad^iv 






3 ij 



TT^ss 



3 ij 

|ss 



S 1 } 

3 i j 



3vj 
3 vij 
Ivj 



Appendix 



757 



Ungt. picis liquidae 
Ungt. hydrarg. ammoniat. 

Gelatinae 
Zinci oxidi . 
Glycerini 

Gelatinae 

Zinci oxidi 

Adipis .... 

Ol. cadini . 

Ungt. hydrarg. ammoniat. 

Chrysarobini 

Sulphur, praecipitat 
Hydrarg. ammoniati . 
Thymol 



(43) 
3 ss | Ungt. zinci oleatis (1-7) 

?ss 



(44) 



15 parts 
10 " 
30 " 



Aquae ..... 
Sulpho-ichthyolate of ammonia 



(45) 
15 parts j Glycerini 
10 " Acid, salicylic. 
10 " 

(46) 
3 ss I Unguenti 
• 3 ij I 

(47) 
3 j I Liq. guttae perchse 

(48) 
. 3 j Petrolati 



3 ss 
gr. x 



Unguenti 



Sod. boratis 
Spirit, camphorae 

Tinct. cantharidis 
Tinct. capsici 
Tinct. nuc. vomicae 



Tinct. cantharidis 
Tinct. capsici 

Sulphur 

Balsam. Peruviani 



(49) 
3 j I Glycerini 
3 j I Aq. aurantii flor. 
{Bulkley.) 



(50) 



31-ij 

3j 
!ss 
{Bulkley.) 



01. ricini 
Spir. odorati 



Styracis 
Naphthol 



(51) 
§ ss I 01. ricini 
I ss I Alcohol 

(52) 
3 j I Unguenti 
3ss I 

(53) 
^ ss I Unguenti . 

(54) 
3 j I Unguenti 



43 P arts 
2 " 



63 parts 
2 " 



3J 



• I) 



3j 



• 3 ij 

ad §iv 



• 3iJ 
ad ? iv 



• !ss 
ad |iv 



• 5j 

Ijss 
. 1 ij 



INDEX 



ABC 

AbcSs peribronchique, 203 
Abdomen, examination of, 69 
Abdominal abscess, 167 et seq. 
Abdominal distention in spinal disease, 
625 

— injuries, 702 

— section in intussusception, 121 

— wall, hiatus of, 134 
Abortive pneumonia, 212 
Abscess, acute glandular, 355, 356 

— adjacent, 579, 600, 603 

— alveolar, 56, 562 

— cerebral, 430, 667 

— chronic, 355 

— glandular, 349 et seq, 

— hepatic, 167 

— iliac, 114 

— in bone, 546 et seq. 

— in hip disease, 602 

— of the liver, 167 

— of the lung, 202 

— mediastinal, 230 

— periarticular, 579, 601, 602 

— periesophageal, 65-67 

— periglandular, 352 

— periosteal, 546 

— perisigmoid, no 

— peritoneal, 108 et seq. 

— perityphlitic, 107 

— post-pharyngeal, 65 

— psoas, 522, 631 

— residual, 618 

— retro-cesophageal, 65 

— spinal, 622-632 
Absence of mouth, 157 

— of tongue, 155 
Accidental idiocy, 479 
A. C. E. mixture, 716 
Acetabular disease, 597, 603, 615, 618 
Acetabulum ' travelling,' 597 
Accidents with anaesthetics, 721 
Acquired clubfoot, 643 

— hernia, 136 

— syphilis, 393 

— talipes, 643 
Acromioclavicular joint, disease of, 594 



AMU 

Acute adenitis, 349, 352, 356 
simple, 352 

— atrophic paralysis, 495 

— bronchitis, 194 

— catarrhal tonsillitis, 60 

— cerebral paralysis, 436 

— circumscribed osteomyelitis, 558 

— epiphysitis, 558 

— gastro-intestinal catarrh, 77 

— generalised broncho-pneumonia, 202 

— glandular abscess, 352 

— hip-disease, 598, 732 

treatment of, 95 

obstruction, 115 

— meningitis, 404, 406, 410 

— miliary tuberculosis, 343 

— necrosis, 546 

— nephritis, 460 

— orchitis, 540 

— osteomyelitis, 557 

— periostitis, 546 

— peritonitis, 103 

— rickets, 370 

— simple serous synovitis, 575 

— suppurative arthritis of infants, 578 

— tubercular synovitis, 580 

— yellow atrophy of liver, 162 
Acutely inflamed tonsils, removal of, 63 
Addison's disease, 508 

Adenitis, acute, 349, 352 

— tubercular, 349, 353 
Adenoids, post-nasal, 64 
Adenomata recti, 143 
Adjacent abscess, 579, 601, 603 
Adolescence, rickets of, 382 
Age for operation in hare-lip, 148 
Air-passages, foreign bodies in, 190 
Albuminuria in diphtheria, 270 
Alimentary canal, 5 

Alopecia areata, 698 
Alum in whooping-cough, 301 
Alveolar abscess, 56, 562 
Amputation at hip-joint, 618 

— intra-uterine, 650, 652, 653 

— primary, 710 
Amussat's operation, 132 



y6o 



Diseases of Children 



AN.E 

Anaemia, 334 

— idiopathic, 337 

— lymphatica, 339 

— pernicious, 337 

— splenic, 335 
Anaesthetics, 714 
Anal condylomata, 143 

— fissures, 144 

— fistula, 142 

Anastomosis, aneurism by, 331 
Anchyloglossus, 155 
Anchylosis of jaw, 593 
Aneurism, 332 

— by anastomosis, 331 

— of middle cerebral artery, 391 
Angina Ludovici, 356 
Angioma, cavernous, 325 

— lymphatic, 332, 672 

— simple, 325 

Angular curvature of spine, 620 
Ankle, excision of, 589 

— tubercular diseases of, 574, 588 et seq. 
Anterior polio-myelitis, 495 
Antifebrin in the treatment of pneu- 
monia, 215 

Anus, artificial, 132 

— imperforate, 130 

— ulceration of, 124 
Aortic regurgitation, 320 
Aphasia, 476 
Aphthous stomatitis, 53 

— vulvitis, 534 
Apoplexia neonatorum, 18 
Appendicular peritonitis, 107, no, 119 
Appendix, removal of, 111 

Arm, fractures of, 709 

Arrest of growth after epiphysitis, 552 

in rickets, 376, 381, 382 

after injury, 704, 707 

Arterial naevus, 324 
Arterio-venous varix, 330, 331 
Arteritis, 31, 445 
Arthrectomy, 583 et seq. 
Arthritis of infants, acute suppurative, 
578 

— rheumatic, 576 

Artificial muscle, 639, 640, 643, 646 
Ascaris, 100 
Ascites, 101 

— in cirrhosis, 166 
Asphyxia neonatorum, 15 

— treatment of, 17 
Aspiration for empyema, 234 
Asthma, 228 

Athetosis, 439 
Athrepsia, 89 

Atlanto-axial disease, 620, 632 
Atresia ani, 130 

— oris, 157 

Atrophy of face, 157, 644 

— gastro-intestinal, 89 

— of jaw, 593 

— of liver, acute yellow, 162 

— simple, 89 



BRO 

Auricle, disease of, 663 

— supernumerary, 157 
Auscultation, 170 
Auvard, couveuse of, 18 

Axis traction for hip-disease, 611, 733 

Backward children, 480 
Balanitis, 532 

Barwell's artificial muscle, 639-646 
Basal ganglia, tumours of, 428 
Belladonna in whooping-cough, 301 
Bichloride of methylene, 714 
Biedert's cream mixture, 43 
Bifid anus, 130 

— tongue, 135 

— uvula, 147 

Bile-ducts, congenital stricture of, 161 

— secretion of, 5 
Birth, circulation after, 4 

— diseases incident to, 15 

— marks, 286 

— palsy, 433 
Bladder, calculus of, 518 

— extroversion of, 526 

— inflammation of, 522 

— rugous, 522 

— tubercular disease of, 522 

— tumours of, 522 
Bleeders, 26, 339 
Bleeding, 712 

— after excision of tonsils, 63 
Blennorrhagia, 30 

Blood, amount in body, 4 

— of infant, 4 
Body weight, 8, 9, 10 
Bone grafting, 703 

Bones, diseases of, 545, 555, 567 

— syphilitic disease of, 398 et seq. 
Boric acid in diphtheria, 274 
Bowels, chronic obstruction of, 123 

— congenital obstruction of, 128 

— tubercular ulceration of, 125 
Bow-leg, 379, 727 

Brain, abscess of, 430, 667 

— atrophy of, 423 

— congestion of, 436 

— cyst of, 424, 426, 437 et seq. 

— development of, 7 

— fever, 436 

— hypertrophy of, 422 

— sarcoma of, 424 

— sclerosis of, 423 

— softening of, 445 

— surgery of, 430, 483, 667 

— syphilis of, 424 

— tumours of, 424 

— weight of, 7 
Branchial cartilages, 157 

— dermoid cysts, 156-159 

— fistulae, 157 
median, 158 

Bronchial glands, adenoma of, 230 

— diseases of, 228, 731 
Bronchiectasis, 196, 197 



Index 



761 



BRO 

Bronchitis, 194, 368 

— acute, 194 

— chronic, 197 
Bronchocele, 682 
Broncho-pneumonia, 198, 725 

— in measles, 258 

— acute generalised, 202 

— chronic, 200 

— disseminated. 202 

— micro-organisms in, 203 

— from tuberculosis, 297 
Bruit de pot fele, 147 
Bryant's splint, 610 
Burns and scalds, 712 
Bursa of Fleischmann, 156 
Bursae in club-foot, 636, 643 
Bursitis, 650 

C^ecal colotomy, 133 

— hernia, 137 

Calcaneo-astragaloid disease, 591 
Calculus of kidney, 514 

— in tonsils, 64 

— urethral, 519 

— vesicae, 518 
Callisen's operation, 133 
Canal of His, 158 
Cancrum oris, 57 
Capillary naevus, 324 
Caput succedaneum, 21 

Carbolic acid in whooping cough, 301 
Carcinoma of stomach, 99 
Cardiac dilatation, 320 
in nephritis, 248 

— syncope in diphtheria, 271 
Caries, 545 

— of spine, 620, 734 
Carpo-pedal contractions, 464 
Cartilages, branchial, 157 
Cartilaginous tumours, 671 
Caseation of bronchial glands, 228, 731 

— of lung, 201, 213, 232 
Cataleptics, 468 
Catarrh, acute gastric, 77 
gastro-intestinal, ^ 

— of bronchial tubes, 194 

— chronic gastro-intestinal, 89 
Catarrhal jaundice, 162 

— laryngitis, 175 

— synovitis, 576 

— tonsillitis, acute, 58 
Caudal appendage, 488 
Cavernous angioma, 325, 332, 672 

— naevus, 325 

Cellulitis, deep cervical, 356 
Cephalhematoma, 20 
Cephalhydrocele, 701 
Cerebellar abscess, 667 
Cerebellum, tumours of, 426 
Cerebral abscess, 430, 665, 667 

— cyst, 424, 426, 437 

— haemorrhage, 404, 433, 436 

— lesions, surgical treatment of, 430, 483, 
667 



CON 

Cerebral paralysis, acute, 436 

— pneumonia, 212 

— softening, 445 

— tumour, 424 

— congestion, 405 
Cerebro-spinal meningitis, 413 
Cervical cellulitis, 58, 356 

— paraplegia, 627 
Chest, examination of, 169 

— form of, 169 . 

— injuries of, 702 
Cheyne-Stokes respiration, 408 
Chilblains, 692 
Child-crowing, 170 
Childhood, 2 

Chloroform, 714 
Chlorosis, 335 
Cholera infantum, 77 
Chorea, 446, 731 

— insaniens, 453 

— paresis in, 453 

— peripheral neuritis, 453 
Choroid, tubercles of, 344 
Chronic bronchitis, 197 

— broncho-pneumonia, 200 

— circumscribed osteomyelitis, 560 

— diarrhoea, y^ 77 

— diffuse osteomyelitis, 562 

— gastro-intestinal catarrh, 89 

— hydrocephalus, 418, 420, 425 

— intussusception, 123 

— laryngitis, 193 

— nephritis, 516 

— obstruction of bowels, 123 

— periostitis, 553 

— peritoneal effusion, 111 

— peritonitis, 111 

— rheumatic arthritis, 576 

— tonsillar hypertrophy, 54, 161 

— tonsillitis, 61 

— vomiting, 91 

Circulation, changes in after birth, 4 

Circumcision, 531 

Cirrhosis of liver, 165 

Classification of bone inflammations, 553 

Clavicle, deficiency of, 658 

— fractures of, 703, 705 
Clavus hystericus, 468 
Cleft of lower lip, 154 

— of palate, 146, 151 
Clothing of infants, 37 
Club-foot, 634, 734 
Club-hand, 653 
Club-leg, 646, 647 
Coccygeal dimple, 487 
Cold in the head, 174 
Colic, 71 

Collapse of lung, 195 
Colotomy, inguinal, 132 

— lumbar, 132 

Coma in meningitis, 408 
Complications of chorea, 450 
Compound congenital tumours, 677 
Condensing osteomyelitis, 345, 569 



762 



Diseases of Children 



CON 

Condensing ostitis, 545 
Condylomata, 143, 398 
Condyloma of tongue, 156 
Congenital deficiency of muscles, 649 

— deformities of digestive tract, 145 
of oesophagus, 159 

— dislocation of hip, 657 

— heart-disease, 311 

— hernia, 136 

— hydrocele, 542 

— hypertrophy of oesophageal glands, 68 

— idiocy, 477, 478 

— mucoid cyst of tonsil, 62 

— naevus, 324 

— obstruction of bowels, 128 

— rickets, 364 

— sacral fistula, 488 

— sacral tumours, 677 et seq. 

— stricture of bile-ducts, 161 
of oesophagus, 159 

— syphilis, 394 

— syphilitic periostitis, 399, 400, 554 

— tuberculosis, 34b 

— urethral anus, 131, 133 
Congestion of brain, 436 
Constipation, 75 
Constriction of limbs, 653 
Consumption of bowels, 125 
Contraction of meatus urinarius, 530 
Convulsions, 404, 425, 429, 463 
Cord, separation of, 29 

Cortical layer, tumours of, 428 
Coryza, 395 

— syphilitic, 395, 399 
Costo-vertebral disease, 632 
Couveuse of Auvard, 18 
Coxalgia, 595 

Cracked-pot sound in children, 170 

Craniotabes, 366, 401 

Creeping pneumonia, 212 

Cretinism, 479 

Croton chloral in whooping-cough, 301 

Croup, diphtheritic, 153, 269, 723 

— membranous, 178 

— spasmodic, 174 
Croupous angina, 275, 723 

— exudation on navel, 30 

— pneumonia, 208 
Cryptorchism, 536 
Curvature of spine, angular, 620 
lateral, 388, 727 

rickety, 376, 726 

— of tibia. 379, 727 
Cutaneous naevus, 325 
Cyanosis, 311 
Cyrtometer, 218 

Cystic disease of testis, 541 

— growth of vulva, 535 

— lymphangioma, 326, 332, 672 

— tumours, 672 et seq. 
Cystitis, 522 

— tubercular, 513, 522 

Cysts, dermoid, 144, 158, 489, 541, 673 
et seq. 



DIP 

Cysts of jaws, 681 

— serous, 672 

— sublingual, 155, 672 



D-BACILLUS, 264 etseq. 
Dactylitis, syphilitic, 567 

— tubercular, 565 
Deaf-mutism, 473, 474 
Deafness, 664 

Deep cervical cellulitis, 356 
Deformities of oesophagus, 159 

— in rickets, 374 

treatment of, 384, 727 

rickets, operations, 386, 727 

— of umbilicus, 134 

Deformity from thumb-sucking, 157 
Degenerated naevus, 326, 332 
Degeneration, reaction of, 498 
Dental formulae, 11 
Dentigerous cysts, 681 
Dentition, ailments of, 50 

— course of, 10 

— second, 53 

— treatment of, 52 
Depressed scars, 355 
Derbyshire neck, 682 
Dermatitis gangraenosa, 633 
Dermoid cysts, 144, 158, 489, 541, 673 

et seq. 

branchial, 158 

of rectum, 144 

Developmental idiocy, 478 
Deviation of nasal septum, 660 
Diabetes insipidus, 358 

— mellitus, 357 
Diaphragmatic hernia, 134 
Diarrhoea, 73 

— chronic, 89 

— dysenteric, 86 

— lienteric, 74 

— in measles, 258 

— summer, 77 

— zymotic, 77 

Diet of infants, 47, 48 

— tables for indigestion, 96 
Digestive system, diseases of, 50 
Digitalis in heart-disease, 322, 725 
Dilator, tracheal, 188 
Dilatation of the ventricles, 320 
Diphtheria, 264 

— diagnosis of, 271 

— pathology of, 265 

— treatment of, 272, 723 

— albuminuria of, 270 

— cardiac syncope in, 271, 725 

— epidemics of, 264 

— infectious nature of, 264, 266 

— laryngeal, 269, 723 

— malignant, 268, 269, 726 

— mild, 268 

— pharyngeal, 267, 724 

— pneumonia in, 270 

— quarantine in, 274 



Index 



763 



DIP 

Diphtheria, bacillus of, 267 

— nasal, 269 

— wound, 269 

— prognosis in, 272 

— rashes in, 268 

— pseudo, 274 
Diphtheritic croup, 178, 723 

— infection of navel, 30 

— paralysis, 271 

— sore throat, 53 

Direct tubercular infection, 126, 619 
Disease of bones, 489, 545 

— of calcaneo-astragaloid joint, 591 

— of hip joint, 595, 733 

— of metatarsus, 565, 592 

— of phalanges, 565 

— of sacrum, 632 

— of temporo-maxillary joint, 593 

— of testicle, 540 
Diseases of joints, 568, 733 
Diseases of liver, 160 

— of nose, 659 

— of respiratory system, 169 

— of retroperitoneal glands, 341 
Dislocations, 710 
Dislocation of elbow, 710 

— of hip, 710 

congenital, 657 

— of patella. 711 

— of shoulder, 710 

congenital, 657 

Displaced nasal septum, 660 
Disseminated broncho-pneumonia, 202 

— myelitis, 493 

Distribution of lymphatic glands, 349 
Diverticula of oesophagus, 65 
Diverticulum, Meckel's, 30, 135 
Double monsters, 652, 677 

— hip disease, 619 

— hip splint for spinal caries, 629 

— urethra, 530 
Dressings, 713 

' Dry bellyache,' 626 
Duck-toes, 646 
Ductus arteriosus, 4 

— — obliteration of, 4 

— venosus, 4 

Dyspeptic diseases of infancy, 70 
Dysenteric diarrhoea, 86 
Dysphagia in spinal disease, 625 



Ear, closure of meatus of, 663 

— diseases of, 663 

— foreign body in the, 663 
Early life, periods of, 1 
Eclampsia, 463 

Ectopia cordis, 

— vesicae, 526 
Eczema, 684 

Elbow, disease of, 572, 732 
Embolism, 442 

— in nephritis, 248 

— tubercular, 619 



EXC 

Emphysema, 196, 725 

— in tracheotomy, 186 

— vicarious, 202 
Empyema, 217 

— from necrosis of rib, 552 

— surgical treatment of, 223 
Encephalocele, 488 
Enchondroma, 670 
Encysted hernia, 136 
Endocarditis, 316 
Enlarged spleen, 335, 340 
Enteric fever, 278, 726 

abdominal symptoms in, 281 

bronchitis and pneumonia in, 282 

contagious nature of, 278 

diagnosis of, 284 

epistaxis in, 282 

haemorrhage in, 282 

incubation of, 279 

membranous tonsillitis in, 284 

mortality of, 278 

perforation of intestine in, 283 

peritonitis in, 283 

pyaemia in, 282 

rash in, 281 

relapses in, 282 

symptoms of, 279 

temperature of, 280 

treatment of, 285 

tuberculosis in, 284 

Enucleation of tonsil, 63 
Enuresis, 523 
Epidemic influenza, 275 
Epidemic tonsillitis, 59 
Epilepsy, 458 

— trephining for, 432 

— post-hemiplegic, 460 
Epiphyses, separation of, 704 

— dates of union of, 708 
Epiphysitis, 547, 558 et seq. 

— acute, 558 

— syphilitic, 400 
Epispadias, 528 
Epistaxis, 662 
Epithelioma of kidney, 511 
Erasion, 583 

— of ankle, 589 
Erysipelas, 294, 713 
Erythema, 691 

— multiforme, 360 

— nodosum, 360 

— pernio, 692 

— scarlatiniforme, 692 
Estlander's operation, 226 
Ether, 716 

Examination of chest, 169 
Exanthematous periostitis, 554 

— synovitis, 246, 576 
Excision of ankle, 589 

— of hip, 613, 733 

— of knee, 585 

— of tarsus, 590 

for club-foot, 642, 735 

Excoriation of navel, 30 



764 



Diseases of Children 



EXO 

Exostosis, 672 

Extension for hip-disease, 611, 732 

External meatus of ear, closure of, 663 

Extravasation of urine, 526, 702 

Extroversion of bladder, 526 

Eyes, syphilitic affection of, 401 



Face, atrophy of, 155, 649 

— hypertrophy of, 157 
Facial paralysis, 665 
Faecal fistula, 108, 135 
False croup, 174 

— hydrocephalus, 81, 415 

— spina bifida, 486 
Fasting girls, 468 
Fat diarrhoea, 74 

Fatty degeneration, acute, 27 

— liver, 166 

— tumours, 675 
Favus, 698 

Feeble vitality in hare-lip cases, 147 
Feeding, artificial, 41 

— bottles, 44 

— of infants, 37 
Femoral hernia, 139 
Femur, fractures of, 709 
Fever, infantile intermittent, 239 
Feverishness as a symptom, 237 
Fevers, 237 

Fibrinous pneumonia, 208 
Fibrocellular tumour of tongue, 157 
Fibrous tumours, 672 
Fingers, contraction of, 655 
Fissures of the anus, 144 

— of mouth in syphilis, 398 

— of sternum, 658 
Fistula in ano, 142 

— branchial, 157 

— intestinal, 108 

— tracheal, 159 

— umbilical, 108 
Flat-foot, 645, 735 

— in genu valgum, 381-383 
Flatulence, 71 

Foetal pericarditis, 306 

— rickets, 369 
Fontanelles, closure of! 7 
Foramen ovale, patent, 312 
Forcible straightening of limbs, 386 
Foreign bodies in the air-passages, 

190 

ear, 663 

nose, 660 

oesophagus, 67 

Fracture after necrosis, 553 
Fractured base of skull, 702 
Fractures, green-stick, 703 

— of long bones, 704 et seq. 

— of pelvis, 702 

— of skull, 701, 702 

— ununited, 703, 731 
Friedrich's disease, 495 
Frontal lobe, tumours of, 428 



HAR 

1 Fungus of the navel,' 29 
Funicular hernia, 136 



Gangrene of the lung, 213, 216 

— of the umbilicus, 31 
Gastric juice, 5 

— pneumonia, 212 
Gastro-intestinal atrophy, 89 

catarrh, acute, 77 

chronic, 89 

haemorrhage, 28 

Gastrostomy, 66 

General purulent peritonitis, 108 

— surgical tuberculosis, 356 

— tuberculosis, 343 

Genital organs, haemorrhage from, 28 
Genito-urinary diseases, 508 

— organs, malformation of, 526 
Genu extrorsum, 379 

— recurvatum, 655, 656, 735 

— valgum, 378, 727 

degree of, to measure, 385 

from rickets, appearance of, 378 

— varum, 379, 727 
Giant-foot, 332, 676 
Girdle-pain, 626 
Gland fever, 238 

Glands of groin, enlargement of, 600, 
601, 607, 609 

— lymphatic distribution of, 349 

— retroperitoneal disease of, 341 

— bronchial, disease of, 228, 731 

— mesenteric, disease of, 125 
Glandular abscess, acute, 351 et seq. 
Glottis, scald of, 190 

— spasm of the, 170 
Goitre, 682 

Gonorrhoeal rheumatism, 578 

' Graines jaunes,' 203 

' Grand mal,' 458 

Green-stick fractures, 367, 369, 371, 

703 
Growing fever, 560 
Growth, arrest of, 552 
Gumma, scrofulous, 353 



FLemarthrosis, 339 
Haematoma of sterno-mastoid, 22 
Haematuria, 508 
Haemoglobinuria, 510 

— intermittent, 510 
Haemophilia, 26, 339 
Haemorrhage, 712 

— cerebral, 433, 436 

— gastro-intestmal, 28 

— meningeal, 433 

— umbilical, 32 
Haemorrhagic diathesis, 26 
Haemorrhoids, 142 
Hallux flexus, 656 
Hammer toe, 656 
Hare-lip, 145 



Index 



765 



HAR 

Hare-lip cases, feeble vitality in, 147 

— median 154 

— operations, age for, 148 
Headache, 407, 424, 470 
Head, cold in the, 174 

— injuries, 701 
Head-banging, 504 

— nodding, 504 

— shaking, 504 

Hearing in the newly born, 8 
Heart, diseases of, 305 

— dilatation of, 320 
Heart-disease, chronic, 316 

— congenital, 311 

— treatment of, 321 
Hemichorea, 448, 454 
Hemiplegia, alternate, 428 

— from aneurism, 391 

— causes of, 436 et seq. 

— infantile, 436 

— from meningitis, 409 
Hepatic abscess, 167 
Hepatitis, interstitial, 165 

— syphilitic, 165, 300 
Hepatomphalos, 134 
Hereditary ataxic paraplegia, 495 

— syphilis, 394 
Hermaphrodites, 529 
Hernia, acquired, 136 

— congenital, 136 

— cerebri, 432 

— diaphragmatic, 134 

— encysted, 136 

— femoral, 139 

— funicular, 136 

— infantile, 136 

— of caecum, 137 

— an undescended testis, 537 

— inguinal, 136 

— of the ovary, 137, 540 

— radical cure of, 139 

— rectal, 140 

— strangulated, 137 

— translucency of, 137 

— umbilical, 115, 135 

Herpes zoster in spinal disease, 626 
Hiatus vesicae, 526 

— of abdominal wall, 135 
Hip disease, 595, 732 et seq. 
acute, 598 

— dislocation of, 710 

congenital, 657 

double, 619 

His, canal of, 158 
Hodgkin's disease, 339 
Hollow claw-foot, 636 

— club-foot, 636 
Horse-shoe kidney, 508 
Hydatids of the liver, 168 
Hydrencephalocele, 488 
Hydrocele, 138, 542 
Hydrocephalic cry, 408 
Hydrocephalus, acute, 412-419 

— chronic, 418, 420, 425 



INT 

Hydrocephalus, false, 415 

— and spina bifida, 486 
Hydrocele of the neck, 156 
Hydronephrosis, 512, 514 
Hygroma, 156, 332 
Hymen, imperforate, 534 
Hyperpyrexia in pneumonia, 213 
Hypertrophy of brain, 422 

— of face, 157 

— of labia, 534 

— of tonsils, 61 
Hypospadias, 529 
Hysteria, 468 
Hysterical chorea, 453 

— vomiting, 72 
Hysteroid fits, 460 



Icterus neonatorum, 25 
Idiocy, 477, 478 

— cretinoid, 479 

— syphilitic, 481 
Idiopathic anaemia, 337 
Ileo-umbilical diverticulum, 30 
Ileo-colitis, acute, 86 

Iliac abscess, no, 114 
Imitation in chorea, 447 
Imperforate anus, 130 

— hymen, 534 

— rectum, 130 
Impetiginous eczema, 686 
Impetigo contagiosa, 690 
Implication of nerve in callus, 708 
Incontinence of urine, 523 
Indigestion, diet table in, 96 
Infancy, definition of, 1 

— dyspeptic diseases of, 70 

— mortality in, 12 
Infant, weight of, 9 
Infantile cholera, 77 

— convulsions, 463 

— hernia, 136 

— intermittent fever, 239 

— leucorrhcea, 534 

— osteomalacia, 369 

— paralysis, 495 
hip disease, 606 

— scurvy, 370, 726 
Infants, diet of, 37 

— feeding of, 37 
Inflammatory diarrhoea, 77 

Inflation of intestine in intussusception, 

120 
Influenza epidemic, 275 

— bacillus of, 276 

— treatment of, 278 

— relapses in, 278 

Inguinal adenitis, 600, 605, 607 

— colotomy, 132 

— hernia, 136 

Injections in intussusception, 120 
Injuries of soft parts, 711 
Intermittent fever, infantile, 239 

— haemoglobinuria, 510 



766 



Diseases of Children 



INT 

Interstitial hepatitis, 165 
Intestinal fistula, 108 

— ' kinks,' 104 

— obstruction, acute, 115 

— worms, 100 

Intestine, congenital obstruction of, 128 
Intrauterine amputation, 650-652 

— life, 1 

— respiration, 3 
Intubation of larynx, 191, 723 
Intussusception, 115 

— abdominal section in, 121 

— chronic, 123 

Invagination of the bowel ; 115 
' Inward fits,' 464 

Irritable mamma, 536 

— rugous bladder, 522 

Jaundice, catarrhal, 162 

— of infants, 25 

— malignant, 162 

— in pneumonia, 213 
Jaw, anchylosis of, 593 

— cysts of, 681 

Joint disease, pyaemic, 576 

— sense, 601 

Joints, diseases of the, 568, 731 
Jurymast, 628 

Kidneys, congenital anomalies of, 508 

— diseases of, 508 
Kinks of intestine, 104 

Knee, diseases of, 570, 580, $12, etseq., 

732 
Knock-knee, 378, 385, 727 

— from muscular spasm, 384 

— rickets, 378, 727 
Kyphosis, 376 

Labia, hypertrophy of, 534 

— naevus of, 534 

— ulceration of, 534, 535 
Labyrinth, affections of, 667 
Laminectomy, 632, 734 
Landry's paralysis, 494 
Laryngeal diphtheria, 269, 723 
Laryngismus stridulus, 170, 368 
Laryngitis, catarrhal, 175 

— chronic, 198 

— spasmodic, 174 

Larynx, intubation of, 191, 723 

— papilloma of, 193 
Latent meningitis, 413 

Lateral curvature of spine, 227, 388, 727 
from caries, 624 

— intestinal anastomosis, 122 

— meningocele, 485 
Late rickets, 382 
Leg, fractures of, 709 
Leontiasis ossea, 567 
Leucocythaemia, 340 
Leucorrhcea, infantile, 534 
Leukaemia, 340 



MAC 

Lichen scrofulosus, 694 

— strophulus, 52, 694 

— urticatus, 693 
Lienteric diarrhoea, 74 
Life, intrauterine, 1 
Limbs, injuries of, 702 

— malformation of, 634 

— rickety deformities ot, 374 et seq., 726 
Lip, cleft of lower, 154 

Lipoma, 675 

Lipomatous naevus, 327-331 
Lithaemia, 455 
Lithotomy, 519 
Lithotrity, 519 
Little's tin splint, 640 
Littre's operation, 132 
Liver, abscess of, 167 

— acute yellow atrophy of, 162 

— cirrhosis of, 165 

— diseases of, 160 

— enlargements of, 160 

— examination of, 160 

— fatty, 166 

— hydatids of, 168 

— lymphadenoma of, 168 

— size of, 160 

— syphilitic affections of, 165 

— tuberculosis of, 166 

— tumours of, 168 
Lobar pneumonia, 208 
Lobelia in whooping cough, 301 
Local anaesthesia, 715 

Loss of blood, 712 
Ludwig's angina, 356 
Lumbar colotomy, 132 
Lungs, abscess of, 216 

— caseation of the, 199 

— chronic tuberculosis of, 231 

— collapse of, 195 

— gangrene of, 213, 216 

— syphilitic affections of, 399 

— vital capacity of, at different ages, 4 
Lupus, 352, 699 

— hypertrophicus, 353 
Lymphadenoma, 680, 681 

— of bronchial glands, 230 

— of liver, 145, 168 
Lymphangiomata, cavernous, 325, 332, 

372 

— cystic, 155, 332 
Lymphangitis, reticular, 349 
Lymphatic anaemia, 312 

— glands, distribution of, 349 

— naevus, 332 

— varix, 332, ^33 
Lymphoma, 680, 681 
Lymphosarcoma, 680 



Macewen's operation, 387, 727 
Macrochilia, 155 
Macroglossia, 155, 330, 332 
Macrostoma, 154, 157 
Maculae, pigmentary, 327 



Index 



767 



MAL 

Malarial fever, 303 

Malformation of geni to-urinary organs, 
526 

— of limbs, 650 

— of nose, 661 
Malignant jaundice, 162 

— disease of stomach, 99 

— polypi of nose, 661 
Malnutrition, 89 
Malunion of fractures, 710 
Mamma, irritable, 536 
Maniacal chorea, 453 
Manipulation for club-foot, 640 
Mastoid disease, 665 et scq. 
Masturbation, 533 
Maternal impressions, 146 
Measles, 254 

— incubation of, 255 

— laryngitis in, 258 

— eruption in, 256 

— mortality in, 255 

— treatment of, 259 

— broncho-pneumonia in, 258 

— glandular enlargement in, 258 

— diagnosis of, 258 

— morbid anatomy of, 258 

— micro-organisms in, 255 

— quarantine in, 260 

— tuberculosis in, 258 

Meatus urinarius, contraction of, 530 
Meckel's diverticulum, 30, 135 
Meconium, 6 
Median branchial fistula, 158 

— hare-lip, 154 
Mediastinal abscess, 228, 230 
Mediastino-pericarditis, 310 
Medulla, tumours of, 427 
Meig's cream mixture, 42 
Membrana tympani, rupture of, 664 
Membranous croup, see Diphtheria 

— laryngitis, 178, 723 
Meningeal haemorrhage, 433 

post-partum, 433 

Meningitis, acute simple, 404, 406, 410 

— cerebro-spinal, 413 

— chronic, 418 

— latent, 413 

— in pneumonia, 213 

— purulent, 406 

— simple, 410 

— spinal, 490 

— subacute, 412 

— syphilitic, 410, 418, 423 

— tubercular, 405, 731 

— vomiting in, 407, 415, 424 
Meningocele, 488 
Meningo-myelocele, 484 

Mental affections in childhood, 477 

— defect affecting speech, 475 

— strain, 447 
Mesenteric disease, 125 
Metatarso-phalangeal disease, 592 
Methods of operating for hare-lip, 150 
Microstoma, 155 



NER 

Middle cerebral artery, thrombosis of, 

443 

— ear, diseases of, 664 
Miliaria, 694 

Miliary tuberculosis, acute, 343 
Milk, condensed, 46 

— composition of, 46 

— cow's, 42 

— human, composition of, 41, 42 

— peptonised, 45 

— tubercular infection from, 126 
Misplaced testes, 536 

Mitral regurgitation, 319 

Mixed naevus, 325 

Mobile spasm, 439 

Moles, 700 

Monsters, 673 et seq. 

Morbus coxae, 595, 733 

Mortality after tracheotomy, 189 

— in infancy, 12 
Mother's mark, 324 
Mouth, absence of, 157 

— defects of, affecting speech, 475 

— deformities of, 145 

— diseases of, 53 
Mucoid cyst of tonsil, 62 

— patches, 398 

Mucous cyst of pharynx, 65 
Mumps, 302 

Muscle splint, 639 et seq. 
Muscles, deficiencies of, 644 
Myelitis, 493 
Myelocele, 484 
Myocarditis. 321 
Myositis ossificans, 649 
Myxolipoma, 676 
Myxoedema, 479 



N^evus, 324 

— congenital, 324 

— of labia, 534 

— lipomatodes, 331 

— lymphatic, 332 

— of rectum, 143, 327 

— of tongue, 157, 330 

Nasal adenoid vegetations, 64 

— catarrh, 659 

— obstruction, 660 
Navel, diseases of, 29 
Necrosis of jaw, 56, 562 

— of patella, 563 

— post-typhoid, 56 

— of rib-empyema, 552 

— of spinous process, 631 
Nephritis, acute, 515 



chroni 



;i6 



— in diphtheria, 270 

malarial fever, 303 

pneumonia, 213 

scarlet fever, 247 

— septic, 246 
Nervous system, 7 
diseases of, 404 



768 



Diseases of Children 



NEU 

Neuritis, 453 
Neuroma, 67c 
Night cry, 599 

— starting, 599 

' Nine-day fits,' 34 
Nitrous oxide gas, 715 
Nodules, rheumatic, 360, 451 
Noma pudendi, 535 
Nose, diseases of, 659 

— dry catarrh of, 661 

— malformation of, 661 
Nystagmus, 504 



Oatmeal water, 42 
Obliteration of bile-ducts, 161 
Obstetrical paralysis, 23 
Obstruction of bowels, acute, 115 

chronic, 123 

congenital, 128 

Obturators, 153 
Obturator teats, 148 
Occipito-atlantoid disease, 632 

— dislocation, 657 
CEdema of scrotum, 539 

— neonatorum, 35 

CEsophageal glands, hypertrophy of, 68 

— varix, 68 
Oesophagitis, 67 
CEsophagotomy, 66 
(Esophagus, stricture of, 65 

— deformities of. 159 

— foreign bodies in, 67 
Omphalitis, 30 
Onychia, 699 

— maligna, 699 

Open division in club-foot, 642, 735 
Operations under anaesthetics, 719 
Optic atrophy, 426, 430 

— neuritis, 408, 424, 449 
Orbital naevus, 329 
Orchitis, 540 
Osteoma, 672 
Osteomalacia, infantile, 369 

— in rickets, 369 
Osteomyelitis, acute, 557 et seq. 
circumscribed, 558 

— chronic circumscribed, 560 
diffuse, 562 

— condensing, 564 

— pyaemic, 564 
Osteophytic growths, 380 
Osteotomy, 386 

— of ribs, 227 

— for flexed knee, 587 
Ostitis, 545 

Otitis externa, 663 

— media, 410, 416, 664 

— in measles, 258 

— scarlet fever, 245 

— feverishness in, 238 
Ovarian hernia, 137, 540 

— tumours, 544 

Overgrowth of limbs from periostitis, 553 



PER 



Overlying, 466 
Oxyuris, 99 
Ozaena, 661 



Pachydermatocele, 332 
Packs in scarlet fever, 252 
Pain, 712 
Palate arch, shape of, 153 

— cleft of, 151 
Papilloma, 700 

— of branchial fissures, 159 

— larynx, 123 

— of tongue, 156 
Papules, syphilitic, 394 
Paracentesis in pericardial effusion, 322 
Paralysis, acute atrophic, 495 

cerebral, 436 

— after diphtheria, 271 

— infantile, 495 

— obstetrical, 23 

— pseudo-hypertrophic, 504 
Paralytic chorea, 448 

— club-foot, 643 
Paraphimosis, 553 
Paraplegia, 491 

— ataxia, 495 

— spastic, 433 

— in spinal caries, 491, 734 
Parenchymatous nephritis, 516 
Parker's operation in club-foot, 641 
Parosteal abscess, 546 
Parotitis, 302 

Patella, dislocation of, 711 
in knock-knee, 383 

— necrosis of, 563 
Patent urachus, 526 
Peliosis rheumatica, 339 
Pelvic abscess, 602 

— deformity in rickets, 376, 382 
Pemphigus, 694 

— syphilitic, 397 
Penis, absence of, 531 
Peri-articular abscess, 576, 603 
Pericarditis, 305 

— acute, 305 

— chronic, 307 

— diagnosis of, 309 

— results of, 309 

— symptoms of, 306 

— in nephritis, 221, 306 

— in rheumatism, 305 

— in scarlet fever, 306 
Periglandular abscess, 351, 352 
Perinephritic abscess, 512 
Pericesophageal abscess, 65, 67 
Periosteal abscess, 546 
Periostitis, 546 

— chronic, 553 

— exanthematous, 554 

— syphilitic, 555 
Peripheral neuritis, 453 
Periplephlebitis syphilitica, 143 
Perisigmoid abscess, no, 114 



Index 



769 



PER 

Peritoneal abscess, 108, no 

— effusion, chronic, 101, in 
Peritonitis, acute, 103, no 

— appendicular, 107 

— chronic, in 

— — cicatrisation from, in, 112 

— in enteric fever, 249 

— in nephritis, 221 

— purulent, general, 108 

— tubercular, chronic, 111 
Perityphlitis, 107 
Perityphlitic abscess, 108 et seq. 
Pernicious anaemia, 310 

Pes cavus, 636, 642, 644, 734 
in genu valgum, 381 

— gigas, 332, 676 

— planus, 645, 735 

— pronatus acquisitus, 645 
' Petit mal,' 458 
Pharyngeal tonsil, 64 
Pharynx, abscess of, 65 

— mucous cyst of, 65 
Phenacetin in pneumonia, 215 
Phimosis, 531 

Phlebitis, umbilical, 32 
Phlegmonous periostitis, 546 
Phthisis, acute, 234 

— fibroid, 234 
Pigeon-breast, 367 
Pigmentary maculae, 327 
Piles, 142 

Pinna, disease of, 663 

Plaster of Paris jackets, 628, 730 

Pleurisy, 217 

— in rheumatism. 316 
Pleuro-pneumonia, 213 

— in rheumatism, 360 
Pneumonia, abortive, 212 

— cerebral, 212 

— creeping, 212 

— croupous, 208 
pathology of, 214 

— gastric, 242 

— in nephritis, 249 

— secondary, 200 

— wandering, 212 
Polypi, nasal, 661 
Polypus recti, 143 

— umbilical, 29 
Polyuria, 358 

Pons, tumours of, 427 

Porencephalus, 423 

Poroplastic jackets, 630, 731 

Port-wine stain, 324 

Post-hemiplegic epilepsy, 460 

Post-nasal adenoids, 64 

Post-partum meningeal haemorrhage, 

433 
Post-pharyngeal abscess, 65 
Pott's disease, 620 

paraplegia in, 491, 734 

Prevertebral abscess, 65 
Pressure sores in club-foot, 641 
Primary amputations, 710 



RET 

Primary resections, 710 

— union after excision of hip, 615 
Prolapse of rectum, 139 

— of urethra, 530 
Prostate, enlarged, 530 
Pseudo-diphtheria, 274 
Pseudo-hypertrophic paralysis, 504 
Pseudo-paralysis, syphilitic, 400 
Psoas abscess, 624, 631 

Psoitis, 114 

Psoriasis, 694 

Psychical phenomena of infants, 8 

Pulpy disease of joints, 569 

Pulse at birth. 4 

Pulsus paradoxus, 310 

Purpura, 338 

— hemorrhagica, 339 

— simplex, 339 
Purulent peritonitis, 108 
Pyaemia, 551-564. 576 

— osteomyelitis in, 557 

— in periostitis, 549 et seq. , 554 
Pyaemic joint-disease, 578 



' Quiet strumous disease,' 571 
Quinine in pneumonia, 215 



Radical cure of hernia, 139 

Radius, subluxation of, 710 

Ranula, 156 

Rarefying ostitis, 545 

Reaction of degeneration, 498 

Reclining board, 392 

Rectal abscess in sacral disease, 632 

— fistula, 142 

— hernia, 140 

— naevus, 143, 327 

— polypus, 143 

— prolapse, 140 

— stricture, 141 

— ulcers, 144 

Rectangular talipes equinus, 637 
Rectum, imperforate, 131 
Recurved knee, 655, 656, 735 
Red corpuscles at birth, 4 

— gum, 694 

' Redressement force ' in rickets, 386 

Reflex vomiting, 72 

Relapse after excision of tonsils, 63 

Relapsed club-foot, 645 

Removal of sequestra from spine, 631 

— of inflamed tonsils, 63 
Renal calculus, 514 

— new-growths, 510 

Resection of bone in periostitis, 549 
Resections, primary, 710 
Residual abscess, 618 
Respiration in newly born, 3 

— intrauterine, 3 

Respiratory system, diseases of, 169 
Retention of urine, 519, 525 



770 



Diseases of Children 



RET 

Reticular lymphangitis, 349 
Retro-cesophageal abscess, 65 
Retro-peritoneal glands, disease of, 341 
Retro-pharyngeal abscess, 65 
Rheumatism, 316, 359, 450, 731 
Rheumatic arthritis, 576 

— nodules, 451 
Rhinitis fibrinosa, 269 
Rickets, 362 

— acute, 370 

— of adolescence, 382 

— in animals, 364 

— bone changes in, 366, 370 

— causes of, 364 et seq. 

— congenital, 369 

— deformities of, 366 et seq. 
treatment of, 384, 727 

— foetal, 369 

— genu valgum from, 378, 727 

— heredity in, 363 

— syphilis and, 364 

— visceral change in, 373 

— late, 382 

— brain, 422 
Rickety pelvis, 376, 382 

— spine, 376, 726 

Rigidity of joints, congenital, 655 

Ringworm, 695 

Rizzoli's operation, 134 

Roseola, 691 

Rotato-curvature of spine, 388, 727 etseq. 

Rotheln, 260 

Rubella, 260 

— complications of, 262 

— diagnosis of, 263 

— incubation in, 261 

— morbillosa, 261 

— quarantine in, 264 

— rash of, 262 

— scarlatinosa, 261 

— treatment of, 264 
Rubinat water, 662 
Rugous bladder, 522 
Rupture, inguinal, 136 

— umbilical, 135 

— urethral, 702 



Sacculi in lower lip, 154 
Sacral tumours, congenital, 677 

— dimple, 487 
Sacro-iliac disease, 592 
Saliva, secretion of, 5 

— composition of, 5 
Salivation in children, 403 
Sarcoma, 669 

— of kidney, 510 
Sayre's jacket, 628 

' Scabbard trachea,' 682 
Scabies, 698 
Scalds, 712 

— of glottis, 190 
Scapula, deficiency of, 658 
Scarification of glottis, 190 



SOF 

Scarlet fever, 239 

complications of, 245 

diagnosis of, 249 

enlarged glands in, 246 

from the cow, 240 

— ■ — incubation of, 241 

malignant, 243 

micrococci in, 250 

mild form of, 243 

morbid anatomy of, 250 

mortality of, 240 

nephritis in, 246 

otitis in, 245 

pneumonia in, 246, 249 

prognosis in, 245 

pyaemia in, 246 

quarantine in, 254 

rheumatism in, 246 

septicaemia in, 244 

surgical, 713 

symptoms of, 241 

treatment of, 250 

Scars, depressed, 355 
School-made chorea, 447 
Sclerema neonatorum, 34 
Sclerosis of bone, 545, 564 

— of brain, 423 
Scoliosis, 388, 727 
Scorbutus, 338, 726 
Scrofula, types of, 347 
Scrofuloderma, 353 
Scrofulous gumma, 353 

— neck, 352 

Scrotum, oedema of, 534 
Scurvy, 338 

— infantile, 370, 726 
Seborrhcea, 691 
Senn's operation, 122 
Separation of the cord, 29 

— of epiphyses, 704 
Septicaemia in scarlet fever, 217 
Septic diseases, 713, 735 

— nephritis, 246, 516 

Septum ventriculorum, open, 313 
Serous cysts, 672 

— synovitis, 575 
Shock, 712 

Shoulder, dislocations of, 657, 710 

— growing out of, 390 

— tubercular disease of, 572, 732 
Sight in infants, 8 

Simple acute adenitis, 349, 352 

— angioma, 325 

— nsevus, 324 

— psoitis, 114 
Sinus cervicalis, 158 

— umbilical, 108 
Siren foetus, 485 

Skin affections in syphilis, 397 

— diseases of, 684 
Skull, cubic capacity of, 7 

— fracture of, 701 
Sleep, 8 

Softening of brain, 445 



Index 



771 



SPA 

Spasm of glottis, 170 

— laryngitis, 174 

— torticollis, 648 
Spastic paraplegia, 434 
Speech, anomalies of, 473 
Spina bifida, 484 

occulta, 484, 488 

Spinal abscess, 622, 632 

— deformity, angular, 620 

— meningitis, 490 

— meningocele, 484 

— rigidity, 625 

— sequestra, removal of, 631 

— splints, 629, 730, 731, 734 

— supports, 392, 628, 730, 731, 734 
Spine, examination of, 389 

— lateral curvature of, 227, 388, 727 
causes of, 388 

— rickety, 376, 726 

— rotato-lateral curvature of, 388, 727 

— weak, 389 

Spinous process, necrosis of, 631 
Spleen, enlargement of, 340 

— syphilitic affection of, 400 
Splenic anaemia, 335 

— enlargement in malaria, 303 
Sporadic cretinism, 479 
Spurious talipes valgus, 645 
Stammering, 476 
Staphylorraphy, 152 

Status epilepticus, 461 
Steam tent, 176 
Steatose, 95 
Stellate naevus, 324, 327 
Stenosis of the aorta, 316 

— of mitral valves, 316 

— of pulmonary artery, 314 
Sterilised milk, 45, 737, 739 
Sterno-clavicular joint, disease of, 594 
Sterno-mastoid, haematoma of, 22, 647 

— tumour, 22, 647 

Stomach, capacity of, in infancy, 5 

— of infancy, 5 

— carcinoma of, 99 

— dilatation of, 97 

— malformations of, 99 
Stomatitis, 46 

— ulcerative, 56 

Stone in the bladder, 518 
Strangulated hernia, 137 
Stricture of oesophagus, 139 

— of rectum, 141 

— of urethra, 525, 530 
Strophulus, 52, 694 
Strumous dactylitis, 565 

— nodes, 353 

— periosteal nodes, 554 
Subcutaneous naevus, 325 
Subjective symptoms of spinal disease, 

625 
Sublingual cysts, 155, 158 
Subperiosteal abscess, 546 
Sudamina, 694 
Sudden death in nephritis, 248 



TEE 

Supernumerary auricles, 157 

— digits, 652 

— testes, 539 

Suppuration of bronchial glands, 228 
Suprapubic lithotomy, 520 
Suprascapular development of, 658 
Surgical scarlet fever, 713 

— treatment of empyema, 223 

— tuberculosis, 356 
Swallowing foreign bodies, 67 
Syndactylism, 654 
Syndesmotomy, 641, 642 
Synovitis, acute tubercular, 580 

— catarrhal, 576 

— exanthematous, 576 

— serous, 575 

— suppurative, 575 

— syphilitic, 577 

— tubercular, 568 et seq. 
Syphilis, 393 

— acquired, 393 

— brain affection in, 401 

— congenital, 394 

— cranic tabes in, 401 

— eye affections in, 401 

— hepatitis in, 165, 300 

— hereditary, 394 

— lung affections in, 399 

— malnutrition in, 396 

— post-vaccinal, 393 

— skin affections in, 397 

— visceral lesions in, 399 

— arteritis, 445 
Syphilitic coryza, 395, 399 

— dactylitis, 400, 567 

— epiphysitis, 400, 558 

— hip-disease, 606 

— idiocy, 481 

— meningitis, 410, 418, 423 

— ostitis, 399 et seq. 

— pemphigus, 397 

— pseudo-paralysis, 400 

— spleen, 400 

— teeth, 401 

— telostitis, 400 

— testitis, 540 
Syringo-myelocele, 484 



Taenia mediocanellata, 101 

— solium, 101 
Talipes, acquired, 643 

— calcaneus, 634, 636, 655 

— cavus, 636, 642 

— equino-varus, 634, 734 

— paralytic, 643 

— valgus, 636, 642, 645, 735 

— varus, 634 et seq., 643 
Tape-worm, 101 
Tarsectomy, 590 

— for club-foot, 642, 735 
Taste in infants, 8 
Teeth, eruption of, 10 



772 



Diseases of Children 



TEE 

Teeth, syphilitic, 401 
Telangiectasis, 324 
Temperature in health, 6 

— at birth, 6 
Tenosynovitis, 649 
Tenotomy for club-foot, 641, 735 
Tent, steam, for laryngitis, 176 
Testis, abnormalities of, 536 

— diseases of, 540 

— inflammation of, 540 

— syphilitic, 540 

— tubercle of, 540 

— tumours, 541 

— undescended, 536 
Tetanus nascentium, 34 
Tetany, 368, 502 
Thigh, fractures of, 709 
Thomas splints, 385, 610, 629, 709 
Thorax in infancy, 169 

Thread- worms, 99 

Thrombosis of cerebral sinuses, 444 

Thrush, 54 

Thumb-sucking, deformity from, 157 

Thyroid, diseases of, 682 

— duct cysts. 158 
Thyro-glossal duct, 158 
Thyrotomy, 193 

Tibia, deformities of, 374, 727 
Toes, diseases of, 651 
Tongue, absence of, 155 

— condyloma of, 156 

— malformations of, 155 

— naevus of, 156, 330 

— papilloma of, 156 

— swallowing; 153 

— tumours of, 157 
Tongue-tie, 155 
Tonsil, enucleation of, 63 

— guillotine, 63 

— pharyngeal, 63 

Tonsils, removal of inflamed, 63 
Tonsillar calculus, 64 

— hypertrophy, 61 
Tonsillitis, acute, 58 
catarrhal, 60 

— chronic, 61 
Torticollis, 547, 735 
Trachea, ulceration of, 188, 193 

— aspirator, 185 
Tracheal dilator, 183, 185 

— fistulas, 159 

— stenosis, 188 
Tracheotomy, 181, 719 

— tubes, 186 

Traction diverticula of gullet, 65 
Translucent hernia, 137 
Transpatellar excision, 585 
Transposition of aorta, 316 
Transverse myelitis, 493 
Traumatic stricture, 702 
Trephining skull, 431 

— for epilepsy, 432 

— spine. 632 
Trismus neonatorum, 34 



TYP 

Trochanter, diseases of, 605 

Trophic ulcers, 483 

Trusses, 138 

Tubercles of choroid, 344 

Tubercular abscess of kidney, 512 

— embolism, 619 

of shoulder, 572 

of wrist, 573 

— adenitis, 228, 340, 731 

— cystitis, 513, 522 

— dactylitis, 565 

— disease of ankle, 574 
of elbow, 572 

— infection from milk, 126 

— meningitis, 405, 731 

anatomy of, 416 

symptoms of, 406, 731 

treatment of, 417 

— synovitis, 570 et seq., 580 
acute, 580 

— peritonitis, chronic, 111 

— ulceration of bowel, 125 

of testis, 540 

Tuberculosis of adrenals, 508 

— acute miliary, 343 

— congenital, 348 

— general, 343 

surgical, 356 

sub-acute, 345 

— of liver, 166 

— chronic, of lung, 231 

— diagnosis of, 233 

— symptoms of, 232 

— treatment of, 235 

— broncho-pneumonia, form of, 345 

— and scrofula, 347 

— typhoid form of, 343 
Tuberculous ulcers, 186, 352 
Tubes for tracheotomy, 186 
Tumour growth, 669 
Tumours of basal ganglia, 428 

— of bladder, 522 

— of brain, 424 

— of cerebellum, 426 

— cerebral, 424 
removal of, 431 

— congenital, 672 et seq. 

— of frontal lobe, 428 

— of kidneys, 510 

— of liver, 145 

— of ovary, 544 

— of pons, 427 

— of testis, 541 
Types of scrofula, 347 
Typhlo-peritonitis, 107 
Typhoid form of tuberculosis, 34 

— fever, 278 

— synovitis, 576 
Typhus, 287 

— diagnosis of, 289 

— mortality in, 287 

— rash in, 287 

— symptoms of, 287 

— treatment of, 289 



Index 



773 



ULC 

Ulceration of bone, tubercular, 545 

— of labia, 534, 535 

— of navel, 30 

— of nose, 661 

— of trachea, 188, 193 
Ulcerative endocarditis, 280 

— stomatitis, 56 
Ulcers of the anus, 144 

— of the rectum, 144 

— tuberculous, 186, 352 

— vulvar, 353, 534, 535 
Umbilical arteritis, 31 

— fistula, 108 

— haemorrhage, 32 

— hernia, 135 

— phlebitis, 32 

— polypus, 29 

— sinus, 108 

Umbilicus, deformities of, 134 

— diseases of, 29 

— gangrene of, 31 

— ulceration of, 30 
Undescended testes, 536 
Union of epiphyses, dates of, 708 
Ununited fractures, 703, 731 
from necrosis, 553 

Uraemia in scarlatinal nephritis, 221 
Urachus, patent, 526 
Uranoplasty, 153 
Urethra, obliteration of, 530 

— prolapse of, 530 

— rupture of, 702 

— stricture of, 525, 530 
Urinary meatus, tumour of, 531 

— organs, diseases of, 508 
Urine, composition of, 6 

— extravasation of, 526 

— incontinence of, 523 

— retention of, 525 
Urticaria, 316 

Uvula, enlargement of, 64 

— naevus of, 330 

— papilloma of, 64 



Vaccination, erythema after, 294 

— erysipelas after, 294 

— glandular enlargement after, 294 

— performance of, 293 

— rashes after, 295 
Vaccino-syphilis, 349 

Vaginal discharge, due to worms, 84 

— haemorrhage, 28 
Vaginitis, 534 

Vapour bath, in nephritis, 253 
Varicella, 289 

— contagious nature of, 290 

— diagnosis of, 292 

— eruption in, 291 

— gangrenosa, 292 

— incubation of, 290 



ZYM 

Varicella, quarantine in, 292 

— treatment of, 293 
Varicocele, 544 
Varioloid, 295 

— diagnosis of, 296 

— treatment of, 296 
Varix, arterio-venous, 330 

— lymphatic, 332, 333 

— of oesophagus, 68 
Veal-tea, 657 
Venous naevus, 324 
Ventral hernia, 135 
Vesical calculus, 518 
Vicarious emphysema, 202 
Visceral naevus, 327 
Vital capacity of lungs, 4 
Vomiting, 71, 718 

— chronic, 91 
Vulvar anus, 131 

— ulcers, 534, 535 
Vulvitis, 534 



Wandering pneumonia, 212 
Warts of vulva, 535 
Water on the brain, 419 
Weak spine, 389 
Web-fingers, 654 

— toes, 655 
Weight and height, 10 

— increase of, 9 

— table of, 10 
Whey, 44 

' White lock-jaw,' 34 
Whooping-cough, 296 

— broncho-pneumonia in, 298 

— contagiousness of, 297 

— convulsions in, 299 

— diagnosis of, 299 

— diarrhoea in, 299 

— emphysema in, 298, 725 

— incubation of, 297 

— pathology of, 300 

— tuberculosis after, 299 

— treatment of, 300 
Winckel's disease, 25 
Word-deafness, 474 
Worms, intestinal, 99 

— round, 100 

— tape, 101 

— thread, 99 

Wound management, 713 
Wrist joint, disease of, 573 
Wryneck, 647, 735 



Youth, 2 



Zymotic diarrhoea, 77 
— diseases, 237 



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